Best Paul Alan Read Podcasts (2025)

1
253 - Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Vol. 6 1:09:30

Play Pause

7h ago1:09:30

1:09:30

We're finally at the end of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing! When we last left him, he was stuck in space on an alien planet, making the best of his situation with whatever plants he could find. Will he ever make it back to Earth to see Abigail? Or will he just putz around with Adam Strange and Hawkgirl for a while? We'll find out in issues 57-64! Next Ti…

1
739 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (#14 GBOAT) | Johannes Gutenberg (with Eric Marshall White) 1:34:01

3d ago1:34:01

1:34:01

Thanks to his invention of Europe's first typographic printing method, and his pioneering work on the first printed Bible, the fifteenth-century German inventor Johannes Gutenberg has a fame and reputation that continues to this day. In 1997, Time magazine credited him with the most important innovation of the past one thousand years. However, due …

1
The Invisible Hierarchies that Rule Our World (with Toby Stuart) 1:13:15

6d ago1:13:15

1:13:15

Status isn't fixed; it's transferred and "bestowed," shaping who gets resources, attention, and opportunity. So argues author Toby Stuart of UC Berkeley in his book, Anointed. He and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore why hierarchies persist--reducing conflict, allocating scarce resources, and curating our overwhelming choices--and how endorsements, b…

1
SLoB's Four (literary) weddings and a funeral 59:38

2d ago59:38

59:38

The label says what's in the tin: Secret Life of Books dives deep into weddings and funerals in literature, asking why they become iconic moments to hang a story on. Family strife, betrayal, love, passion, disappointment and hope are all bound up in these major life events where we see characters' true colors and desires writ large. Hosted on Acast…

1
738 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (#15 Greatest Book of All Time) 1:16:09

7d ago1:16:09

1:16:09

Emily Brontë only published one full-length book before dying at the tragically young age of 30. But that book, Wuthering Heights, which tells the story of obsessive and vengeful love on the rugged moors of Yorkshire, is still considered one of the pinnacles of English literature, landing at #15 on the list of Greatest Books of All Time. In this ep…

1
737 "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs 42:21

11d ago42:21

42:21

It's October! Jacke kicks off his favorite month with a classic tale of horror, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. Perhaps you know the general contours of the paradigmatic "be careful what you wish for" story from the Simpsons or another popularization - but just how scary was the original story? And who was W.W. Jacobs? Join Jacke on a trip throu…

1
Wilkie Collins 2: The Moonstone 1:11:54

9d ago1:11:54

1:11:54

With The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins published yet another giant sensation, this time pioneering the detective novel and mystery/heist genre. It was published in 1868 and serialised - just as The Woman White was - in Dickens’ All the Year Round, making it one of the most popular books of Victorian Britain. Jonty and Sophie will show how The Moonstone…

1
252 - X-Factor by Peter David: The 2000s Run + Thunderbolts #25 1:27:24

9d ago1:27:24

1:27:24

We loved Peter David's X-Factor so much last time, so we're going back in for more! Except this time we're taking a look at his 2005 reboot of the title, coming hot off the heels of House of M and Decimation. We've still got Multiple Man struggling with controlling his dupes, but now we've got depowered mutants and an inexplicably omnipotent little…

1
Eating with Intelligence (with Julia Belluz) 1:05:49

10d ago1:05:49

1:05:49

Losing weight should be simple: eat less, exercise more. But according to author and health journalist Julia Belluz, it's complicated. Listen as Belluz talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about her new book, Food Intelligence. Belluz argues that a calorie is pretty much a calorie whether it's carbs or fat. Keeping calories under control is often har…

1
736 Jane Austen's Favorite Brother, Henry (with Christopher Herbert) | A Letter from the South of France | My Last Book with Nicholas Jenkins 1:00:29

13d ago1:00:29

1:00:29

Jane Austen had six brothers, but her older brother Henry was her favorite. Kind and witty, Henry has long been appreciated by Austen fans for his devotion to Jane and his championing of her novels. But Henry was a fascinating figure in his own right, capering through risky financial schemes and marrying an enigmatic French countess before ending h…

1
BONUS: Jennifer Egan on the Woman in White 37:37

14d ago37:37

37:37

As part of our ongoing “That’s Classic!” series, we're joined by the wonderful Jennifer Egan to chat about the sensational thriller The Woman in White. Jennifer is one of the most loved, admired and critically acclaimed writers in America, with fans all over the world. Jennifer is a Pulitzer Prize winner and was President of the vitally important P…

1
Wilkie Collins 1: The Woman in White 1:19:36

16d ago1:19:36

1:19:36

The Woman in White was a sensation when it was serialised in Charles Dickens’ magazine All The Year Round in 1859 and 1860. It begins with an uncanny late-night meeting on the road to London between a young man and a woman dressed entirely in white. It ends with a sensational cat and mouse game between a villain and his pursuers. One of the unsung …

1
Steven Pinker on Common Knowledge 1:23:20

16d ago1:23:20

1:23:20

Why are Super Bowl ads so good for launching certain kinds of new products? Why do we all drive on the same side of the road? And why, despite laughing and crying together, do we often misread what others think? According to bestselling author and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, it all comes down to common knowledge, or the phenomenon that happ…

1
735 Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (with Mark Hussey) | My Last Book with Graham Watson 1:23:55

21d ago1:23:55

1:23:55

Jacke talks to author Mark Hussey (Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel) about Virginia Woolf's beloved novel Mrs Dalloway, which turned 100 earlier this year. PLUS author Graham Watson (The Invention of Charlotte Bronte) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open thr…

1
SLOB Reads: The Sonnet with Paul Muldoon 38:24

20d ago38:24

38:24

For several weeks we've been recording a subscribers-only mini series on the history of the sonnet in English. Sonnets are crowd-pleasers - short, sometimes sweet, and they always deliver a lot of bang for the reading buck. Today, one of the world's great living poets, Paul Muldoon, Pulitzer Prize winner and former poetry editor of the New Yorker, …

1
734 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (#16 GBOAT) | 1925 - A Literary Encyclopedia (with Tom Lutz) 56:09

25d ago56:09

56:09

Jacke talks to author Tom Lutz about 1925: A Literary Encyclopedia, which provides a fascinating window into a year when literature was arguably at its peak centrality. PLUS a look at J.R.R. Tolkien and his influential Lord of the Rings, #16 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup open th…

1
The Secret Life of Trains: how rail travel changed fiction - for ever 1:04:19

22d ago1:04:19

1:04:19

It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria. Alongside the platform at Aleppo stood the train grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus Express. So Agatha Christie began her sleeper [car] hit, Murder on the Orient Express (1934). All aboard! In the latest of SLoB's much-loved special episodes on surprising, fun, and always deeply re…

1
251 - X-Factor by Peter David: The 90s Run + Thunderbolts #24 1:17:09

23d ago1:17:09

1:17:09

Today we're taking a look at Peter David's classic run on X-Factor! We get a spotlight focus on Jamie Madrox aka Multiple Man, we meet Strong Guy, and we get a nice new team of mutants to work with. We're reading his first arc in issues #71-75 and then jumping forward to a fun therapy issue with #87. It gets weird. Then we're getting to the end of …

1
How Did America Build the Arsenal of Democracy? (with Brian Potter) 1:05:05

27d ago1:05:05

1:05:05

American manufacturing of aircraft during WWII dwarfed that of its enemies. By the end of the war, an American assembly line was producing a B-24 bomber in less than an hour. But that success was far from inevitable. Structural engineer and writer Brian Potter speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the logistical challenges of ramping up product…

1
733 Haruki Murakami (with Mike Palindrome | To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (#17 GBOAT) | A Letter from Tehran 1:24:11

28d ago1:24:11

1:24:11

Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) is one of the rare writers who combines literary admiration with widespread appeal. Host Jacke Wilson is joined by lifelong Murakami fan Mike Palindrome to discuss what makes his novels so compelling, so mysterious, and so popular. Works discussed include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and …

1
BONUS: Writing Virginia Woolf's life (with Hermione Lee) 43:40

27d ago43:40

43:40

In this final episode in SLoB's series on Virginia Woolf, Jonty talks to literary biographer Hermione Lee whose Virginia Woolf (1996) is perhaps the most respected account of her life and art in a world not short on them. Hermione talks about the challenges in writing about somebody who had such firm views on what a biography should and shouldn't b…

1
732 The Bible (#18 GBOAT) | The Diaries of Samuel Pepys (with Kate Loveman) | Health Advice 1:13:35

1M ago1:13:35

1:13:35

Jacke starts the episode by looking at the different ways that ten writers have viewed the Bible, #18 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Then he's joined by scholar Kate Loveman, one of the few people in the world who's been able to read the diaries of Samuel Pepys in the original shorthand, for a discussion of her book The Strange Hist…

1
Virginia Woolf 5: The Waves 57:11

30d ago57:11

57:11

We thought we’d be concluding our Virginia Woolf deep-dive with "A Room of One’s Own," but we’ve enjoyed this series so much we decided to extend. Today we’re looking at the book which many Woolf obsessives consider her masterpiece. Woolf published The Waves in 1931, just two years after her string of masterpieces, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, …

1
How Teams Succeed (with Colin Fisher) 1:03:22

1M ago1:03:22

1:03:22

What makes some groups thrive while others crash and burn? According to organizational-behavior scholar Colin Fisher, the real villains are rarely individuals, but dysfunctional teams and organizations. Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss the reasons for the free-rider problem and the importance of meaningful, well-defined tasks to inc…

1
731 The Brothers Karamazov Reclaimed (#19 Greatest Book of All Time) 1:21:06

1M ago1:21:06

1:21:06

Responding to a special request from a listener, Jacke discusses Fyodor Dostoevsky, his novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the search for meaning in a meaningless world. This episode was originally released as episode #250 on October 7, 2020. For reasons Jacke discusses, it has not been available for several years. One show note: at several points i…

1
730 "To Autumn" by John Keats | The Invention of Charlotte Brontë (with Graham Watson) | My Last Book with Sara Charles 1:06:20

1M ago1:06:20

1:06:20

Jacke looks forward to a new season by exploring the language and imagery of John Keats's famous ode to autumn. Then he talks to Graham Watson about his new book The Invention of Charlotte Brontë: A New Life, which tells the story of how how Charlotte reinvented herself as an acclaimed author, a mysterious celebrity, and a passionate lover. PLUS Sa…

1
Virginia Woolf 4: A Room Of One's Own 1:09:41

1M ago1:09:41

1:09:41

Thank God, my long toil at the women’s lecture is this moment ended. I am back from speaking at Girton, in floods of rain. Starved but valiant young women – that’s my impression. That’s what Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary after delivering the lectures that became “A Room of One’s Own,” arguably the most important feminist manifesto of the twenti…

1
Humans Are Overrated (with Christine Webb) 1:10:53

1M ago1:10:53

1:10:53

Are humans the most intelligent species, or just the most arrogant? NYU primatologist Christine Webb, author of The Arrogant Ape, believes that human exceptionalism is a myth that does more harm than good. Listen as she speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how research has skewed our understanding of animals' capabilities, the surprising inner…

1
729 Milton the Revolutionary (with Orlando Reade) | My Last Book with Jodi Picoult | More Exciting News 1:07:45

1M ago1:07:45

1:07:45

Since the publication of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost in 1667, readers and critics have noted the relationship between the poem and the author's political and personal struggles. What has been less prominent - at least until now - is how the poem came to haunt various political struggles over the next four centuries. In this episode, Jacke…

1
250 - Freaky Friday! Body Swap Comics + Thunderbolts #23 1:12:22

1M ago1:12:22

1:12:22

We've got Freaky Friday Fever and we're reading three body swap stories that are all over the map! Daredevil and Doctor Doom swap places in Daredevil #37 & 38! Emma Frost spends some time in Iceman's body in Uncanny X-Men #314! High school-aged Peter Parker trades places with Wolverine in Ultimate Spider-Man #66 & 67! And we're still continuing Thu…

1
Virginia Woolf 3: Orlando 1:20:20

1M ago1:20:20

1:20:20

Virginia Woolf wrote Orlando, a gender-defying historical romance, in 1927, when her intimate friend and lover Vita Sackville-West left London to join her diplomat husband Harold Nicholson in Tehran. Orlando is a love-story set across 300 years of English history, starting in the Elizabethan court and finishing in 1920s England. It features an irre…

1
Hemingway, Love, and War (with David Wyatt) 1:06:28

1M ago1:06:28

1:06:28

What can Ernest Hemingway teach us today about the morality of war, the eternal and transient nature of love, and how to write a masterpiece? Listen as author and teacher David Wyatt talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about Hemingway's epic For Whom the Bell Tolls. Topics include Hemingway's role in the wars of the 20th century, the book's context …

1
728 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (#20 GBOAT) | Lorraine Hansberry - RECLAIMED 1:30:35

2M ago1:30:35

1:30:35

As part of the "25 for '25" series, Jacke starts the episode with a look at #20 on the list of Greatest Books of All Time, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Then he reclaims a previous episode devoted to Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun, a brilliant playwright who died at the tragically young age of 34. (The Hansbe…

1
BONUS: Reading Mrs Dalloway (with Alexandra Schwartz) 29:39

2M ago29:39

29:39

"Throw that party. Go for it. It's worth it." In today’s Mrs. Dalloway special episode, Sophie talks to Alex Schwartz, writer, critic and co-host of the New Yorker Magazine’s Critics at Large pod. On “Critics at Large’ she discusses the most urgent cultural matters, ranging from Sesame Street to the Pope to Meaghan and Harry to Ancient Rome. Which …

1
727 Earthly Paradise in Old French Verse (with Jacob Abell) | My Last Book with Victorian Literature Expert Allen MacDuffie | A Dueling Neapolitan Passionate for Poetry 1:04:12

2M ago1:04:12

1:04:12

What happened to Eden? While today we might view the story of Adam and Eve as metaphorical, for many generations of Christians, the Earthly Paradise was a vibrant symbol at the heart of the cosmos. In this episode, Jacke talks to Jacob Abell about his book Spiritual and Material Boundaries in Old French Verse: Contemplating the Walls of the Earthly…

1
Virginia Woolf 2: To The Lighthouse 1:09:44

2M ago1:09:44

1:09:44

50 is the new 25! “To the Lighthouse” is Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece about summer holidays and the passage of time. It’s perhaps the greatest novel ever written about middle-age, published when Viriginia Woolf herself was middle aged, and recorded by Sophie and Jonty at the height of their middle aged powers. The novel was published in 1927, after…

1
Tim Ferriss on Tim Ferriss (and much much more) 2:06:49

2M ago2:06:49

2:06:49

Cold plunges. Exogenous ketones. Pu-erh tea--but hold the breakfast: it's all par for the morning routine, at least if you're entrepreneur, self-experimenter, and king of the lifehacks, Tim Ferriss. From how he manages the challenges of his celebrity to how he manages to stay in great shape; how he does--and when he doesn't--harness the power of AI…

1
726 England vs France - A Literary Battle Royale (with Mike Palindrome) - RECLAIMED 1:03:36

2M ago1:03:36

1:03:36

“Our dear enemies,” a French writer once called the English. Englishman John Cleese called the French “our natural enemies” and joked “if we have to fight anyone, I say let’s fight the French.” With the exception of some (very important) twentieth-century alliances, the French and the English have been at each others’ throats for a thousand years. …

1
BONUS: Virginia Woolf, the not-so-Common Reader (with Alexandra Harris) 34:55

2M ago34:55

34:55

‘Think of a book as a very dangerous and exciting game, which it takes two to play at.’ For Virginia Woolf, reading wasn’t a passive act. It requires guts and ingenuity. At times one is locked in combat with a book, at others one is the ‘accomplice’ of a writer, like an accomplice to crime, aiding an act of daring imagination. Few people read as cl…

1
725 The Trial by Franz Kafka (#21 GBOAT) | Edith Wharton and Patrick O'Brian (with Olivia Wolfgang-Smith) | An Uplifting Story 1:18:40

2M ago1:18:40

1:18:40

Jacke starts the episode with an uplifting story, then submerges himself into chaos and absurdity for a look at The Trial by Franz Kafka, which lands at #21 on the list of Greatest Books of All Time. Then he welcomes novelist Olivia Wolfgang-Smith to the show for a discussion of her admiration for Edith Wharton, her passion for the works of Patrick…

1
Virginia Woolf 1: Mrs Dalloway 1:13:56

2M ago1:13:56

1:13:56

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Not the Secret Life of Books, as we joyfully immerse ourselves in four of Woolf's greatest books to celebrate what is probably the most extraordinary middle-aged flowering of literary talent in history. Virginia Woolf was 43 when she published Mrs. Dalloway, 100 years ago in 1925. She went on to publish To the Lighth…

1
249 - Superman Smashes the Klan + Thunderbolts #22 1:11:21

2M ago1:11:21

1:11:21

Did you know Superman hates racism? It's true, he's been fighting against it for decades now! We're taking a look at Superman Smashes the Klan from 2019 by Gene Luen Yang and art by Gurihiru, which is not just set in the 1940s, but also based on an old radio play from the 1940s. As the Klan makes their presence known in Metropolis to scare away a n…