Episode · The Book Review · 2016-12-29
Books mentioned on How Octopuses Are Like Aliens
Gilbert Cruz discussed Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Living on Earth: Life, Consciousness and the Making of the Natural World by Peter Godfrey-Smith, and Whiplash by Joi Ito and others. Alexandra Alter discussed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne and others, Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and others, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Greg Cowles recommended The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and discussed The Sellout by Paul Beatty. Pamela Paul recommended Stoner by John Williams and Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Other Minds
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith is a non-fiction book that explores the evolution and unique nature of cephalopod intelligence.
Discussed“Author Peter Godfrey Smith joins us to talk about his new book other Minds The Octopus the Sea and the Deep origins of Consciousness”
Where to get it
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Living on Earth: Life, Consciousness and the Making of the Natural World
Discussed“Author Peter Godfrey Smith joins us to talk about his new book other Minds The Octopus the Sea and the Deep origins of Consciousness”
Where to get it
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Whiplash
Discussed“Jeff how will be here to talk about his new book Whiplash how to survive our faster future”
Where to get it
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Discussed“there was the Harry Potter and the curs child which I think set a new record when it sold more than 2 million copies in North America in the first two days of sale”
Where to get it
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Hamilton
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter is a non-fiction companion book to the hit musical that explores the creation of the show alongside the original biographical work by Ron Chernow.
Discussed“and you also had Hamilton the revolution which was the book based on Hamilton the musical which itself was based on the biography by Ron Cho and this was co-authored by Lyn uel Miranda and Jeremy mcarter and it's still in the top 20 on Amazon”
Where to get it
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A Man Called Ove
A Man Called Ove is a bestselling novel by Swedish author Fredrik Backman that tells the story of a grumpy, isolated widower whose routine-bound life is disrupted by new neighbors.
Discussed“yes another sort of surprise hit that I didn't coming I'll admit was a little novel called a man called UA that came out of Sweden and it was actually first published here in 2014”
Where to get it
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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical fiction novel that reimagines the antebellum South by turning the secret network of abolitionist routes into a literal subterranean railway system utilized by an enslaved woman named Cora seeking freedom.
Discussed“probably if you were looking at a commercial literary crossover book this year would be Coulson whitee heads the underground real road which got so much Awards attention as well as an Oprah boost”
Where to get it
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The Vegetarian
The Vegetarian by Han Kang is a haunting South Korean novel that explores a woman's sudden decision to stop eating meat, which triggers a devastating psychological and familial crisis.
Recommended“one book I I have not read the vegetarian yet and I know Pamela you really enjoyed that this year and we picked it as one of our best of the year”
Where to get it
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The Sellout
The Sellout by Paul Beatty is a bold, satirical novel about race and racism in contemporary America that made history as the first American novel to win the Booker Prize in 2016.
Discussed“and another one that um was one of our 10 best last year is Paul Bey is the sellout and it went on of course to be the first American novel to win a Booker prize in 2016”
Where to get it
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Stoner
Stoner by John Williams is a critically acclaimed 20th-century novel that follows the quiet, melancholy academic life of an unheralded university professor against the backdrop of mid-century America.
Recommended“in fact one of the books that I'm hoping to read this year is one I bought at Northshire last year which was um John Williams no relation um John williams' Stoner which I've been meaning to read for years”
Where to get it
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Bleak House
Bleak House by Charles Dickens is a sprawling and intricate Victorian novel that famously critiques the British judicial system through the interminable chancery lawsuit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
Recommended“um last year I think or the year before I read um Bleak House uh which was to me sort of per perfect like winter vacation reading”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“and you also had Hamilton the revolution which was the book based on Hamilton the musical which itself was based on the biography by Ron Cho”
“your first book was crowdsourcing”
“um and it's it's it was amazing to see the extent to which as as late as 40 years after the publication of Adam Smith's uh Wealth of Nations most people even I mean Merchants investors you know still had not put together the implications of of capitalism and and becoming industrialism”
“the book again is called Whiplash how to survive our faster future by Joey Ido who is the director of mit's media lab and by Our Guest Jeff how who is the author previously of crowdsourcing”
“I at first I thought about um The Magic Mountain which I haven't read so I picked these sort of big ambitious things”