Episode · The Book Review · 2022-10-21
Siddhartha Mukherjee on The Book Review: books mentioned
Siddhartha Mukherjee Talks About ‘The Gene’
Gilbert Cruz discussed The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Pamela Paul discussed Transcription by Kate Atkinson, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, and A god in ruins by Kate Atkinson. Kate Atkinson discussed Orlando by Virginia Woolf.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Gene
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee is an intimate history of genetics that traces the origins of hereditary science from Gregor Mendel to modern biotechnology.
Discussed“in May 2016 sidartha spoke with this podcast about his book The Gene and intimate history”
Where to get it
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Transcription
Transcription by Kate Atkinson is a historical spy novel that follows a young woman recruited to monitor British fascist sympathizers during the Second World War.
Discussed“so tell us about transcription it's um set in two time frames 1940 1950 and sent us around a girl called Juliet Armstrong who in 1940 is 18 and she's smart but she's naive”
Where to get it
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Life After Life
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson is a celebrated novel that follows protagonist Ursula Todd as she repeatedly dies and is reborn across different eras of the twentieth century, most notably the Second World War.
Discussed“this is your third novel in a row that's kind of taken place in this same sort of London World War II Blitz era period the first life after life then a God in Ruins why what was the attraction”
Where to get it
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A god in ruins
A god in ruins by Kate Atkinson is a companion novel and sequel to Life After Life, following the life of Teddy Todd during and after the London World War II Blitz era.
Discussed“this is your third novel in a row that's kind of taken place in this same sort of London World War II Blitz era period the first life after life then a God in Ruins why what was the attraction”
Where to get it
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Orlando
Orlando is a classic novel by Virginia Woolf that follows a protagonist who changes sex over centuries and lives through multiple eras of history.
Discussed“I for years I had wanted to write a a novel or even a story called parallel lives in which someone you know it's a bit like Wolf's Orlando but this woman is born as a woman the next time she's born as a man and then she's born as a tree”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“his first the Fantastic the Emperor of all maladies a biography of cancer won the piter prize”
“this month he'll release his latest work the song of the cell an exploration of medicine and the new human”
“this month he'll release his latest work the song of the cell an exploration of medicine and the new human”
“for our second conversation we turn to the novelist Kate Atkinson her new book shrines of gity also out this month is set in London after the first world war”