Best Science of Reading Advocate Podcasts (2025)

1
Christina Lane, "Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock" (Chicago Review Press, 2020) 1:01:36

Play Pause

17h ago1:01:36

1:01:36

A platinum beauty with an ugly secret; a tall, dark, and handsome husband with murder in his eyes; starkly lit interiors that may or may not include the silhouette of a rotund British gentleman…. This may sound like a catalog of images from the films of Alfred Hitchcock, but it is just as much an encapsulation of the works of Joan Harrison, a studi…

1
Nayma Qayum, "Village Ties: Women, NGOs, and Informal Institutions in Rural Bangladesh" (Rutgers UP, 2021) 1:02:46

16h ago1:02:46

1:02:46

Across the global South, poor women’s lives are embedded in their social relationships and governed not just by formal institutions – rules that exist on paper – but by informal norms and practices. Village Ties: Women, NGOs, and Informal Institutions in Rural Bangladesh (Rutgers UP, 2021) takes the reader to Bangladesh, a country that has risen fr…

1
Melodie H. Eichbauer, "Law in a Culture of Theology: The Use of Canon Law by Parisian Theologians, Ca. 1120-Ca. 1220" (Routledge, 2025) 48:57

16h ago48:57

48:57

Law in a Culture of Theology: The Use of Canon Law by Parisian Theologians, ca. 1120-ca. 1220 (Routledge, 2025) considers the study of law within its intellectual environment. It demonstrates that theologians associated with the schools of Paris in the twelfth century, particularly Peter the Chanter and his circle, had a working knowledge of Romano…

1
Philip Gamaghelyan, "Conflict Resolution Beyond the International Relations Paradigm: Evolving Designs as a Transformative Practice in Nagorno-Karabakh and Syria" (Ibidem Press, 2017) 37:45

12h ago37:45

37:45

Conflict Resolution Beyond the International Relations Paradigm: Evolving Designs as a Transformative Practice in Nagorno-Karabakh and Syria (Ibidem Press, 2017) holds the promise of freeing approaches and policies with regard to politics of identity from the fatalistic grip of realism. While the conceptual literature on identity and conflicts has …

1
Páraic Kerrigan, "LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland" (Routledge, 2020) 1:13:37

13h ago1:13:37

1:13:37

“We know what we want, and one day, our prince will come,” says Toby, the bicycle-shorts-wearing, double ententre-making, unacknowledgely-gay neighbor in RTE’s Upwardly Mobile. Though the first queer characters in Irish entertainment television were tropes and stereotypes, they represented an important shift in LGBTQ visibility in Irish media. The …

1
Jemma Deer, "Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World" (Bloomsbury, 2020) 45:44

4m ago45:44

45:44

Jemma Deer’s Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World (Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2020) invites the reader to take a moment and to ponder on the way of reading. In her book, the author challenges the narcissistic position of the human being: a status that has been established for some time and which has already been challenged before but d…

1
Susanna Rabow-Edling, "The First Russian Revolution: The Decembrist Revolt Of 1825" (Reaktion Books, 2025) 51:48

4m ago51:48

51:48

On the 200th anniversary of the Decembrist Revolt, Susanna Rabow-Edling published The First Russian Revolution: The Decembrist Revolt Of 1825 (Reaktion Books, 2025), a new book about the first Russian Revolution. Though the 1825 coup attempt failed in its aspiration to change how Russia was governed, that failure has nevertheless cast a long shadow…

1
Joe Allen, "The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS" (Haymarket Books, 2020) 1:01:15

12h ago1:01:15

1:01:15

If the 20th Century was the American Century, it was also UPS's Century. Joe Allen's The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS (‎Haymarket Books, 2020), tears down the Brown Wall surrounding one of America's most admired companies—the United Parcel Service (UPS). The company that we see everyday but know so little about. How did a company th…

1
Pluribus Episode 3 Analysis: The Amazonification of Everything 28:48

4m ago28:48

28:48

It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we analyze the third episode of Vince Gilligan’s new series Pluribus. We talk through this episode as a literalization of the problem of being an individual in late-stage capitalism or, if you prefer, the Amazonification of everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our sh…

1
Lara Silverman, "Singing Through Fire: A Memoir of Finding Surprising Joy in Life's Darkest Trials" (Isaiah 4320 Press, 2025) 1:01:33

1d ago1:01:33

1:01:33

What if you fall in love on the brink of death? Singing Through Fire (Isaiah 4320 Press, 2025) invites readers into the Job-like true story of a young woman who loses everything-and dares to ask why a good God allows it. When Stanford Law graduate Lara Palanjian collapses on her dream job, she never imagines it will lead to four years bedridden-or …

1
Rizvana Bradley, "Anteaesthetics: Black Aesthesis and the Critique of Form" (Stanford UP, 2023) 1:02:09

1d ago1:02:09

1:02:09

In Anteaesthetics: Black Aesthesis and the Critique of Form (Stanford UP, 2023), Rizvana Bradley begins from the proposition that blackness cannot be represented in modernity's aesthetic regime, but is nevertheless foundational to every representation. Troubling the idea that the aesthetic is sheltered from the antiblack terror that lies just beyon…

1
Jessica Catherine Reuther, "The Bonds of Kinship in Dahomey: Portraits of West African Girlhood, 1720–1940" (Indiana UP, 2025) 1:14:01

1d ago1:14:01

1:14:01

From the 1720s to the 1940s, parents in the kingdom and later colony of Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin) developed and sustained the common practice of girl fostering, or "entrusting." Transferring their daughters at a young age into foster homes, Dahomeans created complex relationships of mutual obligation, kinship, and caregiving that also exp…

1
Stephanie Wambugu, "Lonely Crowds" (Little, Brown and Co., 2025) 43:14

1d ago43:14

43:14

In Lonely Crowds (Little, Brown and Co., 2025) Ruth, an only child of recent immigrants to New England, lives in an emotionally cold home and attends the local Catholic girl's school on a scholarship. Maria, a beautiful orphan whose Panamanian mother dies by suicide and is taken care of by an ill, unloving aunt, is one of the only other students at…

1
Jennifer Yip, "Grains of Conflict: The Struggle for Food in China’s Total War, 1937-1945" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 55:40

1d ago55:40

55:40

How did China’s Nationalists feed their armies during the long war against Japan? In her new book, Grains of Conflict: The Struggle for Food in China’s Total War, 1937-1945 (Cambridge UP, 2025), Jennifer Yip (National University of Singapore) looks at China’s military grain systems from field to frontline. Yip examines the bureaucratic processes an…

1
Ann Cavlovic, "Count on Me" (Guernica Editions, 2025) 47:13

1d ago47:13

47:13

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with author Ann Cavlovic about her new novel, Count on Me (Guernica Editions, 2025). Count on Me exposes how a family can fracture when aging parents grow frail and debts from the past resurface. Tia is raising a baby when her older brother Tristan gradually takes over their ailing parents’ bank accou…

1
Bryan A. Banks, "Write to Return: Huguenot Refugees on the Frontiers of the French Enlightenment" (McGill-Queen's, 2024) 41:59

1d ago41:59

41:59

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes led more than 200,000 Huguenots to flee France after 1685. Many settled close to the country's frontiers, where their leaders published apologetic texts arguing for their right to return to France and be recognized as French citizens. By framing their refugee experiences intentionally, even using the term "refu…

1
Richard H. Thaler and Alex Imas, "The Winner's Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now" (Simon and Schuster, 2025) 54:22

1d ago54:22

54:22

Alex Imas is the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Professor of Behavioral Science, Economics and Applied AI and a Vasilou Faculty Scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he has taught Negotiations and Behavioral Economics. He is a Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Applied AI and the Human Capital & Economic Opportunity, a…

1
Lucy Caplan, "Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera" (Harvard UP, 2025) 59:59

1d ago59:59

59:59

Recently, musicologists and others have started writing about Black participation in opera. Lucy Caplan’s Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera (Harvard UP, 2025) is a major new publication on this topic. Caplan examines what she calls a Black operatic counterculture in the US dating from the performance of H. Lawrence …

1
William Ury, "Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict" (Harper Business, 2024) 34:32

1d ago34:32

34:32

The author of the world’s best-selling book on negotiation draws on his nearly fifty years of experience and knowledge grappling with the world’s toughest conflicts to offer a way out of the seemingly impossible problems of our time. Conflict is increasing everywhere, threatening everything we hold dear—from our families to our democracy, from our …

1
How to Boost Trichomes Naturally | Mastering Airflow | Resetting Your Grow Between Runs | Understanding Plant Stress | Grow Guides Ep. 65 58:46

2h ago58:46

58:46

In this week’s episode of Grow Guides, we’re digging into four key topics that can seriously level up your next harvest: How to Boost Trichome Production Naturally: We break down the techniques, environmental tweaks, and plant-training methods that help your buds pack on more frost without gimmicks or snake oil. Airflow and Circulation: The Secret …

1
13 // How to Crochet Gifts for Christmas Without the Stress: 7 Tips to Reduce Guilt and Overwhelm 18:18

3d ago18:18

18:18

Do you ever feel guilty for not finishing crochet gifts on time — or overwhelmed trying to make something perfect for someone else? You’re not alone. In this episode, we’re talking about how to crochet gifts for Christmas without the stress and how to reduce the guilt and overwhelm that can sneak into your craft. You’ll learn 7 simple tips to help …

1
Miranda S. Spivack, "Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back" (The New Press, 2025) 44:52

3d ago44:52

44:52

Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize A groundbreaking look at how ordinary people are fighting back against their local and state governments to keep their communities safe, by an award-winning journalist Most Americans are likely to encounter the effects of government malfeasance or neglect close to home—from their governors, mayors, town coun…

1
Eric H. Cline, "Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed" (Princeton UP, 2025) 1:07:05

2d ago1:07:05

1:07:05

From the acclaimed author of 1177 B.C., a spellbinding account of the archaeological find that opened a window onto the vibrant diplomatic world of the ancient Near East In 1887, an Egyptian woman made an astonishing discovery among the ruins of the heretic king Akhenaten’s capital city, a site now known as Amarna. She found a cache of cuneiform ta…

1
David Kieran, "Signature Wounds: The Untold Story of the Military's Mental Health Crisis" (NYU Press, 2019) 50:01

3d ago50:01

50:01

The surprising story of the Army's efforts to combat PTSD and traumatic brain injury The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a tremendous toll on the mental health of our troops. In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama took to the Senate floor to tell his colleagues that "many of our injured soldiers are returning from Iraq with traumatic brain inju…

1
Carolyn T. Adams et. al, "Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century" (Penn Press, 2025) 37:06

3d ago37:06

37:06

Informed by current scholarship and richly illustrated with full-color photographs and maps, Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century (Penn Press, 2025) brings to the public an up-to-date, diverse history of Philadelphia across its many dimensions. Volume 1 adopts "Greater Philadelphia" to indicate a regional scope, but not …

1
13.5 - John Holmwood 1:05:39

4m ago1:05:39

1:05:39

In this episode, Claudia Radiven and Saeed Khan spoke with Professor John Holmwood about the UK’s Prevent policy, part of the Counter Terror Strategy concerned with radicalisation. We discussed the trajectory of Prevent from its beginnings where it focussed on community cohesion, to changes between 2011 and 2015 after the Trojan Horse Scandal in Bi…

1
Sonia Faleiro, "The Robe and the Sword: How Buddhist Extremism Is Shaping Modern Asia" (Columbia UP, 2025) 41:40

3d ago41:40

41:40

When the robe becomes a weapon, who can stop the violence? We think of Buddhism as a faith of peace—rooted in compassion, patience, and nonviolence. But across South and Southeast Asia today, the robe is being turned into a weapon, as radical monks and nationalist movements unleash hatred and war. In The Robe and the Sword: How Buddhist Extremism i…

1
John Jackson, "Special Advocates in the Adversarial System" (Routledge, 2020) 1:13:25

3d ago1:13:25

1:13:25

Special Advocates in the Adversarial System (Routledge, 2020) uncovers the little known phenomenon of Special Advocates who represent the best interests of an excluded party in closed trials. Professor John Jackson's empirical analysis draws into question the commitment of legal-systems to long-held principles of adversarial justice, due process an…

1
Basit Kareem Iqbal, "The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution" (Fordham UP, 2025) 1:16:50

3d ago1:16:50

1:16:50

Basit Kareem Iqbal's new book The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution (Fordham UP, 2025) uses ethnographic scenes from Jordan and Canada to contextualize the role of Muslim charities and community organizations that support displaced refugees from the Syrian catastrophe. Through these encounters, however, we learn not …

1
David Garland, "Law and Order Leviathan: America’s Extraordinary Regime of Policing and Punishment" (Princeton UP, 2025) 1:02:27

2d ago1:02:27

1:02:27

The United States has long been an international outlier, with a powerful business class, a weak social state, and an exceptional gun culture. In Law and Order Leviathan: America’s Extraordinary Regime of Policing and Punishment (Princeton UP, 2025), David Garland shows how, after the 1960s, American-style capitalism disrupted poor communities and …

1
Lillian Allen et. al, "Muttertongue: What Is a Word in Utter Space" (Exile Editions, 2025) 32:38

3d ago32:38

32:38

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery interviews Gregory Betts, one of the poets behind the collaboration, Muttertongue: what is a word in utter space (Exile Editions, 2025) – by Lillian Allen (Toronto’ s seventh Poet Laureate, a dub poet, writer, and Juno Award winner), Gary Barwin (poet, writer, composer, multimedia artist, performer, and educ…

1
Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth 55:54

4d ago55:54

55:54

Humanity’s relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if there are objects in space that are so large and heavy that not even light can escape them? Almost 250 years later, in April 2019, scientists presented the first picture of a black hole. Profoundly inspi…

1
Ronald Angelo Johnson, "Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution" (Cornell UP, 2025) 1:25:55

4d ago1:25:55

1:25:55

Entangled Alliances is a reinterpretation of the American Revolution through analysis of diplomacy in the emerging United States during decades of hemispheric transformation. Ronald Angelo Johnson brings to light the fascinating story of American patriots and rebels from Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) allying against European tyranny. The American Re…

1
Craig Hogan, "The Unlikely Primeval Sky" (American Scientist, November-December) 30:27

4d ago30:27

30:27

Of all the patterns that could possibly be preserved in the post–Big Bang radiation, the one we see is surprisingly smooth on large angular scales. Sitting by a campfire on a dark night, looking up at the Milky Way, a curious child asks, “What does the sky tell us? Where does it all come from? Does space go on forever?” A caring adult might share a…

1
Pierre-Yves Donzé & Maki Umemura, "Pierre-Yves Donzé & Maki Umemura, Japan and the Great Divergence in Business History" (JESB, 2025) 32:37

4d ago32:37

32:37

For much of the late 20th century, Japanese business historians were core contributors to the global field. They published, collaborated, and shaped debates. But something shifted after 2000. Their international visibility - and participation in emerging theoretical conversations - declined. In Japan and the Great Divergence in Business History (Do…

1
Justin Marozzi, "Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World" (Pegasus Books, 2025) 40:01

4d ago40:01

40:01

Slavery has been a ubiquitous practice throughout much of world history–and the Muslim world was no exception. Slave soldiers, concubines, and eunuchs can be found throughout Muslim writings—which, as Justin Marozzi points out in his book Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World (Pegasus Books, 2025), e…

1
Eric Halsey, "State Builders from the Steppe: A History of The First Bulgarian Empire" (This is RETHINK, 2025) 45:35

4d ago45:35

45:35

State Builders from the Steppe: A History of the First Bulgarian Empire (This is RETHINK, 2025) explores how the Proto-Bulgarians were able to build both an empire and an identity amidst the turmoil of the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages. From creating the Cyrillic Alphabet and crowning the first ever Tsar to defeating the first Arab invasion of E…

1
Caroline Jack, "Business as Usual: How Sponsored Media Sold American Capitalism in the Twentieth Century" (U Chicago Press, 2024) 1:10:38

4d ago1:10:38

1:10:38

Business as Usual: How Sponsored Media Sold American Capitalism in the Twentieth Century, (U Chicago Press, 2024) reveals how American capitalism has been promoted in the most ephemeral of materials: public service announcements, pamphlets, educational films, and games—what Caroline Jack calls “sponsored economic education media.” These items, whic…

1
Amy L. Allocco and Xenia Zeiler eds., "Sweetening and Intensification: Currents Shaping Hindu Practices" (SUNY Press, 2025) 33:33

4d ago33:33

33:33

Sweetening and Intensification: Currents Shaping Hindu Practices (SUNY Press, 2025) explores how these two currents are shaping the contours of contemporary Hindu worship, myth, and visual and material culture in contemporary South Asia and its diasporas. This volume focuses on two alternately converging and diverging currents that increasingly sha…

1
Anand P. Vaidya, "Future of the Forest: Struggles over Land and Law in India" (Cornell UP, 2025) 1:23:11

4d ago1:23:11

1:23:11

In Future of the Forest: Struggles over Land and Law in India (Cornell UP, 2025), Anand P. Vaidya tells the story of the making and unmaking of India’s Forest Rights Act 2006, a law enacted to secure the largest redistribution of property in independent India by recognising the tenure and use rights of millions of landless forest dwellers. Beginnin…

1
Mila Burns, "Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War" (UNC Press, 2025) 46:27

4d ago46:27

46:27

Dictatorship Across Borders: Brazil, Chile, and the South American Cold War (UNC Press, 2025) offers a groundbreaking perspective on the 1973 Chilean coup, highlighting Brazil’s pivotal role in shaping the political landscape of South America during the Cold War. Shifting the focus from the United States to interregional dynamics, Mila Burns argues…

1
Kevin Trudeau: Banned, Censored, Still Speaking the Truth | Episode 120 1:13:54

4d ago1:13:54

1:13:54

KEVIN TRUDEAU recently granted an interview to top Apple podcaster Kayvon Kay and this one will really WAKE YOU UP! From being called “the infomercial king” to serving time for challenging the system, Kevin reveals the untold truths about POWER, MINDSET, and how to manifest your reality. He also goes deep into the REAL LAW OF ATTRACTION, how we’re …

1
Catching up with Trevor and Kirk from the Reefer MEDness Podcast 1:39:32

2h ago1:39:32

1:39:32

Trevor and Kirk are the hosts of Reefer MEDness, a podcast all about medical cannabis. These guys were on our show way back in the early days. I’m talking maybe our 7th or 8th episode, so around five years ago! I was chatting with them on Instagram recently and thought it’d be great to get them back on the show to catch up and see how things have b…

1
Józef Tischner, "The Philosophy of Drama" (U Notre Dame Press, 2024) 1:41:26

5d ago1:41:26

1:41:26

The Philosophy of Drama (U Notre Dame Press, 2024), by the Catholic philosopher Józef Tischner (translated by Artur Rosman, University of Notre Dame Press, 2024), explores human existence as dramatic existence—shaped by encounter, dialogue, temptation, and the hope for justification or salvation. In this conversation, Rosman reflects on the challen…

1
Aaron Magid, "The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan" (Universal Publishers, 2025) 52:47

5d ago52:47

52:47

The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan (Universal Publishers, 2025) is the first comprehensive biography on Jordan’s King Abdullah. Drawing on interviews with over 100 individuals, including Abdullah's classmates, former Jordanian ministers, and CIA directors, The Most American King offers a thorough account of this key Arab leader. Aaron Magid…

1
Maren Halvorsen, "The Bailiff’s Wife" (Cuidono Press, 2025) 38:15

5d ago38:15

38:15

Despite the long-held perception that medieval and early modern women were as quiet, pious, and obedient as society expected them to be, the truth is more complex. The Bailiff’s Wife (Cuidono Press, 2025) builds on a historical event recorded in a seventeenth-century English broadsheet to create a picture of a society in flux, the result of far-rea…

1
Thomas Kador, "Object-Based Learning: Exploring Museums and Collections in Education" (UCL Press, 2025) 41:10

5d ago41:10

41:10

In Object-Based Learning: Exploring Museums and Collections in Education (UCL Press, 2025), Thomas Kador provides a concise overview of some of the most important approaches to material culture and object analysis in plain and easily understandable language that is equally accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as lecturers. …

1
Michal Govrin et. al, "But There Was Love―Shaping the Memory of the Shoah" (de Gruyter, 2025) 33:41

5d ago33:41

33:41

But There Was Love―Shaping the Memory of the Shoah (de Gruyter, 2025) proposes a new paradigm for Shoah remembrance in today’s cultural and political reality. It derives from the four-year workings of a group of researchers and artists at The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute led by Michal Govrin. The group positions the extraordinary Jewish and non-Jew…

1
Tracy Borman, "The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2025) 49:45

5d ago49:45

49:45

In the long and dramatic annals of British history, no transition from one monarch to another has been as fraught and consequential as that which ended the Tudor dynasty and launched the Stuart in March 1603. At her death, Elizabeth I had reigned for 44 turbulent years, facing many threats, whether external from Spain or internal from her cousin Ma…

1
Sophie Bishop, "Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity, and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture" (U California Press, 2025) 32:03

5d ago32:03

32:03

How are influencers changing the arts? In Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity, and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture (U California Press, 2025) Sophie Bishop, an Associate Professor in the University of Leeds’ School of Media and Communication analyses the lives of artists and influencers to understand the working and living con…

Science Of Reading Advocate Podcasts