A radical, optimistic exploration of how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will. Lately, the most passionate advocates of the theory of evolution seem to present it as bad news. Scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Sam Harris tell us that our most intimate actions, thoughts, and values are mere byproducts of thousands of generations of mindless adaptation. We are just one species among multitudes, and therefore no more significant than any other living...
May 04, 2018•1 hr 8 min
James Van Der Zee was just a young boy when he saved enough money to buy his first camera. He took photos of his family, classmates, and anyone who would sit still for a portrait. By the fifth grade, James was the school photographer and unofficial town photographer. Eventually he outgrew his small town and moved to the exciting, fast-paced world of New York City. After being told by his boss that no one would want his or her photo taken by a black man, James opened his own portrait studio in Ha...
Apr 14, 2018•57 min
Born into a world of magic wielders without any powers of her own, Keriya Nameless isn’t exactly hero material, yet she’s chosen to save the last living dragon. She doesn’t know why it happened, and frankly she doesn’t care—this is her chance to prove her worth. Unfortunately, countless others are determined to get their hands on that dragon—everyone from smugglers to kings, from the Empress of Allentria to the most powerful warlord who ever lived—and Keriya quickly realizes she’s at the center ...
Mar 28, 2018•1 hr 11 min
How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost youth? How can you accept the failings of the past, the sense of futility in the tasks that consume the present, and the prospect of death that blights the future? In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive. You will learn why missing out might be a goo...
Mar 09, 2018•1 hr 16 min
Set in the early 1990s, All The Castles Burned is about Owen Webb, the son of working-class parents, receives a scholarship to the prestigious Rockcastle Preparatory Academy. He is befriended by the enigmatic Carson Bly, an upperclassman from a wealthy and powerful family. Their friendship, deepened through a love of basketball, becomes an obsession. During the summer before his sophomore year, Owen’s father is arrested for a shocking and unexpected crime. With his family torn apart, his anger a...
Feb 14, 2018•1 hr 5 min
The Stowaway is the spectacular, true story of a scrappy teenager from New York’s Lower East Side who stowed away on the Roaring Twenties’ most remarkable feat of science and daring: an expedition to Antarctica. It was 1928: a time of illicit booze, of Gatsby and Babe Ruth, of freewheeling fun. The Great War was over and American optimism was higher than the stock market. What better moment to launch an expedition to Antarctica, the planet’s final frontier? There wouldn’t be another encounter wi...
Jan 31, 2018•1 hr 12 min
In a word-drunk romp through an alternate, preapocalyptic America, Ana Simo’s fiction debut, Heartland , turns the classic murder mystery on its head with the story of a thwarted author’s elaborate revenge on the woman who stole her lover, blending elements of telenovela, lesbian pulp noir, and dystopian satire. Ana Simo is a New York playwright, essayist, and lesbian activist. Born and raised in Cuba, she immigrated to Paris in time to witness the May 1968 revolt, and participate in early women...
Jan 18, 2018•1 hr 3 min
It’s tough living in the 21st century, when mythical beings not only roam the earth, but camp out on your sofa and raid your refrigerator. Jobs are scarce; angels infest Brooklyn (the demons have taken all the good property in Manhattan) and minor gods bus tables at the local diner. The mortals of New York must balance not only their checkbooks but keep a close eye on their souls’ karmic account. Darwin lives in Brooklyn, the borough of choice for hipsters, artists, deities and an assortment of ...
Jan 03, 2018•1 hr 14 min
Tatiana “Pluta” Spektor was a mostly happy, if awkward, young girl–until her sociologist father was disappeared during Argentina’s Dirty War. Sent a world away by her grieving mother to attend boarding school outside New York City, Pluta wrestles alone with the unresolved tragedy and at last runs away: to the streets of Brooklyn in 1980, where she figuratively–and literally–spreads her wings. Told with haunting fabulist imagery by debut novelist Anca L. Szilagyi, this searing tale of love, loss,...
Dec 20, 2017•42 min
In this glittering tale of forgotten treasures and long-held secrets, international bestseller Karen Swan explores one woman’s journey to discovering the truth behind an abandoned apartment and a family whose mysteries may be better left undiscovered. When high-powered fine art agent Flora Sykes is called in to assess objets d’art in a Paris apartment that has been abandoned since WWII, she is skeptical at first—until she discovers that the treasure trove of paintings is myriad…and priceless. Th...
Dec 06, 2017•1 hr 9 min
For anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, “Are we alone?” Sarah Scoles examines the science behind the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and its pioneer, Jill Tarter, the inspiration for the main character in Carl Sagan’s Contact. Jill Tarter is a pioneer, an innovator, an adventurer, and a controversial force. At a time when women weren’t encouraged to do much outside the home, Tarter ventured as far out as she could―into the three-Kelvin cold of deep space. And sh...
Nov 23, 2017•52 min
Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is an international sports writer, historian, and consultant, working at the intersections of sports, international affairs, and global communications. The author of The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010 , her work on how identity, immigration, race, gender, and diplomacy play into our world today appears in CNN International, Sports Illustrated, Roads & Kingdoms, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Review France Forum, Vice Sport, and more. The Makin...
Nov 08, 2017•1 hr 6 min
In this episode, Jon interviews Chelsea Marshall and Mary Dauterman about their book, What Are We Even Doing With Our Lives? In this a charming, satirical “children’s” book, BuzzFeed’s animals editor turned video producer and acclaimed art director/illustrator poke fun at our contemporary, hyper-connected, and often mundane millennial age and the absurdities of the #blessed time and place in which we all now live. Welcome to “Digi Valley,” the epitome of twenty-first-century urban life! The anim...
Oct 25, 2017•1 hr 12 min
Supriya Kelkar was born and raised in the Midwest. She learned Hindi as a child by watching three Bollywood films a week. After college she realized her lifelong dream of working in the film industry when she got a job as a Bollywood screenwriter. She has credits on one Hollywood film and several Hindi films. AHIMSA , inspired by her great-grandmother’s role in the Indian freedom movement, is her debut middle-grade novel. In 1942, when Mahatma Gandhi asks Indians to give one family member to the...
Sep 13, 2017•40 min
C. A. Higgins writes novels and short stories. She was a runner-up in the 2013 Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing and has a B.A. in physics from Cornell University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Jon talks with Catherine about her book, Lightless , the first in a trilogy. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED AND KIRKUS REVIEWS • With deeply moving human drama, nail-biting suspense—and bold speculation informed by a degree in ...
Aug 30, 2017•54 min
Michelle Young is a graduate of Harvard College in the History of Art and Architecture and holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture. She is the author of Secret Brooklyn: An Unusual Guide , New York: Hidden Bars & Restaurants , and Broadway . Michelle appears regularly as a guest speaker in documentaries, on television, and at conferences on urban issues. Sh...
Aug 16, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Naomi Pitcairn is an artist and activist committed to advancing the urgent social issues of our times. She is passionate about the rights of immigrants, whistleblowers, native americans and other oppressed minorities. Using disruptive art projects and purposeful pranks along with her arts background (including her time as a Times Square billboard painter) she has masterminded over 50 gigantic street art chalks from the Bay area to Baltimore and garnered a fair amount of positive press for her ca...
Aug 02, 2017•59 min
Krystal was the former Chief Marketing Officer and advisor to the board for Honey Bun Limited when she resigned to go on a journey to answer the questions that consumed her. Through her Eat-Pray-Love-esque journey, she not only found the answers she was in search of, and a deepened spiritual relationship with life, but the journey healed her struggles with depression and anxiety and has given her a lasting sense of peace and joy, even in turbulent times. She is now a motivational writer and spea...
Jul 19, 2017•1 hr 6 min
Malik Wade has lived three lives. As a teenager, he was an enterprising drug dealer. As a young man, he was a fugitive from the FBI and eventually a prison inmate. As an adult, Malik transformed his life to become a mentor, author, entrepreneur, and the Executive Director of Scholastic Interest Group. When not speaking at universities as a youth advocate, he likes to work out, read, write, and travel to places like Ghana. Malik lives in San Francisco. Buy Pressure: From FBI Fugitive to Freedom o...
Jul 05, 2017
Andrew Ervin is the author of the novels Burning Down George Orwell’s House and Extraordinary Renditions. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other places. He lives in Philadelphia and teaches at Temple University In Bit by Bit, a blend of history, memoir, and reportage, Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of this often maligned cultural form. He travels to government laboratories, junk shops, and art museums. He scientists and hobby...
Jun 21, 2017
Jon Ramer is a space artist, writer, President of the International Association of Astronomical Artists , Fellow IAAA member, retired military officer, avid photographer and world traveller. IAAA/Jon Ramer’s Patreon page for the new book, Our Alien Earth. The post The Beauty of Space – Ep 16 with Jon Ramer appeared first on Read Learn Live Podcast ....
Jun 07, 2017
Ward Regan has a Ph.D. in Labor and Cultural History from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He teaches history and philosophy at New York University’s Liberal Studies Program. He edited and contributed to Great Books Written in Prison, published in 2015 by McFarland Press. His chapter “Thomas Paine: life during wartime” was published in the anthology Experiencing the French Revolution, published by Oxford University in 2013. He was also a Consulting Producer for the documentary Ob...
May 24, 2017
John F. Simon, Jr. is a visual artist and author of “ Drawing Your Own Path ” (Parallax Press, 2016) As one of the pioneers in the development of Software Art, his seminal work “Every Icon” was included in the 2000 Whitney Biennial and his ‘art appliances’ can be found in the permanent collections of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others. Jon speaks with John about his book, Drawing Your Own Path: 33 Pract...
May 10, 2017
Massimo is a philosopher of science and evolutionary biologist at the City College of New York. He holds PhDs in genetics, evolutionary biology, and philosophy. His areas of research include the nature of evolutionary theory and the phenomenon of pseudoscience. He has written for many outlets, including the New York Times, and has written or edited ten books. He blogs at platofootnote.org and howtobeastoic.org . Jon talks with Massimo about his book, How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy T...
Apr 26, 2017
Eileen Merwin has been fortunate to write and publish fables and other assorted forms of offbeat fiction for both children and adults. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College– and has been published in acclaimed children’s magazines Cricket and Spider, as well as having received the Vermont Playwrights Award and honorariums from Highlights and TADA Youth Theater in New York City. Currently she writes for Bearport Publishers in New York City and teaches literature & writin...
Apr 12, 2017
Deepak Unnikrishnan is a writer from Abu Dhabi and a resident of the States, who has lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, Brooklyn, New York and Chicago, Illinois. He has studied and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and presently teaches at New York University Abu Dhabi. Temporary People, his first book, was the inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. In this episode, Jon interviews Deepak about his new book, Temporary People . In the United Arab Emirates, foreign ...
Mar 29, 2017
Dr. Lloyd Sederer is Chief Medical Officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health, the nation’s largest state mental health system; Adjunct Professor at the Columbia/Mailman School of Public Health; Medical Editor for Mental Health at The Huffington Post; and a Contributing Writer to US News & World Report. Dr. Sederer is a monthly regular on Sirius-XM Insight Radio. He has published 7 books for professional audiences and 4 books for lay and student audiences, as well as 500 articles ...
Mar 01, 2017
Who would have guessed a former surf shop owner would ever become the award-winning author of 22 books and a corporate training working with companies large and small? Nobody. Yet, that’s what Lee Silber did—and he did it by believing in himself (even when others didn’t) and running with his wild ideas. In this episode, Jon interviews Lee about his book Sunshine . Social media for Lee Silber: Facebook page Twitter YouTube Lee’s Blog Amazon Author GoodReads LinkedIn The post Finding Happiness – E...
Feb 15, 2017
John Kaag is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and is the author of American Philosophy: A Love Story, published in October by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, that was recently named an New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of the Best Books of 2016 by National Public Radio. His writing has been featured in the NYT, WSJ, Harper’s, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. In this episode, Jon interviews John about his book American Philosophy, A Love Story . Social media...
Feb 01, 2017•1 hr 7 min
Cecilia Galante is the author of three middle grade novels, three young-adult novels, an 8-book chapter book series, and two adult novels. Her first book, The Patron Saint of Butterflies, published in 2008, was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Original Voices Award by Borders, an Oprah Pick for Teens, and a Best Book of the Year by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association. Her first adult novel, The Invisibles, published by Harper Collins, was released last summer to ra...
Jan 18, 2017•59 min
