Listen to Owen Bennett-Jones discuss the future of opinion polls with Mark Pack

New Books Network
Science, Technology, and Society
Literary Studies May 20, 2022

How to Do Things with Dead People

History, Technology, and Temporality from Shakespeare to Warhol

Alice Dailey

Hosted by John Yargo
Alice Dailey’s How to Do Things with Dead People: History, Technology, and Temporality from Shakespeare to Warhol (Cornell University Press, 2022) is an exploration of Shakespeare’s chronicle plays through the …

Science, Technology, and Society

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Interviews with scholars of science, technology and society about their new books.

Science May 19, 2022

The Joy of Science

Jim Al-Khalili

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
Today’s world is unpredictable and full of contradictions, and navigating its complexities while trying to make the best decisions is far from easy. The Joy of Science (Princeton UP, 2022) …
Sports May 19, 2022

Eugenics and Physical Culture Performance in the Progressive Era

Watch Whiteness Workout

Shannon L. Walsh

Hosted by Keith Rathbone
Today we are joined by Dr. Shannon Walsh, Associate Professor of Theatre History, and author of Eugenics and Physical Culture Performance in the Progressive Era: Watch Whiteness Workout (Palgrave MacMillan …
Technology May 18, 2022

Artificial Communication

How Algorithms Produce Social Intelligence

Elena Esposito

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Algorithms that work with deep learning and big data are getting so much better at doing so many things that it makes us uncomfortable. How can a device know what …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast May 18, 2022

The Covid Pandemic and Learning about Learning

Pandemic Perspectives 11

Stephen Kosslyn

Hosted by Howard Burton
In this Pandemic Perspectives Podcast, Ideas Roadshow founder and host Howard Burton talks to renowned cognitive psychologist Stephen Kosslyn about how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced, or didn't influence, our understanding …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast May 17, 2022

When Animals Dream

The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness

David M. Peña-Guzmán

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Are humans the only dreamers on Earth? What goes on in the minds of animals when they sleep? When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness (Princeton UP, 2022) …
General History May 17, 2022

Globalizing Automobilism

Exuberance and the Emergence of Layered Mobility, 1900–1980

Gijs Mom

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Why has "car society" proven so durable, even in the face of mounting environmental and economic crises? In Globalizing Automobilism: Exuberance and the Emergence of Layered Mobility, 1900–1980 (Berghahn Books …
Media May 17, 2022

Disinformation

The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-Truth Era

Donald A. Barclay

Hosted by Marci Mazzarotto
Does the idea of a world in which facts mean nothing cause anxiety? Fear? Maybe even paranoia? Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-Truth Era (Rowman and …
Poetry May 17, 2022

Synaptic

Alison Calder

Hosted by Sine Yaganoglu
This intricate, yearning work from award-winning poet Alison Calder asks us to think about the way we perceive and the ways in which we seek to know ourselves and others …
Physics and Chemistry May 16, 2022

An Infinity of Worlds

Cosmic Inflation and the Beginning of the Universe

Will Kinney

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
In the beginning was the Big Bang: an unimaginably hot fire almost fourteen billion years ago in which the first elements were forged. The physical theory of the hot nascent …
Science, Technology, and Society May 16, 2022

Four Shades of Gray

The Amazon Kindle Platform

Simon Peter Rowberry

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Four Shades of Gray: The Amazon Kindle Platform (MIT Press, 2022) is the first book-length analysis of Amazon's Kindle explores the platform's technological, bibliographical, and social impact on publishing. Dr …
Animal Studies May 13, 2022

Elephant Trails

A History of Animals and Cultures

Nigel Rothfels

Hosted by Marcela Hernandez
When looking at historic records of all kinds—from prehistoric cave drawings and ancient rock art in Africa and India, from poetic narrations of travelers to hunter memoirs and press stories …
Critical Theory May 12, 2022

The Politics of Immunity

Security and the Policing of Bodies

Mark Neocleous

Hosted by Catriona Gold
Our contemporary political condition is obsessed with immunity. The immunity of bodies and the body politic; personal immunity and herd immunity; how to immunize the social system against breakdown. The …
Indian Religions May 12, 2022

Holy Science

The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism

Banu Subramaniam

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism (University of Washington Press, 2019), Banu Subramaniam examines how science and religion have come together to propel a vision of the modern Indian nation …
Business, Management, and Marketing May 11, 2022

Evolutionary Ideas

Unlocking Ancient Innovation to Solve Tomorrow's Challenges

Sam Tatam

Hosted by John Emrich
When faced with new challenges, it’s easy to feel our solutions need to be equally unprecedented. We think we need a revolution. But what if this is a big mistake …
Anthropology May 11, 2022

Prophets and Ghosts

The Story of Salvage Anthropology

Samuel J. Redman

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology (Harvard UP, 2021) is a searching account of nineteenth-century salvage anthropology, an effort to preserve the culture of “vanishing” Indigenous peoples through …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast May 11, 2022

Covid and the Art of Science Communication

Pandemic Perspectives 10

John Tregoning

Hosted by Howard Burton
In this Pandemic Perspectives Podcast, Ideas Roadshow founder and host Howard Burton talks to John Tregoning, Imperial College respiratory infections researcher and author of the acclaimed book Infectious: Pathogens and …
Critical Theory May 11, 2022

Cancel Culture

A Critical Analysis

Eve Ng

Hosted by Louisa Hann
Eve Ng’s new book Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), examines the phenomenon of "cancel culture" from a critical media studies perspective, as both cancel practices (what people …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones May 10, 2022

The Future of Opinion Polls

A Conversation with Mark Pack

Mark Pack

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
As the culture wars intensify, it seems that all sources of neutral authority get challenged and that includes opinion polls. Accusations about bias and unreliability fly around and yet everyone …
Anthropology May 10, 2022

Suspicion

Vaccines, Hesitancy, and the Affective Politics of Protection in Barbados

Nicole Charles

Hosted by Reighan Gillam
In 2014 Barbados introduced a vaccine to prevent certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) and reduce the risk of cervical cancer in young women. Despite the disproportionate burden of …