New Books Network
History of Science
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel October 21, 2021

Why Learn History (When It's Already on Your Phone)

Sam Wineburg

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
We are surrounded by more readily available information than ever before. And a huge percentage of it is inaccurate. Some of the bad info is well-meaning but ignorant. Some of …

History of Science

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Interviews with historians of science about their new books.

Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 19, 2021

The Cyclic Universe

Roger Penrose

Hosted by Howard Burton
In the last twenty years, cosmology has unexpectedly emerged as one of the most exciting and dynamic fields of modern science. From astoundingly precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background …
African Studies October 11, 2021

Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa

Kalle Kananoja

Hosted by Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia
In Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa (Cambridge UP, 2021), Kalle Kananoja tells the story of how pre-colonial communities throughout the west coast of Africa employed a wide range of medical …
History of Science October 8, 2021

Race Unmasked

Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century

Michael Yudell

Hosted by Hussein Mohsen
Race, while drawn from the visual cues of human diversity, is an idea with a measurable past, an identifiable present, and an uncertain future. The concept of race has been …
Japanese Studies October 5, 2021

From Country to Nation

Ethnographic Studies, Kokugaku, and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan

Gideon Fujiwara

Hosted by Jingyi Li
From Country to Nation: Ethnographic Studies, Kokugaku, and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan (Cornell UP, 2021) tracks the emergence of the modern Japanese nation in the nineteenth century through the history of …
Critical Theory October 5, 2021

Cataloguing Culture

Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation

Hannah Turner

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How does colonialism still shape museums today? In Cataloguing Culture: Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation (UBC Press, 2020), Hannah Turner, an assistant professor in the School of Information at the …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 4, 2021

Deconstructing Genius

Darrin McMahon

Hosted by Howard Burton
Deconstructing Genius is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and intellectual historian Darrin McMahon, Dartmouth College. The word “genius” evokes great figures like Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci …
East Asian Studies October 1, 2021

Healing with Poisons

Potent Medicines in Medieval China

Yan Liu

Hosted by Victoria Lupascu
At first glance, medicine and poison might seem to be opposites. But in China’s formative era of pharmacy (200–800 CE), poisons were strategically deployed as healing agents to cure everything …
Science September 28, 2021

The Chemistry of Fear

Harvey Wiley's Fight for Pure Food

Jonathan Rees

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Though trained as a medical doctor, chemist Harvey Wiley spent most of his professional life advocating for "pure food"—food free of both adulterants and preservatives. A strong proponent of the …
Science September 28, 2021

Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe

Brian Clegg

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and consequence. In Ten Patterns That Explain the …
History of Science September 28, 2021

American Independent Inventors in an Era of Corporate R&D

Eric. S. Hintz

Hosted by Nathan Moore
Wonder how America's individual inventors persisted alongside corporate R&D labs as an important source of inventions beginning at the turn of the early twentieth century? American Independent Inventors in an Era …
Science September 28, 2021

Getting Under Our Skin

The Cultural and Social History of Vermin

Lisa T. Sarasohn

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
For most of our time on this planet, vermin were considered humanity's common inheritance. Fleas, lice, bedbugs, and rats were universal scourges, as pervasive as hunger or cold, at home …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast September 27, 2021

The Problems of Physics, Reconsidered

Tony Leggett

Hosted by Howard Burton
The Problems of Physics, Reconsidered is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Physics Nobel Laureate Tony Leggett. The basis of this conversation is Tony Leggett’s book …
Mathematics September 27, 2021

Poems That Solve Puzzles

The History and Science of Algorithms

Chris Bleakley

Hosted by Cory Brunson
As algorithms become ever more significant to and embedded in our everyday lives, ever more accessible introductions to them are needed. While several excellent technical and critical treatments have emerged …
Systems and Cybernetics September 27, 2021

Stafford Beer

The Father of Management Cybernetics

Vanilla Beer and Allenna Leonard

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
In this episode I am in conversation with artist and author Vanilla Beer about her 2019 book Stafford Beer: The Father of Management Cybernetics. While he got his start in …
General History September 24, 2021

Big and Little Histories

Sizing Up Ethics in Historiography

Marnie Hughes-Warrington and Anne Martin

Hosted by Alexandra Ortolja-Baird
Big and Little Histories: Sizing Up Ethics in Historiography (Routledge, 2021) introduces students to ethics in historiography through an exploration of how historians in different times and places have explained …
Science September 24, 2021

DSM

A History of Psychiatry's Bible

Allan V. Horwitz

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Over the past seventy years, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, has evolved from a virtually unknown and little-used pamphlet to an imposing and comprehensive compendium …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast September 24, 2021

A Matter of Energy

Biology From First Principles

Nick Lane

Hosted by Howard Burton
A Matter of Energy: Biology From First Principles is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nick Lane, Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London and …
Science September 23, 2021

Delicious

The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human

Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez

Hosted by Hussein Mohsen
Nature, it has been said, invites us to eat by appetite and rewards by flavor. But what exactly are flavors? Why are some so pleasing while others are not …
Scholarly Communication September 22, 2021

Writing Science

How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded

Joshua Schimel

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Joshua Schimel, Professor of soil ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and …