Episode 751: Nick Bantock - The Corset & the Jellyfish: A Conundrum of Drabbles
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
3w ago
The internationally bestselling author of Griffin & Sabine returns with his newest literary mystery--a charming assemblage of his own illustrated stories. Each of the invitingly strange tales is paired with its own glyphic creature (perhaps created by Sabine herself). Little is known of the fascinating manuscript that Nick Bantock has come to possess. It was discovered in an attic in North London, stuffed into a battered cardboard box, and unceremoniously delivered directly to Nick's doorstep. Inside the package lay one hundred evocatively absurd stories, one hundred humorous drawings of s ..read more
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Episode 750: Harry Cliff - Space Oddities: The Mysterious Anomalies Challenging Our Understanding Of The Universe
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
3w ago
Experimental physicist at CERN and acclaimed science presenter Harry Cliff offers an eye-opening account of the inexplicable phenomena that science has only recently glimpsed, and that could transform our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. Something strange is going on in the cosmos. Scientists are uncovering a catalogue of weird phenomena that simply can’t be explained by our long-established theories of the universe. Particles with unbelievable energies are bursting from beneath the Antarctic ice.  Unknown forces seem to be tugging on the basic building blocks of matte ..read more
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Episode 749: Richard Schacht - Nietzsche's Kind Of Philosophy: Finding His Way
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
1M ago
A holistic reading of Nietzsche’s distinctive thought beyond the “death of God.” In Nietzsche’s Kind of Philosophy, Richard Schacht provides a holistic interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s distinctive thinking, developed over decades of engagement with the philosopher’s work. For Schacht, Nietzsche’s overarching project is to envision a “philosophy of the future” attuned to new challenges facing Western humanity after the “death of God,” when monotheism no longer anchors our understanding of ourselves and our world. Schacht traces the developmental arc of Nietzsche’s philosophical efforts a ..read more
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Episode 748: Sy Montgomery - Secrets Of The Octopus
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
1M ago
Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals. This new book—written by the beloved author of the international bestseller The Soul of an Octopus, along with Warren Carlyle, founder of Octonation, and enhanced with vivid National Geographic photography—brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures. The companion to the highly-anticipated National Geographic television special—narrated by Paul Rudd and airing for Earth Day—this beautifully illustrated book explores the alluring underwater world of the octopus—a creature that resemb ..read more
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Episode 747: Dr. Marshall Poe - Plagiarism and AI
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
1M ago
Sam and Dr. Marshall Poe, the creator and chief editor of The New Books Network, explore the topic of plagiarism within the academic world amid the current climate of political division. They discuss the actions of political factions aimed at either identifying and removing academics who deliberately steal the work and words of others, or attacking those academics whose political beliefs do not align with their own. Poe argues that perfection is sometimes unattainable and emphasizes the significance of the errors being unintended. Through the lens of Roxanne Gay's situation, Sam and Marshall d ..read more
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Episode 746: Sy Montgomery - Secrets Of The Octopus
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
1M ago
Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals. This new book—written by the beloved author of the international bestseller The Soul of an Octopus, along with Warren Carlyle, founder of Octonation, and enhanced with vivid National Geographic photography—brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures. The companion to the highly-anticipated National Geographic television special—narrated by Paul Rudd and airing for Earth Day—this beautifully illustrated book explores the alluring underwater world of the octopus—a creature that rese ..read more
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Episode 745: Kevin J Mitchell - Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
2M ago
An evolutionary case for the existence of free will Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency--or free will--is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines responding to physical forces but agents acting with purpose. Traversing billions of years of evolution, Mitchell tells the remarkable story ..read more
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Episode 744: Philip Ball - Beautiful Experiments: An Illustrated History of Experimental Science
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
2M ago
Featuring two hundred color plates, this history of the craft of scientific inquiry is as exquisite as the experiments whose stories it shares.   This illustrated history of experimental science is more than just a celebration of the ingenuity that scientists and natural philosophers have used throughout the ages to study—and to change—the world. Here we see in intricate detail experiments that have, in some way or another, exhibited elegance and beauty: in their design, their conception, and their execution. Celebrated science writer Philip Ball invites readers to marvel at and admire th ..read more
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Episode 743: Paul Halpern - The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
2M ago
Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can’t stop thinking about the multiverse. As it turns out, physicists are similarly captivated.     In The Allure of the Multiverse, physicist Paul Halpern tells the epic story of how science became besotted with the multiverse, and the controversies that ensued. The questions that brought scientists to this point are big and deep: Is reality such that anything can happen, must happen? How does quantum mechanics “choose ..read more
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Episode 742: John Parrington - Consciousness: How our brains turn matter into meaning
The Avid Reader Show
by Samuel Hankin
2M ago
What is the material basis of the thoughts that occur inside our heads?Where do imaginative, creative, or spiritual thoughts come from - can these really be the product of nerve impulses in the brain? And is the human mind radically different from that of other species, or is our uniqueness more superficial than real? In this book, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new theory of human consciousness, arguing that a qualitative leap in consciousness occurred during human evolution as language and tool use transformed our brains. Rejecting outdated views of the brain as a hard-w ..read more
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