Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchYi-Ling Liu, "The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet" (Knopf, 2026)
Episode 2799
Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As Pres…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo, "Governing Digital China" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Episode 2798
China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China (Cambr…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Tom Bolton, "Atomic Albion: Journeys Around Britain’s Nuclear Power Stations" (Strange Attractor, 2025)
Episode 2797
The United Kingdom has sixteen nuclear power stations. Most go under the radar, but their presence is enormous, both physically and culturally. They …
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Jacob Mchangama, "Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media" (Basic Books, 2022)
Episode 155
Jacob Mchangama, founder and director of the think tank Justitia, has written a one-volume history of freedom of thought, which ranges from the lone…
8 months, 4 weeks ago
Jon R. Lindsay "Age of Deception: Cybersecurity as Secret Statecraft" (Cornell UP, 2025)
Episode 182
At the heart of cybersecurity lies a paradox: Cooperation makes conflict possible. In Age of Deception (Cornell University Press 2025), Jon R. Lindsa…
8 months, 4 weeks ago
Rob Gallagher, "Artgames after GamerGate" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)
Episode 2794
Videogame culture is obsessed with development. But gaming is still widely associated with wasted time, squandered potential and backwards attitudes.…
8 months, 4 weeks ago
Polina Dimova, "At the Crossroads of the Senses: The Synaesthetic Metaphor Across the Arts in European Modernism" (Penn State UP, 2024)
Episode 2793
Inspired by Richard Wagner’s idea of the total artwork, European modernist artists began to pursue multimedia projects that mixed colors, sounds, and…
8 months, 4 weeks ago
Tom Griffiths, "The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind" (Henry Holt and Co., 2026)
Episode 2792
The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind (Henry Holt and Co., 2026) is an exploration of the quest to use mathematics to…
9 months ago
Jennifer Vail, "Friction: A Biography" (Harvard UP, 2026)
Episode 2791
Friction, the force that resists motion, is synonymous with difficulty and complication. If you’ve ever replaced tires worn smooth by the road or rea…
9 months ago
Andreas Killen, "Nervous Systems: Brain Science in the Early Cold War" (Harper, 2023)
Episode 348
In this eye-opening chronicle of scientific research on the brain in the early Cold War era, the acclaimed historian Andreas Killen traces the comple…
9 months ago