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Books podcasts were talking about in December 2018
Podcasts in December 2018 highlighted an eclectic mix of contemporary fiction, historical investigations, and technology history. The Book Review featured Greg Cowles recommending William Trevor's collection Last Stories, while John Williams introduced Samantha Harvey's novel The Western Wind. Technology and internet culture took center stage on the a16z Podcast, where Chris Dixon interviewed Brian McCullough and praised How the Internet Happened as an entertaining and accurate account of the digital age from Netscape to the iPhone. Political commentary and personal favorites dominated an end-of-year episode of Pod Save America, where Dan Pfeiffer shared three of his top reads from the year: Rachel Kushner's The Mars Room, Tommy Orange's There There, and Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists, alongside a mention of Jonathan Lethem's work. Also on Pod Save America, Tommy Vietor discussed reading Thurston Clarke's The Last Campaign, praising the book for its engaging look at Bobby Kennedy's 1968 run. The month's selections reflected a reflective mood among creators, blending lookbacks at pivotal historical moments with celebrated contemporary storytelling and technological retrospectives.
The Book Review
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Mortal Republic
Discussed“Yasha monk will be here to talk about Edward watt's book mortal Republic”
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Under the Volcano
Discussed“I mean if you read Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano That Mescal that he's constantly drinking is in a way it's a Gateway into the stream of Consciousness super charged Dark Knight of the soul that the the main character undergoes through that book”
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Hystopia
Discussed“oh boy troid in David mean's book hystopia which is really just an amazing dark dark sort of fantasmagorical trippy historical novel really hard to characterize but it does really marvelous things”
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Gun, with occasional music
Discussed“that's leading very naturally into a book that you wrote your first novel gun with occasional music in which the drug was forgett all you should know the pronunciation”
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New Hampshire
Discussed“vintage Classics which is their paperback imprint is going to be doing several AG the Christi novels this spring which are newly in the public domain and they're going to be doing an addition of Robert Frost New Hampshire with the original wood cart art”
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Last stories
Recommended“this is the book last stories by William Trevor who died a couple of years ago”
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The western wind
Recommended“uh I am reading a British novelist named Samantha Harvey her new book which is called the western wind”
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Come with me
Discussed“Helen shelman joins us now her new novel is called come with me”
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The day that went missing
Discussed“so I'm reading the day that went missing by novelist Richard beard which I picked up after reading our review which was by Lisa Brennan jobs”
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Speak
Discussed“so the next choice is a contemporary novel by Lori H Anderson called speak which is it's not new it came out I think in the early 90s and Lori H Anderson is a really interesting writer”
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A Heart So White
Recommended“she especially suggests reading this novel called a heart so white by Javier Marius”
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Home cooking
Recommended“it is a memoir by Lorie cwin also a novelist who who wrote some Memoirs it's called home cooking a writer in the kitchen”
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Milo's hat trick
Discussed“Milo's hattick is a great one and Life on Mars is another one with a that he he likes to have a big surprise at the end which I think is great for small children”
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It's only Stanley
Discussed“this actually is even though we both love it's only Stanley which has a great kind of twist at the end”
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Life on Mars
Discussed“and Life on Mars is another one with a that he he likes to have a big surprise at the end which I think is great for small children”
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Wade in the Water
Discussed“and also in her own most recent book weight in the water she balanced questions of the personal and the political in a way that felt very much of the moment”
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Hey, Marfa
Discussed“he does also include at least one major book that we did review this year that's we in the Water by Tracy K Smith a book by a poet named Jeffrey Yang called Hey Marfa”
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Evolution
Discussed“and so is Eileen miles nle who is doing very much traveling that same path right now and has been for 30 years and and still is now kind of evolving the the name of the book under review is evolution that book is reviewed by Natalie Diaz”
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Museum of the Americas
Discussed“um and we reviewed in this issue a book called Museum of the Americas by J Michael Martinez it's again a hybrid book”
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Hello lighthouse
Discussed“so your next book is by Sophie blackall who is really star of illustration she's fantastic she won the calicot Medal a few years ago this book is called hello Lighthouse”
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They say blue
Discussed“the next book is by Jillian Tamaki who we love at the book review she's the artist who does the portraits in our by the book series but is also really an incredible children's book author she is she's done graphic novel illustration before you know with her cousin Maro tamak they they collaborated for this one summer um but”
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Night job
Discussed“you have another book on your list of picture books here night job this is kind of a a sleeper book because it it seems like a sort of small and quiet book but I found it extremely powerful and profound the author is Karen Hess and the illustrator is G Brian Carris”
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The Rabbit Listened
Discussed“which is the rabbit listens by Corey derfel oh that's an important book”
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Be Prepared
Discussed“the first one is called be prepared it's by Vera brosgol this is one of those middle-grade novels that also I think skews on the older side”
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Anya's ghost
Discussed“I was a huge fan of bro's debut graphic novel which was ya so for kids older yet probably 14 or 15 and up called Ana's ghost which came out I think about six or seven years ago”
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A year without mom
Discussed“there's actually another great graphic novel by Dasha tsova is that her name called a year without Mom which another great one”
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Mr. Wolf's class
Discussed“it's a new graphic novel series called Mr Wolf's Class by Aaron Nell stanky”
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Brazen
Discussed“well another book on your list that I also loved which I think bends a little bit blurs the lines is certainly AC crossover ya was Penelope baj Brazen Rebel ladies who Rock the world was that published a grownup book”
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He Held Radical Light
Discussed“it's a new book by the poet Christian Wyman who these are not poems although he's written several collections of poems this is a memoir SL bookof criticism SL literature itself called he held radical light”
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My bright abyss
Discussed“the other book of his I've read other than some poems here and there in in the various collections is a very intense Memoir called my bright Abyss which was about his relationship to sort of the possibility of his impending death”
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Crowded hours
Discussed“I recently finished reading crowded hours by Alice Roosevelt Longworth”
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The wall in the middle of the book
Recommended“my favorite overall I would say is a book by John AG who I know you like too it's called the wall in the middle of the book this is a funny picture book that's also kind of weirdly precient and really good”
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The Party and Other Stories
Recommended“um well one great one is called Fox and chick the party the party and Other Stories actually by Sergio ruser and this one is what I like about this one is that it's a picture book”
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Inkling
Recommended“well I have to say My overall favorite middle-grade novel is called inkling it's by Kenneth oel and it's illustrated by one of our favorite illustrator Sydney Smith”
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Children of Blood and Bone
Recommended“um and then I would say if you're looking for a fantasy a fantasy the book of the year is Children of Blood and Bone by Tommy adami”
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Bringing Down the Colonel
Discussed“I have to think that the subtitle of the book which is the title is bringing down the colel the subtitle is a sex scandal of the Gilded Age”
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We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
Discussed“yeah cockroach and the Philip gorovich yeah the gorovich is a really great book and I reread it when I was when I was writing writing this book”
Monday Morning Podcast
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The Last Pass
Discussed“oh so I'm reading this book on Bob Cousy and Bill Russell called the last pass”
Freakonomics Radio
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How to Win Games and Beat People
Discussed“Whipple has written a book titled How to Win Games and Beat People.”
Pod Save America
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Our Kids
Discussed“another book that made a powerful impact on me is called our kids by Robert Putnam who wrote sociology wrote Bowling Alone”
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The Mars Room
Recommended“three most favorite books ever and this year were the Mars room by Rachel Kushner they're there by tommy orange in the immortal list by Chloe Benjamin”
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There There
Recommended“three most favorite books ever and this year were the Mars room by Rachel Kushner they're there by tommy orange in the immortal list by Chloe Benjamin”
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The Immortalists
Recommended“three most favorite books ever and this year were the Mars room by Rachel Kushner they're there by tommy orange in the immortal list by Chloe Benjamin”
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The Arrest
Recommended“and then one other book is the funeral detective by Jonathan Lethem who was probably my favorite author of the last decade or so”
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The Last Campaign
Recommended“and as you know I don't really read but I read the last campaign by thirst and Clark about Bobby Kennedy's campaign in 68 is fantastic”
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The Witch Elm
Recommended“and then one other book is the funeral detective by Jonathan Lethem who was probably my favorite author of the last decade or so”
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The Wilderness
Recommended“and may I especially recommend the wilderness which now you can listen to realizing that it has a pretty happy ending or at least a happy 2018 and more importantly some great lessons for Democrats in 2020 that they listen to in 2018”
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Impeachment
Discussed“remember remember we had Cass Sunstein on and you know Cass was very he was careful about talking about and we wrote a book on this what rises to the level of an impeachable offense or not”
a16z Podcast
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How the Internet Happened
Recommended“this is a6z podcast and today we have Brian McCulla the author of the recent awesome book which I just read called how the internet happened from Netscape to the iPhone”
The Rubin Report
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Virtually Normal
Discussed“but you're exactly right that it was only in the 1980s that Andrew Sullivan wrote about gay marriage”
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Hadith of Bukhari
Discussed“for example when i speak against stoning i can refer to the most sacred book outside the quran the bukhari and show that the stoning began when two monkeys were throwing rocks at each other in bukhari throwing rocks at each other and the companion of muhammad saw them and said okay so that that monkey must be a female”
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Sahih al-Bukhari
Discussed“for example when i speak against stoning i can refer to the most sacred book outside the quran the bukhari and show that the stoning began when two monkeys were throwing rocks at each other in bukhari throwing rocks at each other”
Modern Wisdom
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Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Recommended“there's advice in Way of the Peaceful Warrior, man, that currently reading, thanks to you two. Oh, great. You're reading it as well? Yeah. What was the book? Audio book.”
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Why?
Discussed“but your most recent book is on curiosity that's right that's correct yes”
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The Golden Ratio
Recommended“so if anyone wants to get the book why what makes us curious or any of you are the work golden ratio or the entire back catalogue”
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The Purpose of Reality
Recommended“and this is really beginning with wonderful research by Steve Simpson who's a biologist spent much of his career at Oxford and is now at Sydney University and since schon he's got a wonderful book the nature of nutrition he's shown very clearly that if you vary the protein levels in food animals will weigh over eat carbohydrates in order”
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Consciousness Genesis In Artificial Intelligence
Recommended“and then if you read super intelligence with a fantastic book on on AI by Professor Nick Bostrom from the future humanities Institute of Oxford you know if there's so many different ways that we can [ __ ] this up like many from ways and it's nearly infinite”
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
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To Catch a Predator
Discussed“we did some investigating and I did this in a book called sketcher predator some years back and we found a case in Arkansas”
The Joe Rogan Experience
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Political Order and Political Decay
Discussed“um francis fukuyama describes our government as a V tock receive veto ah cracy”
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Cyberwar
Discussed“I mean this is what Kathleen Hall Jamieson about this is really quite amazing and documenting and that's because it's gotten really good and being able to segment markets on the basis of what people know or care about it”
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Beyond the Double Bind
Discussed“I mean this is what Kathleen Hall Jamieson about this is really quite amazing and documenting and that's because it's gotten really good and being able to segment markets on the basis of what people know or care about it”
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Mind Over Back Pain
Recommended“sure he has some great books mind over back pain healing back pain and his main belief which I totally agree with is that the majority of back pain is muscle spasm which originates in the mind”
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True Hallucinations
Discussed“he read their their book with true hallucinations”
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The Transparent Society
Recommended“but he wrote a book in oh years ago called the transparent society where he said there's two possibilities surveillance and surveillance”
Behind the Bastards
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The Lonely Island
Discussed“I did find a more balanced description of his life in the book Lonely Islands, the Negrito people in the out of Africa story of the human race.”
The Rich Roll Podcast
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Reborn on the Run
Discussed“so Tom I haven't read the book yet but tell me I mean we're talking about all this stuff that I know is in the book it's an autobiography but what inspired you to write a book about all of this”
Lex Fridman Podcast
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The Time Machine
Discussed“so HG Wells wrote science fiction book I think in 1912 Frederick Soddy who was the guy who discovered isotopes so Nobel Prize winner he gave a speech in 1915 saying that this new explosive would be the equivalent of 150 tons of dynamite”
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Ian Foster
Recommended“and and there's an amazing short story that I recommend to everyone that I talk to about this called the machine stops written in 1909 by Ian Foster who you know wrote novels about the British Empire and sort of things that became costume dramas on the BBC”
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The Machine Stops
Recommended“and there's an amazing short story that I recommend to everyone that I talk to about this called the machine stops written in 1909 by Ian Foster who you know wrote novels about the British Empire and sort of things that became costume dramas on the BBC but he wrote this one science fiction story which is an amazing vision”
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Women and Men in Love
Recommended“He has written this amazing book I recommend to everybody called Love and Math. Two of my favorite words. (laughs) He says that if painting was taught like math, then students would be asked to paint a fence. It's just his analogy of essentially how math is taught.”
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The Mathematics Experience
Recommended“He has written this amazing book I recommend to everybody called Love and Math. Two of my favorite words. (laughs) He says that if painting was taught like math, then students would be asked to paint a fence. It's just his analogy of essentially how math is taught.”
The Jordan Harbinger Show
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Head Strong
Discussed“and some of the things from some of the ideas from headstrong are really interesting because there's a lot of people that think they're eating right”
