Best Brenda Smart Podcasts (2025)

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Irin Carmon with Melissa Murray: Unbearable 1:01:05

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1h ago1:01:05

1:01:05

In this episode of Library Talks, Irin Carmon speaks with Melissa Murray about her new book Unbearable. In Unbearable, Irin Carmon draws on the history and politics of reproduction, showing how the American story of pregnancy has long been incomplete, hidden, or taken for granted. Pregnant herself while reporting on the lived experiences of five wo…

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Why is the SEC Concerned about Privacy now? 1:02:58

4d ago1:02:58

1:02:58

At DevConnect 2025, Sebastian and Friederike speak with Peter Van Valkenburgh about the rapidly evolving battle for digital rights. Peter challenges the industry's comfort with transparency, arguing that "transparency will destroy neutrality." He uses the history of SWIFT to illustrate how a once-neutral messaging system was captured by geopolitica…

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Maternal, with Babalwa Magoqwana 45:28

4h ago45:28

45:28

How have maternal - and grandmaternal - ways of knowing been sidelined and undervalued? What role has sociology’s focus on its ‘founding fathers’ played? And what’s the cost, in South Africa and beyond? Babalwa Magoqwana, Director of the Centre for Women and Gender Studies at Nelson Mandela University, joins us from Gqeberha. In this fascinating co…

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Francesca Wade with Brenda Wineapple: Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife 53:25

1h ago53:25

53:25

In this episode of Library Talks, Author Francesca Wade, joins Library Talks to discuss her new book Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife she is joined by fellow author Brenda Wineapple who's most recent book is national bestseller, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation. Gertrude Stein's Paris salon is the stuff of literary…

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Cosmos: The Linux of Blockchains? 55:06

13d ago55:06

55:06

Captured live at Cosmoverse 2025, this episode brings host Sebastian in conversation with Michael (better known as Cryptocito, Cosmos investor via Cito Ventures) and Magnus (@0xMagmar, Co-CEO Cosmos Labs). Against a backdrop of institutional gravitas, central banks mingling alongside Revolut executives, the conversation traces Cosmos' arc across fi…

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Ray D. Madoff with Gary Gulman: The Second Estate 55:34

14d ago55:34

55:34

In this episode of Library Talks, Ray D. Madoff, a professor at Boston College Law School, talks about her new book The Second Estate which lifts the veil on the 7,000-page tax code that has created two Americas. In one America, "millions of working Americans pay substantial portions of their resources to support the expenses of the country." In an…

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Yield Basis: Disrupting Defi & Bitcoin Yield 1:00:05

21d ago1:00:05

1:00:05

Brian Fabian Crain and Michael Egorov, Curve Finance founder, discuss Curve's origins: solving inefficient DAI/USDC swaps after MakerDAO borrows by creating a DeFi AMM for stablecoins and LSTs. It hit 1M TVL with a bonding curve concentrating liquidity at 1:1, more effective for pegged assets than Uniswap. Features grew to include BTC wrappers, stE…

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Cheryl McKissack Daniel with Charlamagne Tha God: The Black Family Who Built America 51:42

11d ago51:42

51:42

In this episode of Library Talks, Cheryl McKissack Daniel—fifth-generation leader of the nation's oldest Black-owned design and construction services firm, sits down with multimedia mogul Charlamagne Tha God to discuss her family's extraordinary 200-year history, as captured in her new book The Black Family Who Built America. From the National Civi…

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28 Samhain 11:00

6d ago11:00

11:00

Exploring the Thin Veil – Mugwort and Dream Work for Samhain As the veil thins and the season shifts, we enter a time for remembering, dreaming, and listening to the whispers between worlds. In this reflective episode, I share the ancient roots of Samhain, explore the sacred symbolism of dreams, and introduce you to Mugwort — one of the most powerf…

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At Your Service – Leading with Excellence, Celebrating Women in Business 38:09

21d ago38:09

38:09

October is Women's History Month. To celebrate, Dr. Brenda Oldham welcomes Claudette Harris, Founder of At Your Service Consulting - a women-owned business dedicated to organizational excellence and customer service leadership - to the show. The two discuss how Claudette's work is transforming the way people serve, lead, and succeed. Learn more abo…

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Lamina1: Building The Future of The Creator Economy 59:47

28d ago59:47

59:47

Sci-fi titan Neal Stephenson, whose Snow Crash coined the term 'metaverse' and Cryptonomicon, which foreshadowed crypto in 1999, joins Friederike to discuss his "hard sci-fi" method: building immersive, consistent worlds, not prophecy. He's now co-founder of Lamina1, aiming to restore Web1's ethos and give creators IP sovereignty with direct microp…

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Gish Jen with Weike Wang: Bad Bad Girl 58:58

29d ago58:58

58:58

In this episode of Library Talks, acclaimed novelist Gish Jen joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book Bad Bad Girl. She is joined by fellow novelist Weike Wang. Bad Bad Girl began as a memoir of her late mother, Loo Shu-hsin, before evolving into a fictionalized portrait of their turbulent mother-daughter relationship. As a child Shu-hsin le…

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Desire, with Angelique Nixon 47:26

26d ago47:26

47:26

What’s behind the reductive pursuit of “paradise” in travel to the Caribbean? How does tourism continue the legacy of colonialism? And how is this being resisted? We’re joined by Angelique Nixon, a scholar and activist at The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, whose book “Resisting Paradise” examined how tourism shapes Caribbean life a…

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Is Blockchain Still a Revolution or Becoming Another Upgrade? Ep.621 1:15:34

1M ago1:15:34

1:15:34

As blockchain tech gets co-opted by legacy players for efficiency gains, has the revolution lost its edge? Crypto philosopher Paul Dylan-Ennis and Jito's Head of Governance, Dr. Nick Almond, join Friederike to probe this shift from 2017's visionary DAOs to today's Telegram-negotiated votes and whale capture. Rooted in philosophy and complex systems…

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David Szalay with Dua Lipa: Flesh 40:31

1M ago40:31

40:31

In this episode of Library Talks, join Dua Lipa for a live discussion of Flesh by David Szalay, a book club pick for Service95—the global lifestyle platform and weekly newsletter she founded. Longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, Flesh tells the rags-to-riches story of Istvan, a lonely young man raised on a Hungarian housing estate, whose rise from…

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Brave: Building the Private User-Friendly Internet - Kyle Den Hartog 1:07:04

1M ago1:07:04

1:07:04

Brave has spent a decade building a privacy-first browser that empowers users with tools like ad-blocking and fingerprinting protection, now serving 100 million monthly active users. Security engineer Kyle Den Hartog joins Friederike to unpack the centralization traps in digital identity from email's spam-driven dominance to one-size-fits-all DeFi …

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Brian Jones with Bettina L. Love and Jesse Hagopian: Black History Is for Everyone 1:27:17

1M ago1:27:17

1:27:17

In this episode of Library Talks, Educator NYPL staff member and author Brian Jones joins Library Talks to discuss his new book Black History Is for Everyone. He is joined by Dr. Bettina L. Love and Jesse Hagopian. In Black History Is for Everyone, Brian Jones offers a meditation on the power of Black history, using his own experiences as a lifelon…

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Noble: Solving Crypto's Liquidity Problem, One Chain at a Time - Jelena Djuric 41:26

2M ago41:26

41:26

In this episode, Sebastien is joined by Jelena Djuric, co-founder of Noble, a generic asset issuance chain built for the Cosmos ecosystem. Jelena shares her journey into crypto, which began with an interest in political science, leading her to discover Bitcoin's potential. She describes the origins of Noble, created to solve a critical need within …

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The New Yorker Editorial Roundtable 1:00:25

1M ago1:00:25

1:00:25

In this episode of Library Talks , in honor of The New Yorker's 100th anniversary, editor David Remnick is joined by Henry Finder, Tyler Foggatt, Susan Morrison, and Daniel Zalewski for a rare editorial roundtable. They offer an insider's view into how articles are assigned, crafted, and brought to life—from first pitch to final publication—and how…

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BONUS: Len Garrison, Archives and Self-Esteem – from ‘Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism’ 19:20

2M ago19:20

19:20

A bonus offering for Uncommon Sense listeners! We’re sharing our mini-series, Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism, in which three experts introduce us to three key figures in the story of UK anti-racism, illuminating how they show us what that term really means – and what it takes – but also how their work and ideas speak to sociology. How can archi…

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BONUS: Gerlin Bean and Black British Feminist Socialism – from ‘Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism’ 24:47

2M ago24:47

24:47

A bonus offering for Uncommon Sense listeners! We’re sharing our mini-series, Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism, in which three experts introduce us to three key figures in the story of UK anti-racism, illuminating how they show us what that term really means – and what it takes – but also how their work and ideas speak to sociology. What did Blac…

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BONUS: Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Tech and Anti-Racism – from ‘Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism’ 23:23

2M ago23:23

23:23

A bonus offering for Uncommon Sense listeners! We’re sharing our mini-series, Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism, in which three experts introduce us to three key figures in the story of UK anti-racism, illuminating how they show us what that term really means – and what it takes – but also how their work and ideas speak to sociology. What does tec…

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Benjamin Sarquis Peillard: Cap Labs – Insured Yield & the Future of Stablecoins 58:02

2M ago58:02

58:02

In this episode, Sebastien Couture is joined by Benjamin, the founder of CAP, a stablecoin protocol designed to provide insured yield. The protocol features two main products: CUSD, a digital dollar, and stCUSD, its staked, yield-bearing version. Yield is generated through an "allocation engine" where third-party operators borrow from the protocol'…

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Jill Lepore with Jamal Greene: We the People 55:32

2M ago55:32

55:32

In this episode of Library Talks, American historian Jill Lepore joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. She is joined by constitutional law expert Jamal Greene. On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, Jill Lepore's We the People reexamines this foundational text not as…

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Tricia Hersey with Glory Edim: We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape 51:24

2M ago51:24

51:24

In this episode of Library Talks, multidisciplinary artist and theologian, Tricia Hersey joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape. She is joined by Glory Edim, author of Well Read Black Girl. Tricia Hersey is the founder of The Nap Ministry. She is the global pioneer and originator of the "rest as resistance" …

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Mento: Onchain FX Markets - Decentralising World Currencies - Markus Franke 1:06:14

2M ago1:06:14

1:06:14

TradFi FX markets are slow, expensive and often lack liquidity for direct swaps between different world currencies, having to route through USD pairs. While crypto could technically solve pairing through AMM pools, those needed to be arbitraged in order to reflect TradFi rates. With 15 fully-backed stablecoins, Mento is building the largest FX infr…

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Love & Reproduction, with Alva Gotby 44:51

2M ago44:51

44:51

Made tea for your partner today? Helped a vulnerable neighbour? You may have been performing what Alva Gotby calls “emotional reproduction” – the caring and emotional work we do to create good feeling amid life under capitalism, but that also plays a part in reproducing that very system and its norms. While it may feel like love, such work can be e…

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Lauren O'Neill-Butler with E.C. Feiss and Ciarán Finlayson: The War of Art 53:03

2M ago53:03

53:03

In this episode of Library Talks, Author and editor Lauren O'Neill-Butler joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book, The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest in America. The War of Art tells the history of artist-led activism and the global political and aesthetic debates of the 1960s to the present. In contrast to the financialized art m…