WEBVTT - Summer Reading: Guest Picks 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.960 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:15.480 works dot Com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:17.880 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas and 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:21.720 this is our second summer Reading episodes for this year. Again. 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:23.920 Last year we did an episode where Julie and I 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.080 shared some some recommendations a little science a little fiction, 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.040 a little science fiction for our more enlightened listeners, to 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.160 listeners out there who might want to read something during 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.680 their travels around the beach. Everyone seemed to get a 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:36.520 kick out of it, so we thought, let's do it again, 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.080 except let's do an extra episode where we we have 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.880 some guests come on and shared their ideas of about 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.760 what you might want to read this summer. Uh so 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:47.720 that's what this episode is all about. We have three 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.519 external guests from the outside world and three internal guests 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.720 from how stuff works dot com. Mry guests, yes, but 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.920 pretty soon not so much a mystery. So we're gonna 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.040 kick things off here with an external guest. The man 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.360 by the name of DJ Food also goes by the 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.720 name strictly keV. He is a UK DJ, performing artist 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.240 and overall connoisseur of all things weird and wonderful in 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.120 the areas of music, comics, sci fi needs to say. 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.640 Food has a really busy schedule, but I said, hey, 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:20.640 I'll reach out to him. He's he's involved in all 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.280 these very cool projects. He's he's constantly keeping track of 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.600 interesting books, interesting music, interesting comics on his website dj 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.399 food dot org, where he's constantly sharing his his own music, 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.919 his own mixes, his uh stuff about his lawyerst album, 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.399 as well as all sorts of cool comics, lots of 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.800 cool design stuff. Highly recommend checking that out. And now 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.600 let's hear from the man himself with three recommendations for 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:49.360 your summer reading. Hi, I'm DJ Food otherwise owned a 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.520 strictly keb and I'm here to present it three things 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:53.920 to blow your mind. First off, I've got a great 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.480 book called King City by an artist in rights called 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.520 Brandon Graham who's kind of tearing things in the comics 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.640 world at the moment. For the company image, King's City 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.920 is I think twelve issues collected of a comic that 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.799 completely passed me by. The story is revolves around a 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.240 number of people who live in King City. The city 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.959 is kind of the star of the book, but there's 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.040 a guy who's a cat master, who's kind of like 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.480 a ninja master of a cat that can do all 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.720 sorts of crazy things and change its body and stuff. 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.239 And there's an adventure of him, and there's a venture 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.680 of his ex girlfriend. There's eventually his friend whose name 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:30.640 escapes me now. But one of the things I like 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.760 about it is there's masses of detail on every page 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:38.119 and suddenly you'll dip into a cross word or join 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.680 the dots page or a game, even on a double 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:44.040 page spread. So it's a very unique way of storytelling 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.760 and it's a good page turn. So if you think 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.480 you know comics, you know, if we both know, I'm 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.760 sure everyone your your listeners know that it's not all 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.720 about d C and Marvel and guys and tights and capes. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.320 This is this is something that anyone could get into. 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.160 You never have to really read a comic, mer are 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:02.440 It's not just a guy thing you can except you 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.880 know easily, girls can get into it, no problem. So 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:08.600 there you go. Not a very description, but it's it's 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.520 a very unique comic. So that's my first one. The 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:16.440 second one is another huge book copendium by Julian Cope. 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.639 You might know Julian Cope, the should I say rock 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.720 star singer artists recording artist spun to fame over here 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.040 anyway in the UK with the teardrop explodes. Um. He's 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.520 also a very good writer. If you ever find his 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.120 biography head on, it's well worth reading. But this is 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.920 something else. It's it's a collection of his album reviews 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.240 he used to do on his website, sort of arranged 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.840 in the sort of chronological alternate history of rock writing 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.640 from the last half of the twentieth century. It starts 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.600 at the end of the fifties. We all know the 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.600 accepted classics of rock led Zeppelin, the Who, the Beatles 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.840 of Stones, etcetera, etcetera. This is an alternate version of that. 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.920 It's um the things that fell under the radar, the 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:02.880 weird and the one for all the private pressings, the 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.960 oddities that he thinks that just as worthy as any 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:10.800 Beatles album but never got the kudos. So um, it's 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.120 a very very readable book. Again, he's got an excellent 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:15.880 turn of phrase, a sort of mixed of sort of 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:22.040 Hippie and Celtic if that makes any sense. And just 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.240 I always enjoy reading his stuff. As I said, his 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.640 biography head on is incredible. Um, he's had a very 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.279 interesting life and he's got a very unique tape on music. 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.080 It's as good as any writer you're reading the Music 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:38.160 press or on online Indium and Expedition into the Rock 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:42.039 and Roll Underground by Julian Cope. And last, but not least, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.240 we have Watching the Watchman by Dave Gibbons, designed by 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.680 Chick Kidd and Mike Essel. And I'm sure a lot 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:53.479 of readers or listeners would know Watchman the comic Animore 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.560 and Ve Gibbons classic, you know, one of the first 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.160 graphic novels in inverted commas. This is a huge each 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.800 cover table book which basically explores the artwork at the 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:07.279 background and the genesis of the whole thing, including never 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:12.320 seen before artwork, preliminary designs, layouts for pages, promotional items, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.279 original drawings, merchandise, the whole thing from start to finish 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.160 in order of the creation of Watchman by Dave Gibbons, 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.400 laid out superbly by the designership Kid with lots of 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.240 very very magnified illustrations splashed across the pages so you 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.119 really get into the grain of the book, and running 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.640 commentary by Dave Gibbons talking about the genesis of the book, 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.479 how he put it together, how we designed things, lots 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.040 of little clues which I'd never seen in the original 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.000 comics that he put in for people to find, and 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.159 just a very interesting historical look back at the classic 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.920 basically the making of a classic, and how the comics 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:53.600 industry changed from the beginning of the book to two 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.600 years later when it finished and it was it literally 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.760 did help change the comics industry overnight. Cool. I think 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.839 those are all three very interesting recommendations there. I was, 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.280 of course, I'm familiar with Watchman. Everyone I think it's 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.360 familiar with Watchman at this point, a very important comic book. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:13.960 And uh, and it would be interesting for anyone out 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.800 there who's a fan to check out, um this this 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.680 new volume that gives even more visual insight into that world. 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.400 And uh, the other comic that Food mentioned, King City, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:27.640 I have not read, but wow, I was just looking 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.000 at some of the visuals from this and it looks phenomenal. 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:32.839 One of the skills we were looking at here involved 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.160 like a space suit and kind of adorable cats crawling 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.720 all over the place. It's it's really wonderful looking. And 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.840 as far as Julian Cope goes, I think you had 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.520 some experience. Yeah. Yeah, Julian Couple was definitely in heavy 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.120 rotation some number of years ago in our household. And 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.440 I have to say, my husband's kind of mixed mixed 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.359 master and he's the person who curates the music in 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.680 our house. So um, I think that this will be 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.440 in an awesome there's day present for him because he 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.240 is a huge Julian Cope fan. And now I have 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.440 absolutely like, I mean going home after this and I'm 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.640 gonna put some Julian Cope in rotation because I that's 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.240 some good stuff. So I can't wait to check that out. Now, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.800 since that book deals with with music, I would like 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.640 to play just a quick clip from DJ Foods two 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.760 thou twelve albums The Search Engine, which includes this track 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.640 the Electric Hoax featuring Natural Self, which really seems to 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.480 to summon some of the vibes that are discussed in 0:07:29.520 --> 0:08:08.840 this in this book. Yeah ye see. And next we 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:13.880 are going to listen to Lauren vogel Bond's recommendations. She 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.000 is the co host of tech Stuff and forward Thinking 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:20.400 and just all around wonderful person. Yes, definitely a bookworm. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:22.400 So when we set out to do this episode. I 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:24.480 was like, well, we gotta ask Lauren, because she's one 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.920 of these people that will bring you books and set 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.600 them on your desk and uh and and give you 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.040 strong recommendations on one which you need to read. And 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.840 so she has a couple here for you. Hey. There, 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.280 I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. I'm the co host of tech Stuff 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.400 and also Forward Thinking, and I've got a couple of 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.959 recommendations for your summer reading list. This first one is 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:47.400 a book that you'd find in the Kids too Young 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.720 Adults section, but I think it's a good choice for 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.200 all ages. It's called The Gate. It's by John Connolly, 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.199 and the reason that I'm recommending it is Okay, the 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.520 crux of the plot of this book rests on two things, 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.480 large Hadron collider and a demon horde that is trying 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.640 to come through it in order to take over the world. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.160 And that seems like prime stuff to blow your mind 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.240 fan material right there. The language in it is is 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.880 really just cheeky and hilarious. It's got science and fantasy. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.440 There's a ton of footnotes, all the stuff that I 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.080 really love in a good young adult book about demons 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.600 and science, and at its core, it's it's really about 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.800 a very clever boy and his extremely brave docs, and 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:33.240 it's it's heart woman and wonderful and uh, if young 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.319 adult is not necessarily your thing, Connolly has a lot 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.600 of other books for children and adults, and I recommend 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.520 most of them. My second wreck on the list is 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.440 called The Magicians. It's by Love Grossman, and this one 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.560 is for grown ups only, or mature audiences or immature 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.720 mature audiences. I'm never really sure why mature is the 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:54.680 word that they choose to use when they're saying that 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.440 there's sex and alcohol use in a book. But it's 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.280 sort of like if Harry Potter had been set in 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:05.880 college and involved an extremely disaffected main character. The reason 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.560 that I'm recommending this one specifically is that, um, it's 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.199 got a system of magic in it, and uh, the 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:16.480 magical ability in this universe is based on a level 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:20.400 of creativity and intelligence in a person, in addition to 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:27.120 a a psyche breaking level of study that essentially renders magicians, uh, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.480 not really operating under the normal confines of what we 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.680 would call sanity anymore. And to me, that's fascinating watching 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.440 these characters kind of go through this process and deal 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.520 with it and also deal with normal coming of age, 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.640 growing up sort of things. Also with within the story, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.600 there's there's a series of fictional books about a magical 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.960 land called Philery, and this is a direct parallel to 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.880 the Narnia land and books and theories by C. S. Lewis. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.240 When I was a kid, I loved Narnia, and the 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:00.240 protagonist of the Magicians was a huge fan of the 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.880 Philery books when he was a kid, and it becomes 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.560 really a very important part of the story. And just 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:10.480 watching what Grossman does with that source material, if you 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.880 know the Narnia books, becomes immensely fun. The book is 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:18.440 dry and very rilely funny and very poignant. It's it's 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:23.080 beautiful and heartbreaking and winds up being very hopeful in 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.240 in strange and lovely ways. Also there's a sequel and 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.880 that is on my summer reading list. So I hope 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.720 that you guys check out one or both of these. 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.320 If you do, tell Robert and Julie how you feel 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:36.880 about them, or if you want to, you can drop 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.400 me an email. You can reach me at tech stuff 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.880 at Discovery dot com, and I would love to hear 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.360 from you and uh yeah, enjoy your summer now. I 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.400 think it's it's awesome that she she brought up The 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.880 Magicians by Love Grossman because my wife just finished reading 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.120 this book and is already on the second book that 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.440 it follows it, and just just a word of caution. 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.280 When she was first reading it, I had actually given 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:01.760 it to her as a birthday gift, so she first 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:03.640 when she first started reading it, she was like, you know, 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:05.440 it's it's all right, It's all right, And then she 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.440 definitely reached a point where then she was just just 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.600 completely obsessed with it. Uh. And this is this world 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.240 of magic that it creates. So um So if you 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.440 pick it up and it's not getting you right away, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.320 just just wait because if this test case proves to 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.000 be accurate, um, it will get his hooks into you. Well. 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.719 I kind of have a hundred page rule, Like if 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.720 I'm hundred page pages into it and it's not really 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.880 gripping me, then I kind of feel like, Okay, maybe 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:34.040 it's not the thing for me. Although I really do 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:38.480 prefer to finish a book. Yeah, and its entirety, but 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.040 I do feel like sometimes it takes a while for 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.040 the author to kind of get into the material and 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.959 lay it all down to where you're you're firmly set 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.000 in the trap. Yeah, I feel like a hundred page 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.240 rule is pretty fair because because on one hand, you 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.760 don't want to quit books and put them back on 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.000 the shelf or return them unfinished, and you know, you 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:57.320 want to get your money's worth out of it. You 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.760 don't want to be a quitter. But on the other hand, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:01.959 life is short. You can only read so many books 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:03.640 in this life, and it's just not worth it to 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:05.640 struggle through when you're not enjoying. And I know people 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.840 who refuse to give up, like it'll be for months. 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.320 They're complaining about this book they're reading, and you're you're like, 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.080 don't finish it. What are you doing? I've done it 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.640 twice twice. One was a book that had been us 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:20.200 in the title, and I can't remember it, but I 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:22.760 was just I think I actually threw it across the 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.120 the room, um. And then the second one. And I 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.000 would love to pick this up sometime when I have 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.840 like one thousand weeks in a row just to do nothing, 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.640 and that is the infinite just which I think. I 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.560 was on page two hundred and eighty and then I went, Okay, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.040 I can't. Yeah, and it was. And it was so 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:48.400 frustrating to me because this story, the characters were very intriguing, 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.360 but there was so much bobbing and weaving between that 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.520 I kept feeling as though I was dumped on the 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:55.920 side as a reader and would have to keep sort 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.720 of picking back up. So emotionally, I was like, oh, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:00.480 but I was really invested in this, sorry, and here 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.760 I am in some other world. Well, you know, it's 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:04.719 I'm a big believer in the right book for the 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.240 right time. You know, sometimes it'll it'll be a great book, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:08.840 and it will even be a great book for you, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.000 but you have to be in the proper headspace for it. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.040 You've got to have the right appetite for it at 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.240 the time. I mean, we all have those books on 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.679 our shelves who are like, oh, I really would love 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:20.880 to read that, but it's just not time yet. I 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.400 would love to hear from a listener who has read 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:25.920 Infinite just all the way through, and I would love 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.640 to know whether or not it really lives up to 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.360 the hype, Like if you put one thousand pages of 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:33.640 reading into it, will you feel like you had a 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.440 return on investment. On the other side, so if anybody's 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.320 out there, let us know. Alright, up next, we're gonna 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.400 hear from Mary Roach, who was, of course the author 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.440 of Stiff Spook, Bonk Packing from Ours and most recently Gold. 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.320 Of course you've heard us talk about golf. You've heard 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.800 us interview Mary Roach about this book. Uh. And and 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.120 we we we read it and ended up doing a 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.280 number of episodes on Digestion as a spinoff from it. 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.520 So of course we highly recommend any book by Mary 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:03.000 Roach Beach. But but we we also in our recent 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:05.080 talk whether we asked Mary, it's like, well, what books 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.040 are you excited about? Because I'm always interested in that, 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.360 you know, what's feeding the minds of the minds that 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.480 feed us. Uh. And she had a couple of really 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:18.520 tantalizing suggestions for your summer reading. There's a book that 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.800 is coming out by John Mullum uh M O O 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.840 A L. L. E. M. Called Wild Ones. And John 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:28.760 Lallum he wrote, I don't know if you saw it 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:30.800 was a cover story in the New York Times magazine 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:35.000 about homosexuality and animals and people who study it. And 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.400 and he is just the most amazing in terms of 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.480 his research, his ability to write beautiful essay and this 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.560 it's just this writing style, and it's this wonderful book. Well, 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:50.480 it's about how endangered species and and and basically humans 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.640 and how we see animals and what we decide to 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.920 save and what we don't decide to save, and just 0:15:55.960 --> 0:16:03.560 the the unique views of humans, the approach towards different 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.720 animal species over the years. And it's very hard to 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:11.040 describe that book in a way that captures the sparkle 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.600 and interests of it. Anyway, I love that book and 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.720 that is coming out, I believe in May. Yeah, so 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.480 that's coming up. I'm trying to think what else I've 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.720 seen that is coming up. Rose George who wrote that 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.680 wonderful book on that called The Big Necessity, which I 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.720 had to do with poop and sanitation and the global 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:36.320 need for clean bathrooms. A lovely science writer, fascinating book, 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.880 and she has a new one coming out on shipping 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:44.560 global the world behind the scenes world of shipping, which 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.960 is not science, it's not exactly science, but in terms 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.760 of how things work. Just I can't wait to read it, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.240 just just because you know, everything's shipped and it's this 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.280 sort of secret network that's out there and nobody really 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.240 knows much about it, and she spent a year on 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.920 ships and in shipyards and really uh sharreting that out. 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.400 So I'm looking forward to that one very much too. 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:10.359 So there, yeah, there you go. Uh. That shipping book 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:15.240 sounds really interesting. Unfortunately, as of the publication date of 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.919 this particular episode, that book is not out yet. Definitely, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.119 as you're listening to this in the future, uh, it 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.880 is probably already available, but as of now, you're gonna 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.960 have to wait on that, and instead you'll have to 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.040 go after The Big Necessity, which seems like an awesome 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.600 book on its own, very interesting. Um. I also wanted 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.119 to point out that Rose George was a war correspondent 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.640 and she also has a book out on refugees, so 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:41.560 it seems to me like she has covered the spread 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.720 no matter what the topic, as she does some deep 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:48.080 dives on that and John mullum um the Wild Ones book. 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.120 I can't wait to pick that up because I keep 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.800 thinking that that would be a really nice companion book 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.760 to the book we discussed last year, which was Some 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:59.560 we Love, Some we Hate, and Some We Eat, which 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.399 at our relationship with animals and Malalam just kind of 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:06.840 takes it sounds like a different look at animals and 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.960 how we perceive them. And in fact, we have referenced 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.720 one of his articles before when we talked about homosexuality 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:16.439 and animals. Very interested to see what other sort of 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.480 discoveries he has in that book. Cool, you know, we're 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.800 gonna we're gonna take a quick break and when we 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.840 come back, we will hit you with three more guests. Um, 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.399 just throw them at you, Just throw them at you. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:28.960 Two of them are going to be in house here 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.320 from some House Stuff Works podcasters that you you may 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.560 or may not be familiar with already. And then we're 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.960 also gonna hear from one more guest. Is Tracy thisling 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.800 Tracy alright, color back right after these uh these words. 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.280 All right, we're back and uh for this. For this 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.320 half of the episode, we're gonna kick things off with 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:01.280 Tracy V. Wilson, one of the long term of Faces 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:05.480 Voices writers here the rock of How Stuff Works. Yeah, 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:09.359 she's uh, she's the site manager as well as co 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.480 host of formerly of Pop Stuff and currently of Stuff 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.480 you Missed in a history class. So obviously we turned 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.359 to Tracy. We know she's a big reader, really into 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.280 sci fi and fantasy and writer herself writer herself that 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.240 she's an and a poet, and we said, well, hey, 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.439 let's uh, let's let's reach it out out to her, 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.600 see what she's got. And we just said, hey, whatever 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:31.960 you want to recommend to our listeners, let us have it. 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:36.720 So here you go. Hi. My name is Tracy V. Wilson, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.159 co host of Stuff You Missed in History Class, and 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.359 here's my contribution to your summer reading list. It is 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.520 a combination of history and science fiction called The Doomsday 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:50.800 Book by Connie Willis. It came out in and it's 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:55.480 about a world where historians study history by actually traveling 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.439 back in time to observe things. And in this book, 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:03.400 our histor, Orion, our hero of the story, is traveling 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.960 back to the Middle Ages, and she is the first 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.600 historian ever to do this. Of course, things do not 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.160 go as planned, either in the Middle Ages or back home. 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.760 It is a page turner and I hope you all 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.680 enjoy it. Well, that one sounds fun, That one sounds uh, 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.440 you know, it's a little sort of time travel thrown 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:25.040 in there. I knew that she is a fan of that, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.639 even in her own writing, So yeah, be interesting to 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.200 check out. All right. Up next, we're gonna hear from 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.000 David Barnett, who is an English journalist and author. You 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.119 may have seen his work and wired, Uh, the Independent, 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.760 and he's also a regular contributor to Tour Books, the 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.160 blog over there which it covers a lot of fantasy, 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.840 sci fi literary stuff. And I actually block a little 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.160 bit over there at tour Um, so I said, hey, 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:48.679 well it's let me reach out and see whoever at 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:50.280 tour will be interested in talking to us and sharing 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.040 some work with us. David also is a novelist. He's 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.240 written the books The Hinterland, Angel, Glass, Pop Cult, Don't 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.560 Let Them Take You Alive and Uh. He also has 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.200 a book called Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl, which 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:08.439 is alternative history, steam bunk Victorianism, just a lot of 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.119 fun stuff thrown in there. And he has some some 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.800 more horror themed books for us for those of you 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:16.520 who want something a little spooky or a little grimmer 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:22.160 for your summer reading. So let's hear from David. Hello. 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.920 My name is David Barnett, and I'm an author and 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.920 journalist based in the North of England, where I live 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.200 with my wife Claire and our children Charlie and Alice. 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:35.880 The first book in my alternate history Victoriana series, Gideon 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.240 Smith and the Mechanical Girl, is published in September by 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:43.080 Tall Books in the US and Snow Books in the UK, 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.960 and you can find my writing on science fictional matters, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.880 among other things, at Tall dot com and other places. 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.880 I'd like to recommend for your summer reads a couple 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.119 of books that are very different but which could be 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:01.040