Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2018-11-13
Books mentioned on Part One: The Russian Scientist Who Helped Kill 30 Million People
In episode 31, Robert is joined by comedian Max Silvestri to talk about a Russian scientist named Trofim Lysenko. He set out to feed the world, but in reality, Lysenko wound up starving it.
Max Silvestri discussed The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Robert Evans discussed Stalinist Genetics by Dmitri Stanchevici and Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Right Stuff
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe is a classic account documenting the early days of the United States space program and the test pilots turned astronauts of the Mercury project.
Discussed“I'm asking this because I'm reading uh the right stuff right now and space race and the idea of it being like nationalistic.”
Where to get it
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Stalinist Genetics
Discussed“So I'm going to read a quote from the book Stalinist genetics that takes the attitude that Lenko was buddy buddy with Stalin and convinced him to sort of back his science”
Where to get it
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Hungry Ghosts
Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker is a harrowing historical account of the man-made famines that devastated China under Mao Zedong.
Discussed“I'm going to quote from a book called Hungry Ghosts which is a a book about famine. Not about Pac-Man. Not about Pac-Man. Although that would be the Pac-Man book title.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged A (brief) history of vice
“You can buy my book on Amazon, A Brief History of Vice.”