Rick Kleffel has been reading for more than half a century. He lives in Aptos, near the Palo Alto, a cement boat built at the end of World War I. He writes about books and podcasts interviews with authors at The Agony Column.
By Rick Kleffel
Histories You Won't Want to See Repeated
Science Fiction Futures You'll Want to Work to Prevent
Really Weird Books for Fogged-in, Coast-Side Reading this Summer
Sex Robots and Prison in Margaret Atwood's 'The Heart Goes Last'
A Summer Reading List for Those Who Crave the Eclectic
New Book says Blame Humans for Legal Injustice, Not the System
Creating a Generation of Virtual Thieves
Beach Appropriate Reading: What to Read & Where to Read It
Fighting the Laughter Drought: Humor Where You Least Expect To Find It
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"slug": "histories-you-wont-want-to-see-repeated",
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"content": "\u003cp>Has it only been 112 years since George Santayana wrote, in \u003cem>The Life of Reason\u003c/em>, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/hot-days-and-summer-nights-guide-2017/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13376303\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A well-written, engrossing history can bring the past to life and make it feel like the present, where we still have choices, as opposed to their consequences. While the past as described in these riveting reads cannot be changed, the histories they detail can inform every decision in your future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13421484\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-800x1216.jpg\" alt=\"'Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom' by Thomas E. Ricks\" width=\"800\" height=\"1216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13421484\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-800x1216.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-768x1167.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-1020x1550.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-1180x1793.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-960x1459.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-375x570.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-520x790.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell.jpg 1484w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom’ by Thomas E. Ricks\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>‘Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Thomas E. Ricks\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>We remember World War II as a victory for the good guy — a parable of parades and power. But that certainly wasn’t how Churchill saw it. While those in authority tried to negotiate with Germany, he knew that Britain was in peril. Churchill viewed the war as a battle of the supremacy of the state versus the autonomy of the individual. From a very different political perspective – fighting alongside Socialists in Spain – George Orwell also twigged to the import of this battle. He was a fan of Churchill’s and even named the main character in his most important work, \u003cem>1984\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Winston\u003c/em> Smith. It was no coincidence, writes \u003ca href=\"/thomas_e_ricks-2017.mp3\">Thomas E. Ricks\u003c/a>, in \u003cem>Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom\u003c/em>. Ricks finds the story of an idea — individual freedom at an atomic level — in the page-turning story of a world at peril, both immediately and in implication. Churchill saw what might happen tomorrow; Orwell, the day after. Neither was content to live without acting on what they understood to be true. You won’t either.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304146\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-800x1216.jpg\" alt=\"'Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die' by Garrett M. Graff\" width=\"800\" height=\"1216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304146\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-800x1216.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-768x1167.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-1020x1550.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-1180x1794.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-960x1459.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-375x570.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-520x790.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die’ by Garrett M. Graff\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Garrett M. Graff\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Remember the good old days, when a movie like \u003cem>The Day After\u003c/em>, which offered a hyper-realistic look at the aftereffects of a nuclear strike, could terrify the nation? Alas, those days are back. How did we get to the point where bringing about the end of all life on earth seemed to be a reasonable plan? \u003ca href=\"http://www.bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/garrett_m_graff-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garrett M. Graff\u003c/a> brings back “duck and cover” with a vengeance in \u003cem>Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die\u003c/em>. As soon as Hiroshima was destroyed with a single bomb, we realized that the same thing could happen to Washington, D.C. What started out as a means of keeping the government and the populace alive soon abandoned the latter as un-savable and focused the former. Every decision made seems reasonable in the moment. We’re not done with this past; nor, alas, is it done with us.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304147\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-800x1208.jpg\" alt=\"'The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People's Temple' by Jeff Guinn\" width=\"800\" height=\"1208\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304147\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-800x1208.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-160x242.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-768x1160.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-960x1450.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-240x362.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-375x566.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-520x785.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple’ by Jeff Guinn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jeff Guinn\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Power does not simply corrupt, it perverts. The best intentions get bent in the effort to preserve power, ostensibly so that those good intentions can be carried out. In \u003cem>The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple,\u003c/em> biographer \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/jeff_guinn-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Guinn\u003c/a> points out that Jones might have been hailed as a minor hero in the fight for Civil Rights in the 1960s, had he not been carried down the path that ended in Jonestown. Guinn’s powerful psychological portrait shows Jones as he slowly twisted into a narcissistic madman who tested the loyalty of his followers by asking them to drink poison, even before the end. (It was not poison the first time.) Jones created an alternate reality, where he spoke absolute truth and the rest of the world was wrong. The idea of a “cult” may seem like a relic from the 1970s, but the means by which Jones killed his followers are evergreen. This history feel unpleasantly current, a terrifying work of non-fiction horror.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304150\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-800x1196.jpg\" alt=\"'The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program' by Jeremy Scahill\" width=\"800\" height=\"1196\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304150\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-800x1196.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-160x239.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-768x1148.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-1020x1525.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-1180x1764.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-960x1435.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-240x359.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-375x561.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-520x777.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program’ by Jeremy Scahill\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jeremy Scahill\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>It would be nice to think there’s an easy answer, a simple, somehow safe solution to the very real threats posed by those whom we choose to call terrorists. Should we be surprised, and even relieved such a solution has presented itself in the form of drones? It’s a weaponized wish come true. From the safety of an underground bunker on American soil, we’re able to target and kill those who would harm us half a world away. In \u003cem>The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program\u003c/em>, \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2016/2016-interviews/jeremy_scahill-2016.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremy Scahill\u003c/a> and the staff of \u003cem>The Intercept\u003c/em> contemplate the history and the moral calculus used to turn brutal assassinations into almost-anonymous battlefield casualties. Scahill offers a scathing, precise vision of just what is being done, and why it is happening. This is compelling reading for any citizen who wants to trust their government, written with understated power. It’s not simple by any means. It is, by any measure, riveting and important.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304149\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13304149 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-800x1223.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1223\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-800x1223.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-160x245.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-768x1174.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-1020x1560.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-1920x2936.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-1180x1804.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-960x1468.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-240x367.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-375x573.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-520x795.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey.jpg 2017w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maximilian Uriarte’s The White Donkey cover\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The White Donkey\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Maximilian Uriarte\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>We are pretty damn good, \u003cem>too\u003c/em> damn good, at sending young men and women to die in a war. Why is that? We even get them to \u003cem>sign up\u003c/em>. Obviously something is wrong with this picture. And it is the pictures, the art as well as the stories of \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2016/2016-interviews/maximilian_uriarte-2016.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maximilian Uriarte’s\u003c/a> graphic novel \u003cem>The White Donkey\u003c/em> that conjure for readers a recent history that one simply cannot know unless one has been there. Yes, this is a graphic novel, but Uriarte \u003cem>has\u003c/em> been there, and the ring of truth is long and crystal clear. Not a lot happens here, and that’s the point. War is boring, demeaning scut work interrupted by flashes of violence. This is not the career most of us would choose. It’s going on right now, so technically, it’s not history. But we’re so good at shunting it aside and ignoring it, it might well be. Care to immerse yourself in history as it unfolds?\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And now a bit of positive history:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304148\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-800x1227.jpg\" alt=\"'The Genius of Birds' by Jennifer Ackerman\" width=\"800\" height=\"1227\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304148\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-800x1227.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-160x245.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-768x1178.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-960x1473.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-240x368.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-375x575.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-520x798.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Genius of Birds’ by Jennifer Ackerman\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Genius of Birds\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jennifer Ackerman\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Each of the titles above looks at the past in a manner that will change your vision of the present. For a different literary feeling, pick up \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/jennifer_ackerman-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jennifer Ackerman’s\u003c/a> \u003cem>The Genius of Birds\u003c/em>. Delving into the nascent neuroscience of birds, Ackerman’s book will utterly transform your vision of the world around you. It turns out that birds are much smarter than we ever gave them credit for. Those tiny brains are densely packed with neurons, and they operate in a manner that is fundamentally alien. Crows make complicated tools with hooks and keep them if they work well; chickadees stash seeds and other foods in thousands of hiding places that they can remember for months. We are surrounded in this world, not just by humans and their history, but by beautiful, flying aliens, whose intelligence we ourselves are not smart enough to understand.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The future might not look very bright, but here are a few history books that can keep us on the straight and narrow.",
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"title": "Histories You Won't Want to See Repeated | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Has it only been 112 years since George Santayana wrote, in \u003cem>The Life of Reason\u003c/em>, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/hot-days-and-summer-nights-guide-2017/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13376303\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A well-written, engrossing history can bring the past to life and make it feel like the present, where we still have choices, as opposed to their consequences. While the past as described in these riveting reads cannot be changed, the histories they detail can inform every decision in your future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13421484\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-800x1216.jpg\" alt=\"'Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom' by Thomas E. Ricks\" width=\"800\" height=\"1216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13421484\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-800x1216.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-768x1167.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-1020x1550.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-1180x1793.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-960x1459.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-375x570.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell-520x790.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/rick-churchill_and_orwell.jpg 1484w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom’ by Thomas E. Ricks\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>‘Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Thomas E. Ricks\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>We remember World War II as a victory for the good guy — a parable of parades and power. But that certainly wasn’t how Churchill saw it. While those in authority tried to negotiate with Germany, he knew that Britain was in peril. Churchill viewed the war as a battle of the supremacy of the state versus the autonomy of the individual. From a very different political perspective – fighting alongside Socialists in Spain – George Orwell also twigged to the import of this battle. He was a fan of Churchill’s and even named the main character in his most important work, \u003cem>1984\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Winston\u003c/em> Smith. It was no coincidence, writes \u003ca href=\"/thomas_e_ricks-2017.mp3\">Thomas E. Ricks\u003c/a>, in \u003cem>Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom\u003c/em>. Ricks finds the story of an idea — individual freedom at an atomic level — in the page-turning story of a world at peril, both immediately and in implication. Churchill saw what might happen tomorrow; Orwell, the day after. Neither was content to live without acting on what they understood to be true. You won’t either.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304146\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-800x1216.jpg\" alt=\"'Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die' by Garrett M. Graff\" width=\"800\" height=\"1216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304146\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-800x1216.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-768x1167.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-1020x1550.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-1180x1794.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-960x1459.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-375x570.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock-520x790.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/graff-raven_rock.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die’ by Garrett M. Graff\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Garrett M. Graff\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Remember the good old days, when a movie like \u003cem>The Day After\u003c/em>, which offered a hyper-realistic look at the aftereffects of a nuclear strike, could terrify the nation? Alas, those days are back. How did we get to the point where bringing about the end of all life on earth seemed to be a reasonable plan? \u003ca href=\"http://www.bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/garrett_m_graff-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garrett M. Graff\u003c/a> brings back “duck and cover” with a vengeance in \u003cem>Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die\u003c/em>. As soon as Hiroshima was destroyed with a single bomb, we realized that the same thing could happen to Washington, D.C. What started out as a means of keeping the government and the populace alive soon abandoned the latter as un-savable and focused the former. Every decision made seems reasonable in the moment. We’re not done with this past; nor, alas, is it done with us.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304147\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-800x1208.jpg\" alt=\"'The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People's Temple' by Jeff Guinn\" width=\"800\" height=\"1208\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304147\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-800x1208.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-160x242.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-768x1160.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-960x1450.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-240x362.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-375x566.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown-520x785.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jeff-guinn-the-road-to-jonestown.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple’ by Jeff Guinn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jeff Guinn\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Power does not simply corrupt, it perverts. The best intentions get bent in the effort to preserve power, ostensibly so that those good intentions can be carried out. In \u003cem>The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple,\u003c/em> biographer \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/jeff_guinn-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Guinn\u003c/a> points out that Jones might have been hailed as a minor hero in the fight for Civil Rights in the 1960s, had he not been carried down the path that ended in Jonestown. Guinn’s powerful psychological portrait shows Jones as he slowly twisted into a narcissistic madman who tested the loyalty of his followers by asking them to drink poison, even before the end. (It was not poison the first time.) Jones created an alternate reality, where he spoke absolute truth and the rest of the world was wrong. The idea of a “cult” may seem like a relic from the 1970s, but the means by which Jones killed his followers are evergreen. This history feel unpleasantly current, a terrifying work of non-fiction horror.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304150\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-800x1196.jpg\" alt=\"'The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program' by Jeremy Scahill\" width=\"800\" height=\"1196\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304150\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-800x1196.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-160x239.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-768x1148.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-1020x1525.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-1180x1764.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-960x1435.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-240x359.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-375x561.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex-520x777.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/scahill-the-assassination-complex.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program’ by Jeremy Scahill\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jeremy Scahill\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>It would be nice to think there’s an easy answer, a simple, somehow safe solution to the very real threats posed by those whom we choose to call terrorists. Should we be surprised, and even relieved such a solution has presented itself in the form of drones? It’s a weaponized wish come true. From the safety of an underground bunker on American soil, we’re able to target and kill those who would harm us half a world away. In \u003cem>The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program\u003c/em>, \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2016/2016-interviews/jeremy_scahill-2016.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremy Scahill\u003c/a> and the staff of \u003cem>The Intercept\u003c/em> contemplate the history and the moral calculus used to turn brutal assassinations into almost-anonymous battlefield casualties. Scahill offers a scathing, precise vision of just what is being done, and why it is happening. This is compelling reading for any citizen who wants to trust their government, written with understated power. It’s not simple by any means. It is, by any measure, riveting and important.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304149\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13304149 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-800x1223.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1223\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-800x1223.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-160x245.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-768x1174.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-1020x1560.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-1920x2936.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-1180x1804.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-960x1468.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-240x367.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-375x573.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey-520x795.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/maximilian-uriarte-white-donkey.jpg 2017w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maximilian Uriarte’s The White Donkey cover\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The White Donkey\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Maximilian Uriarte\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>We are pretty damn good, \u003cem>too\u003c/em> damn good, at sending young men and women to die in a war. Why is that? We even get them to \u003cem>sign up\u003c/em>. Obviously something is wrong with this picture. And it is the pictures, the art as well as the stories of \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2016/2016-interviews/maximilian_uriarte-2016.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maximilian Uriarte’s\u003c/a> graphic novel \u003cem>The White Donkey\u003c/em> that conjure for readers a recent history that one simply cannot know unless one has been there. Yes, this is a graphic novel, but Uriarte \u003cem>has\u003c/em> been there, and the ring of truth is long and crystal clear. Not a lot happens here, and that’s the point. War is boring, demeaning scut work interrupted by flashes of violence. This is not the career most of us would choose. It’s going on right now, so technically, it’s not history. But we’re so good at shunting it aside and ignoring it, it might well be. Care to immerse yourself in history as it unfolds?\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>And now a bit of positive history:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13304148\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-800x1227.jpg\" alt=\"'The Genius of Birds' by Jennifer Ackerman\" width=\"800\" height=\"1227\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13304148\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-800x1227.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-160x245.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-768x1178.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-960x1473.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-240x368.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-375x575.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds-520x798.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/jennifer-ackerman-the-genius-of-birds.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Genius of Birds’ by Jennifer Ackerman\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Genius of Birds\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jennifer Ackerman\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Each of the titles above looks at the past in a manner that will change your vision of the present. For a different literary feeling, pick up \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/jennifer_ackerman-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jennifer Ackerman’s\u003c/a> \u003cem>The Genius of Birds\u003c/em>. Delving into the nascent neuroscience of birds, Ackerman’s book will utterly transform your vision of the world around you. It turns out that birds are much smarter than we ever gave them credit for. Those tiny brains are densely packed with neurons, and they operate in a manner that is fundamentally alien. Crows make complicated tools with hooks and keep them if they work well; chickadees stash seeds and other foods in thousands of hiding places that they can remember for months. We are surrounded in this world, not just by humans and their history, but by beautiful, flying aliens, whose intelligence we ourselves are not smart enough to understand.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/hot-days-and-summer-nights-guide-2017/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13376303\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Science fiction set \u003cem>in\u003c/em> the future is often taken to be a prediction \u003cem>of\u003c/em> that future. But writers rarely claim to come from the day after tomorrow. Until we can time travel, we have to assume that our artists take their inspiration from the past and present, and project our anxieties onto re-wired plots set in the worlds of their imaginations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out that, in 2017, we have enough on our minds to occupy more tomorrows than we’ll have to live through. Happily, our best writers can offer us visions of the future that inspire us to engage in the present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330013 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-800x1043.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1043\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-800x1043.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-160x209.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-768x1001.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-1020x1330.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-1920x2503.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-1180x1538.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-960x1252.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-240x313.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-375x489.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-520x678.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The MaddAddam Trilogy\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Margaret Atwood\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2013/2013-interviews/margaret_atwood-2013.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Margaret Atwood\u003c/a> trawls through timelines with an astute-yet-unhappy eye, able to see what makes us uncomfortable and then shine a light on it. While she has your attention via the excellent Hulu adaptation of \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em>, take your shock-recovery downtime to immerse yourself \u003cem>The MaddAddam Trilogy\u003c/em>, which at least doesn’t feel as if it has already happened. In the three books, \u003cem>Oryx and Crake\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Year of the Flood\u003c/em>, and \u003cem>MaddAddam\u003c/em>, Atwood offers a vision of suburbia and exurbia run wild, unplugged and uprooted in a bio-engineering blender that proves to be an exemplar of the humanity of it all. This isn’t just rising seas and temperatures — it is anger and ambition run riot.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330015 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-800x1193.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1193\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-800x1193.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-160x239.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-768x1145.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-240x358.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-375x559.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-520x775.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife.jpg 805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Water Knife\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Paolo Bacigalupi\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>California has potentially dodged a bullet — for now. But even if the drought is over, it doesn’t feel that way. Written before we were sweating bullets about the seemingly endless heatwave, \u003cem>The Water Knife\u003c/em> by \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2014/2014-interviews/paolo_bacigalupi-2014.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paolo Bacigalupi\u003c/a> extrapolates our fears about the abuse of power. The growing income gap produces a world where the poor and the middle-class have become itinerant, while the rich live in sealed arcologies. Bacigalupi brings this scenario to life: turn off the water in any suburb and you have an instant dystopia, sans any futuristic trappings. Angel Velasquez is the man who cuts off the water. Lucy is a journalist who is following a story about water. Maria hangs on to life at the bottom of the water barrel. Bacigalupi’s thriller ramps up \u003cem>Chinatown\u003c/em> with a \u003cem>Blade Runner\u003c/em> vibe. Readers are encouraged to try to immerse themselves in this book without checking a faucet.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330016 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-800x1216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1216\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-800x1216.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-768x1167.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-1020x1550.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-1180x1794.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-960x1459.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-375x570.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-520x790.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war.jpg 1875w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>American War\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Omar El Akkad\n\u003c/h5>\u003cp>We need no new technology to bring about the end of all life on earth. It’s here already, ready to be used. What we’ve managed to do is disallow humans who are able, willing and inclined to do so. One has to really hate in order to make such a decision, and in\u003cem> American War\u003c/em> by Omar El Akkad, the reader is invited to experience just what it takes to turn a basically good human into a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Sarat Chestnut is only 6 years old when the Second American Civil War breaks out. Apparently powerless, she’s shuffled from camp to camp until her inner strength is noticed — and weaponized. Cutting between Sarat’s story and bits from textbooks and records of the future, \u003cem>American War\u003c/em> is fueled by the vitriolic discourse that is tearing us apart right now. Close the book and you might feel as if you have the opportunity dial back the tone, and step back from the brinksmanship.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13330018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-240x360.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-375x563.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-520x780.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc.jpg 1650w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>D’Arc\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Robert Repino\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>The more we learn about our fellow inhabitants on this earth, by which I mean the animals, the more we come to regard their minds as worthy of consideration. As our level of civilization rises, so does our understanding that, alien to us though they may be, every creature on this earth might just fall into some definition of intelligent. What might happen if they were evolutionarily uplifted and able to make their feelings known about how they’ve been treated? That’s the premise of \u003cem>Mort(e)\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Culdesac\u003c/em>, and now \u003cem>D’Arc\u003c/em> by \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2015/2015-interviews/robert_repino-2015.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Repino\u003c/a>. In the War With No Name series, the extinction of humans is Plan A. Repino crafts achingly real characters from housecats and doggies, and gets you sympathizing with both sides of the in-equation. This is a perfect example of the power of pulp, wild adventure for domesticated humans.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330017 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-800x1186.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1186\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-800x1186.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-160x237.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-768x1138.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-1020x1512.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-1180x1749.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-960x1423.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-240x356.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-375x556.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-520x771.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays.jpg 1356w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>All Our Wrong Todays\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Elan Mastai\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Not so long ago, it was 2016, and the world was our utopian dream: flying cars, near-immortality, universal wealth, all powered by clean, free energy. Even the way you wake up in the morning had been improved in a manner you cannot imagine. You’ve lived your life in the future as seen by optimistic science fiction writers. (They do exist!) What happens when you wake up in our world? In \u003cem>All Our Wrong Todays\u003c/em>, \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/elan_mastai-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elan Mastai\u003c/a> turns our world into a dystopian nightmare, if it isn’t already. Tom Barren lives in that perfect future, but a glitch in a time travel experiment rewrites history, and Tom is horrified to find himself in the world we live in. Mastai’s novel is consistently hilarious and human, even as it forces you to \u003cem>just look around\u003c/em>. It might be that utopia is as close as the human heart.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A roundup of this summer's reading on dystopian futures, as well as idealized worlds from optimistic science-fiction authors (they exist!).",
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"title": "Science Fiction Futures You'll Want to Work to Prevent | KQED",
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"headline": "Science Fiction Futures You'll Want to Work to Prevent",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/hot-days-and-summer-nights-guide-2017/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13376303\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/SummerArts2017-300x300px-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Science fiction set \u003cem>in\u003c/em> the future is often taken to be a prediction \u003cem>of\u003c/em> that future. But writers rarely claim to come from the day after tomorrow. Until we can time travel, we have to assume that our artists take their inspiration from the past and present, and project our anxieties onto re-wired plots set in the worlds of their imaginations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out that, in 2017, we have enough on our minds to occupy more tomorrows than we’ll have to live through. Happily, our best writers can offer us visions of the future that inspire us to engage in the present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330013 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-800x1043.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1043\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-800x1043.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-160x209.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-768x1001.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-1020x1330.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-1920x2503.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-1180x1538.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-960x1252.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-240x313.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-375x489.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/atwood-maddaddam-520x678.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The MaddAddam Trilogy\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Margaret Atwood\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2013/2013-interviews/margaret_atwood-2013.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Margaret Atwood\u003c/a> trawls through timelines with an astute-yet-unhappy eye, able to see what makes us uncomfortable and then shine a light on it. While she has your attention via the excellent Hulu adaptation of \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em>, take your shock-recovery downtime to immerse yourself \u003cem>The MaddAddam Trilogy\u003c/em>, which at least doesn’t feel as if it has already happened. In the three books, \u003cem>Oryx and Crake\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Year of the Flood\u003c/em>, and \u003cem>MaddAddam\u003c/em>, Atwood offers a vision of suburbia and exurbia run wild, unplugged and uprooted in a bio-engineering blender that proves to be an exemplar of the humanity of it all. This isn’t just rising seas and temperatures — it is anger and ambition run riot.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330015 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-800x1193.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1193\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-800x1193.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-160x239.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-768x1145.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-240x358.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-375x559.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife-520x775.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife.jpg 805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Water Knife\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Paolo Bacigalupi\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>California has potentially dodged a bullet — for now. But even if the drought is over, it doesn’t feel that way. Written before we were sweating bullets about the seemingly endless heatwave, \u003cem>The Water Knife\u003c/em> by \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2014/2014-interviews/paolo_bacigalupi-2014.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paolo Bacigalupi\u003c/a> extrapolates our fears about the abuse of power. The growing income gap produces a world where the poor and the middle-class have become itinerant, while the rich live in sealed arcologies. Bacigalupi brings this scenario to life: turn off the water in any suburb and you have an instant dystopia, sans any futuristic trappings. Angel Velasquez is the man who cuts off the water. Lucy is a journalist who is following a story about water. Maria hangs on to life at the bottom of the water barrel. Bacigalupi’s thriller ramps up \u003cem>Chinatown\u003c/em> with a \u003cem>Blade Runner\u003c/em> vibe. Readers are encouraged to try to immerse themselves in this book without checking a faucet.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330016 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-800x1216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1216\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-800x1216.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-768x1167.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-1020x1550.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-1180x1794.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-960x1459.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-375x570.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war-520x790.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/el-akkad-american_war.jpg 1875w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>American War\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Omar El Akkad\n\u003c/h5>\u003cp>We need no new technology to bring about the end of all life on earth. It’s here already, ready to be used. What we’ve managed to do is disallow humans who are able, willing and inclined to do so. One has to really hate in order to make such a decision, and in\u003cem> American War\u003c/em> by Omar El Akkad, the reader is invited to experience just what it takes to turn a basically good human into a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Sarat Chestnut is only 6 years old when the Second American Civil War breaks out. Apparently powerless, she’s shuffled from camp to camp until her inner strength is noticed — and weaponized. Cutting between Sarat’s story and bits from textbooks and records of the future, \u003cem>American War\u003c/em> is fueled by the vitriolic discourse that is tearing us apart right now. Close the book and you might feel as if you have the opportunity dial back the tone, and step back from the brinksmanship.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-800x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13330018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-1180x1770.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-960x1440.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-240x360.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-375x563.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc-520x780.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/repino-darc.jpg 1650w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>D’Arc\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Robert Repino\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>The more we learn about our fellow inhabitants on this earth, by which I mean the animals, the more we come to regard their minds as worthy of consideration. As our level of civilization rises, so does our understanding that, alien to us though they may be, every creature on this earth might just fall into some definition of intelligent. What might happen if they were evolutionarily uplifted and able to make their feelings known about how they’ve been treated? That’s the premise of \u003cem>Mort(e)\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Culdesac\u003c/em>, and now \u003cem>D’Arc\u003c/em> by \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2015/2015-interviews/robert_repino-2015.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Repino\u003c/a>. In the War With No Name series, the extinction of humans is Plan A. Repino crafts achingly real characters from housecats and doggies, and gets you sympathizing with both sides of the in-equation. This is a perfect example of the power of pulp, wild adventure for domesticated humans.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13330017 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-800x1186.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1186\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-800x1186.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-160x237.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-768x1138.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-1020x1512.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-1180x1749.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-960x1423.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-240x356.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-375x556.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays-520x771.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/mastai-all_our_wrong_todays.jpg 1356w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>All Our Wrong Todays\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Elan Mastai\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Not so long ago, it was 2016, and the world was our utopian dream: flying cars, near-immortality, universal wealth, all powered by clean, free energy. Even the way you wake up in the morning had been improved in a manner you cannot imagine. You’ve lived your life in the future as seen by optimistic science fiction writers. (They do exist!) What happens when you wake up in our world? In \u003cem>All Our Wrong Todays\u003c/em>, \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2017/2017-interviews/elan_mastai-2017.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elan Mastai\u003c/a> turns our world into a dystopian nightmare, if it isn’t already. Tom Barren lives in that perfect future, but a glitch in a time travel experiment rewrites history, and Tom is horrified to find himself in the world we live in. Mastai’s novel is consistently hilarious and human, even as it forces you to \u003cem>just look around\u003c/em>. It might be that utopia is as close as the human heart.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "really-weird-books-for-fogged-in-coast-side-reading-this-summer",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/hot-summer-days-and-nights-guide-2016/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11638282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>I live by the beach, and we know that summer begins when the sun disappears towards the end of May, for about three months. That’s when it becomes the land of \u003cem>The Crawling Eye\u003c/em>, a z-budget movie from 1958 about a giant alien eyeball that crash lands in the Swiss alps and is accompanied by a fog bank as it crawls about, decapitating unsuspecting Swiss people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fog rolls in, there’s no better time to kick back in your cozy living room and read some really weird books. This year has seen an assortment of titles published that would give H.P. Lovecraft the chills and if that’s your scene, I suggest pulling up a giant alien eyeball and checking out any of the strange tales below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11670737\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-400x644.jpg\" alt=\"'The Loney' by Andrew Michael Hurley \" width=\"400\" height=\"644\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11670737\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-400x644.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-373x600.jpg 373w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-768x1237.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-733x1180.jpg 733w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney.jpg 795w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Loney’ by Andrew Michael Hurley\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Loney\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Andrew Michael Hurley\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>We’ll start with \u003cem>The Loney\u003c/em>, a dark gothic novel set along “the loney,” a part of the English coast that might have hosted our all-seeing friend. Cold, windy, muddy, edged with dank scraps of dense, unfriendly vegetation, it’s just the place to take your family on an annual basis for an unpleasant and perhaps unholy Easter celebration. Smith, who tries to tell the story, but is prone to wind back and forth in his memory, recalls, as best he can, his brother Hanny, a mute whom his dangerously-devout mother hoped to cure with sinister rituals. There was a child’s body washed up in the mud and thorns that lined the shore. Did something fantastic intrude into these grim everyday lives, or were those lives simply worse than we care to imagine? Hurley’s powerful prose and his intense sense of place and character bring to mind the best that the Gothic fiction genre has to offer. Read it before booking that cottage on the coast.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689210\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/perri-the_assistants-1-400x603.jpg\" alt=\"'The Assistants' by Camille Perri\" width=\"400\" height=\"603\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689210\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/perri-the_assistants-1.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/perri-the_assistants-1-398x600.jpg 398w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Assistants’ by Camille Perri\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Assistants\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Camille Perri\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Camille Perri’s debut novel, \u003cem>The Assistants\u003c/em>, is narrated by Tina Fontana, assistant to a billionaire media mogul who pays for an hors d’oeuvre what she pays in rent for her tiny apartment. The luxury gap is alive and well, and Tina is staring at a student loan debt of $20,000. Circumstances offer her an exit that she takes with the tiniest moral pivot, but one step away from the straight and narrow leads to another step and another debt-riddled ex-student. As Tina takes us down a rabbit-hole of cascading consequences, Perri crafts a novel that offers a charming look at friendship, courtship and corporate shenanigans in the early 21st century. You may guess where all this is going — a scheme, perhaps? — but not how far. And having Tina as your guide is the kind of bonus that even a benevolent corporation can’t offer. She’s witty and gritty, with a perfectly honed predilection for salty language that brings on the laughs. You may read it in a day or two, but it will play in your brain for much longer than that. There are a lot of ways to break the glass ceiling; some may involve breaking, or at least bending the law.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689212\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-400x625.jpg\" alt=\"'The Race' by Nina Allan\" width=\"400\" height=\"625\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689212\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-400x625.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-384x600.jpg 384w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-768x1200.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-755x1180.jpg 755w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Race’ by Nina Allan\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Race\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Nina Allan\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>On the other side of the debut universe, or more likely in one adjacent to ours, you can find Nina Allan’s remarkable \u003cem>The Race\u003c/em>. In admirably direct prose, we meet Jenna Hoolman, who tells us about her life in Sapphire in a devastated future. The only game in town is smartdog racing, which involves humans bonded to dogs. “There’s a lot of hard-science stuff I don’t understand fully,” Jenna tells us. In fact the future itself seems a bit blurry, until Allan snaps it into crystal clear focus. Our narrator may not be who we think she is. And the smartdog-runner relationship may prove to have parallels even the most literary aficionados may not suspect. Rest assured this is not the science fiction you thought you were buying, but something even stranger and more powerful. Stories unfold within stories, fiction begets even stranger fictions set in more familiar places. Here’s the good news: the best means of gaining any perspective requires one to step away from the object you are trying to understand. It’s essential to preserve the mysteries at the heart of this astonishing novel. But as Nina Allan whipsaws your mind from this world to the next and back to this one, upon your return to wherever you were when you started \u003cem>The Race\u003c/em>, you will realize that perspective cuts two ways. Try as you might, you can’t unsee the truth.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689387\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Muladona_picture-210-400x612.jpg\" alt=\"'Muladona' by Eric Stener Carlson\" width=\"400\" height=\"612\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689387\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Muladona_picture-210.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Muladona_picture-210-392x600.jpg 392w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Muladona’ by Eric Stener Carlson\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>Muladona\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Eric Stener Carlson\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Tartarus Press is a specialty publisher from the moors of Britain with a focus on the supernatural and the weird. They were the original publisher of Andrew Michael Hurley’s \u003cem>The Loney\u003c/em>, before it started winning prizes and acclaim. Eric Stener Carlson’s \u003cem>Muladona\u003c/em> unfolds in 1918, as the Spanish flu kills off the residents of Incarnation, Texas. Verge Strömberg is a bookworm and the son of an overbearing town pastor, who leaves him behind to tend church elsewhere. That’s when the Muladona begins coming to him – a fire-breathing winged mule from hell (and Mexican folklore). It begins to tell him stories, taunting him in true supernatural fashion to guess its name. It’s an upside-down, supernatural \u003cem>Scheherazade\u003c/em>, with a hardscrabble, western-dirt feel. Carlson captures the terror of an almost-remembered nightmare, juxtaposing the familiar and the strange with ease. While Tartarus hails from the darkest moors of Britain, \u003cem>Muladona\u003c/em> speaks the black heart of American greed.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689391\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Heavenly-Table-400x603.jpg\" alt=\"'The Heavenly Table' by Donald Ray Pollack\" width=\"400\" height=\"603\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689391\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Heavenly-Table.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Heavenly-Table-398x600.jpg 398w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Heavenly Table’ by Donald Ray Pollack\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Donald Ray Pollack\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Donald Ray Pollack’s \u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em> is not a cookbook, but it is every bit as disturbing as the tome \u003cem>To Serve Man\u003c/em> in the famous Damon Knight story adapted by Rod Serling for \u003cem>The Twilight Zone\u003c/em>. It’s 1917, the 20th century is finally coming into focus, and it is not a happy sight. Cane, Cob and Chimney Jewett lose everything and set off to kill, rob and pillage everything in their path, inspired by a dime novel that revels in blood. The Fiddlers, Ellsworth, Eula and their son Eddie, live hundreds of miles away from the Jewetts, but not far enough. Their paths will cross and it will not end well for Pollack’s characters, crafted from blood, steel and stone. We believe these people, and in them, even if they are despicable. There’s a point where despicable becomes easy — necessary even. Exciting and powerful, \u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em> offers the visionary pleasures of Flannery O’Connor with a hefty dose of gun (and other) violence. Pollack humanizes his most desperately terrible characters, even if we wish he would not. \u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em> is a serving of American literary ultra-violence that steps well beyond wild into weird.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689392\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris-400x608.jpg\" alt=\"'The Last Days of New Paris' by China Miéville\" width=\"400\" height=\"608\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689392\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris-400x608.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris-395x600.jpg 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris.jpg 701w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Last Days of New Paris’ by China Miéville\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Last Days of New Paris\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by China Miéville\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Let’s just get to the heart of weird, with the man who invented a genre he called “the New Weird,” China Miéville. \u003cem>The Last Days of New Paris\u003c/em> posits that in 1941, a surrealist bomb detonated in Nazi-occupied Paris. The horrific, disturbing, and yes, surreal images of those paintings were made real. In 1950, the war drags on and New Paris, as it is called, is under a new attack, as the Nazis have unsurprisingly made contact with Hell and managed to import demons to aid in their fight. Thibault is a soldier fighting for the surrealists, trying to keep track of the manifs, which is to say, those manifestations from the art. “Of those many manifs mentioned in the narrative, there are, I’m sure, many I’ve failed to identify. If I understand it correctly, it’s in the nature of the S-Blast that the great bulk of its results are random or manifest the work of unknown artists–by which in Surrealist fashion, I mean people.” So, yes, \u003cem>people are weird\u003c/em>. The book is both illustrated and annotated. Miéville is consistently brilliant and weird in equal measure. This is clearly the best book about surrealist art brought to life to fight in WWII ever written.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689394\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Where-The-Time-Goes__61GkSZ23AL-400x608.jpg\" alt=\"'Where the Time Goes' by Jeffrey E. Barlough\" width=\"400\" height=\"608\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Where-The-Time-Goes__61GkSZ23AL.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Where-The-Time-Goes__61GkSZ23AL-395x600.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Where the Time Goes’ by Jeffrey E. Barlough\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>Where the Time Goes\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jeffrey E. Barlough\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>The potential in fantasy literature for the weird is great, but the realization is low. We can thank Jeffrey E. Barlough, then, for his utterly unique Western Lights novels. They all stand alone, though they partake of the same backdrop — a sort of Victorian London plopped down in the American West and mid-west, sans gunpowder, but with mastodons, wooly mammoths and giant sloths roaming the hills. The latest entry, \u003cem>Where the Time Goes\u003c/em> finds Dr. Hugh Callender returning home to Dithering in the Lingonshire, to investigate the monster in Eldritch’s Cupboard, if indeed it even exists. The charm of Barlough’s work is that he writes as if he’s living in the world he has created with a lovely and enjoyably jolly faux-Victorian prose. He also loves his characters so much that you cannot help but feel the same. He creates real tension and when he dials up the creep factor, he can make your skin crawl with the merest suggestion. This is the ninth book in the series, so if you want to catch up while you wait for this one, there are plenty to read. Order is unimportant, but these books are an important reminder that the human imagination has no bounds. They also remind us that there is art in literature that simply cannot be experienced in any other way.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "When the fog rolls in, there's no better time to kick back in your cozy living room and read some really weird books.",
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"title": "Really Weird Books for Fogged-in, Coast-Side Reading this Summer | KQED",
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"headline": "Really Weird Books for Fogged-in, Coast-Side Reading this Summer",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/hot-summer-days-and-nights-guide-2016/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11638282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/SummerArtsGuide-2016-300x300-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>I live by the beach, and we know that summer begins when the sun disappears towards the end of May, for about three months. That’s when it becomes the land of \u003cem>The Crawling Eye\u003c/em>, a z-budget movie from 1958 about a giant alien eyeball that crash lands in the Swiss alps and is accompanied by a fog bank as it crawls about, decapitating unsuspecting Swiss people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fog rolls in, there’s no better time to kick back in your cozy living room and read some really weird books. This year has seen an assortment of titles published that would give H.P. Lovecraft the chills and if that’s your scene, I suggest pulling up a giant alien eyeball and checking out any of the strange tales below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11670737\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-400x644.jpg\" alt=\"'The Loney' by Andrew Michael Hurley \" width=\"400\" height=\"644\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11670737\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-400x644.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-373x600.jpg 373w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-768x1237.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney-733x1180.jpg 733w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/hurley-the_loney.jpg 795w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Loney’ by Andrew Michael Hurley\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Loney\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Andrew Michael Hurley\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>We’ll start with \u003cem>The Loney\u003c/em>, a dark gothic novel set along “the loney,” a part of the English coast that might have hosted our all-seeing friend. Cold, windy, muddy, edged with dank scraps of dense, unfriendly vegetation, it’s just the place to take your family on an annual basis for an unpleasant and perhaps unholy Easter celebration. Smith, who tries to tell the story, but is prone to wind back and forth in his memory, recalls, as best he can, his brother Hanny, a mute whom his dangerously-devout mother hoped to cure with sinister rituals. There was a child’s body washed up in the mud and thorns that lined the shore. Did something fantastic intrude into these grim everyday lives, or were those lives simply worse than we care to imagine? Hurley’s powerful prose and his intense sense of place and character bring to mind the best that the Gothic fiction genre has to offer. Read it before booking that cottage on the coast.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689210\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/perri-the_assistants-1-400x603.jpg\" alt=\"'The Assistants' by Camille Perri\" width=\"400\" height=\"603\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689210\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/perri-the_assistants-1.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/perri-the_assistants-1-398x600.jpg 398w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Assistants’ by Camille Perri\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Assistants\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Camille Perri\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Camille Perri’s debut novel, \u003cem>The Assistants\u003c/em>, is narrated by Tina Fontana, assistant to a billionaire media mogul who pays for an hors d’oeuvre what she pays in rent for her tiny apartment. The luxury gap is alive and well, and Tina is staring at a student loan debt of $20,000. Circumstances offer her an exit that she takes with the tiniest moral pivot, but one step away from the straight and narrow leads to another step and another debt-riddled ex-student. As Tina takes us down a rabbit-hole of cascading consequences, Perri crafts a novel that offers a charming look at friendship, courtship and corporate shenanigans in the early 21st century. You may guess where all this is going — a scheme, perhaps? — but not how far. And having Tina as your guide is the kind of bonus that even a benevolent corporation can’t offer. She’s witty and gritty, with a perfectly honed predilection for salty language that brings on the laughs. You may read it in a day or two, but it will play in your brain for much longer than that. There are a lot of ways to break the glass ceiling; some may involve breaking, or at least bending the law.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689212\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-400x625.jpg\" alt=\"'The Race' by Nina Allan\" width=\"400\" height=\"625\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689212\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-400x625.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-384x600.jpg 384w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-768x1200.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover-755x1180.jpg 755w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Race-TitanCover.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Race’ by Nina Allan\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Race\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Nina Allan\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>On the other side of the debut universe, or more likely in one adjacent to ours, you can find Nina Allan’s remarkable \u003cem>The Race\u003c/em>. In admirably direct prose, we meet Jenna Hoolman, who tells us about her life in Sapphire in a devastated future. The only game in town is smartdog racing, which involves humans bonded to dogs. “There’s a lot of hard-science stuff I don’t understand fully,” Jenna tells us. In fact the future itself seems a bit blurry, until Allan snaps it into crystal clear focus. Our narrator may not be who we think she is. And the smartdog-runner relationship may prove to have parallels even the most literary aficionados may not suspect. Rest assured this is not the science fiction you thought you were buying, but something even stranger and more powerful. Stories unfold within stories, fiction begets even stranger fictions set in more familiar places. Here’s the good news: the best means of gaining any perspective requires one to step away from the object you are trying to understand. It’s essential to preserve the mysteries at the heart of this astonishing novel. But as Nina Allan whipsaws your mind from this world to the next and back to this one, upon your return to wherever you were when you started \u003cem>The Race\u003c/em>, you will realize that perspective cuts two ways. Try as you might, you can’t unsee the truth.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689387\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Muladona_picture-210-400x612.jpg\" alt=\"'Muladona' by Eric Stener Carlson\" width=\"400\" height=\"612\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689387\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Muladona_picture-210.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Muladona_picture-210-392x600.jpg 392w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Muladona’ by Eric Stener Carlson\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>Muladona\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Eric Stener Carlson\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Tartarus Press is a specialty publisher from the moors of Britain with a focus on the supernatural and the weird. They were the original publisher of Andrew Michael Hurley’s \u003cem>The Loney\u003c/em>, before it started winning prizes and acclaim. Eric Stener Carlson’s \u003cem>Muladona\u003c/em> unfolds in 1918, as the Spanish flu kills off the residents of Incarnation, Texas. Verge Strömberg is a bookworm and the son of an overbearing town pastor, who leaves him behind to tend church elsewhere. That’s when the Muladona begins coming to him – a fire-breathing winged mule from hell (and Mexican folklore). It begins to tell him stories, taunting him in true supernatural fashion to guess its name. It’s an upside-down, supernatural \u003cem>Scheherazade\u003c/em>, with a hardscrabble, western-dirt feel. Carlson captures the terror of an almost-remembered nightmare, juxtaposing the familiar and the strange with ease. While Tartarus hails from the darkest moors of Britain, \u003cem>Muladona\u003c/em> speaks the black heart of American greed.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689391\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Heavenly-Table-400x603.jpg\" alt=\"'The Heavenly Table' by Donald Ray Pollack\" width=\"400\" height=\"603\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689391\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Heavenly-Table.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Heavenly-Table-398x600.jpg 398w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Heavenly Table’ by Donald Ray Pollack\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Donald Ray Pollack\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Donald Ray Pollack’s \u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em> is not a cookbook, but it is every bit as disturbing as the tome \u003cem>To Serve Man\u003c/em> in the famous Damon Knight story adapted by Rod Serling for \u003cem>The Twilight Zone\u003c/em>. It’s 1917, the 20th century is finally coming into focus, and it is not a happy sight. Cane, Cob and Chimney Jewett lose everything and set off to kill, rob and pillage everything in their path, inspired by a dime novel that revels in blood. The Fiddlers, Ellsworth, Eula and their son Eddie, live hundreds of miles away from the Jewetts, but not far enough. Their paths will cross and it will not end well for Pollack’s characters, crafted from blood, steel and stone. We believe these people, and in them, even if they are despicable. There’s a point where despicable becomes easy — necessary even. Exciting and powerful, \u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em> offers the visionary pleasures of Flannery O’Connor with a hefty dose of gun (and other) violence. Pollack humanizes his most desperately terrible characters, even if we wish he would not. \u003cem>The Heavenly Table\u003c/em> is a serving of American literary ultra-violence that steps well beyond wild into weird.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689392\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris-400x608.jpg\" alt=\"'The Last Days of New Paris' by China Miéville\" width=\"400\" height=\"608\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689392\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris-400x608.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris-395x600.jpg 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Last-DAys-of-NEw-PAris.jpg 701w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Last Days of New Paris’ by China Miéville\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>The Last Days of New Paris\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by China Miéville\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Let’s just get to the heart of weird, with the man who invented a genre he called “the New Weird,” China Miéville. \u003cem>The Last Days of New Paris\u003c/em> posits that in 1941, a surrealist bomb detonated in Nazi-occupied Paris. The horrific, disturbing, and yes, surreal images of those paintings were made real. In 1950, the war drags on and New Paris, as it is called, is under a new attack, as the Nazis have unsurprisingly made contact with Hell and managed to import demons to aid in their fight. Thibault is a soldier fighting for the surrealists, trying to keep track of the manifs, which is to say, those manifestations from the art. “Of those many manifs mentioned in the narrative, there are, I’m sure, many I’ve failed to identify. If I understand it correctly, it’s in the nature of the S-Blast that the great bulk of its results are random or manifest the work of unknown artists–by which in Surrealist fashion, I mean people.” So, yes, \u003cem>people are weird\u003c/em>. The book is both illustrated and annotated. Miéville is consistently brilliant and weird in equal measure. This is clearly the best book about surrealist art brought to life to fight in WWII ever written.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11689394\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Where-The-Time-Goes__61GkSZ23AL-400x608.jpg\" alt=\"'Where the Time Goes' by Jeffrey E. Barlough\" width=\"400\" height=\"608\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11689394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Where-The-Time-Goes__61GkSZ23AL.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Where-The-Time-Goes__61GkSZ23AL-395x600.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Where the Time Goes’ by Jeffrey E. Barlough\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>Where the Time Goes\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>by Jeffrey E. Barlough\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>The potential in fantasy literature for the weird is great, but the realization is low. We can thank Jeffrey E. Barlough, then, for his utterly unique Western Lights novels. They all stand alone, though they partake of the same backdrop — a sort of Victorian London plopped down in the American West and mid-west, sans gunpowder, but with mastodons, wooly mammoths and giant sloths roaming the hills. The latest entry, \u003cem>Where the Time Goes\u003c/em> finds Dr. Hugh Callender returning home to Dithering in the Lingonshire, to investigate the monster in Eldritch’s Cupboard, if indeed it even exists. The charm of Barlough’s work is that he writes as if he’s living in the world he has created with a lovely and enjoyably jolly faux-Victorian prose. He also loves his characters so much that you cannot help but feel the same. He creates real tension and when he dials up the creep factor, he can make your skin crawl with the merest suggestion. This is the ninth book in the series, so if you want to catch up while you wait for this one, there are plenty to read. Order is unimportant, but these books are an important reminder that the human imagination has no bounds. They also remind us that there is art in literature that simply cannot be experienced in any other way.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Sex Robots and Prison in Margaret Atwood's 'The Heart Goes Last'",
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"content": "\u003cp>The future does not replace the present. It’s slathered on top of it, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. But moment by moment, we struggle with the minutia of our lives. Our visions of the future are based firmly not on where we are headed, but instead on where we have come from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margaret Atwood understands all too well how the past infects the present. When she writes about the future, it feels real because any future she imagines consists mostly of its own past. Which is to say, our world as it is today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10990329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam.jpg\" alt=\"atwood-maddaddam\" width=\"225\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam.jpg 466w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam-400x588.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam-408x600.jpg 408w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\">\u003c/a>In her \u003cem>MaddAddam\u003c/em> trilogy (\u003cem>Oryx & Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam\u003c/em>), Atwood crafts a piercing, poignant portrait of our world transformed by genetic pollution and global warming. The power of her vision stems from the fact that underneath all her invention, the skeletal remains of the present are clearly visible. In these books she embraces science fiction as extrapolation. Reading them as the world’s temperature inexorably increases, it’s hard not to feel like a frog being slowly boiled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her latest novel, \u003cem>The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em>, Atwood embraces different aspects of science fiction. First and foremost, this is what in the Golden Age of sci-fi (1938-1946) was called a “fix-up” novel. Ray Bradbury’s \u003cem>The Martian Chronicles\u003c/em> and Isaac Asimov’s\u003cem> I, Robot\u003c/em> are the best known examples of the genre — classics stitched together from previously published short fiction. Parts of \u003cem>The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em> first appeared at \u003ca href=\"http://Byliner.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Byliner.com\u003c/a>. But the final product has the weird, organic feel of all pf Atwood’s work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, Atwood is not exploring the future as much as she is rewriting the present. We meet Stan and Charmaine sleeping in their car. Had things gone farther south on the economic front in 2008, it’s a scenario that might be much closer than many of us would care to admit. The crash and burn of Atwood’s “day after tomorrow” has left most of the U.S. population homeless, desperate and vulnerable. A once-working civilization has become prey to a nasty set of unseen predators we as readers know must exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10990328\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last.jpg\" alt=\"atwood-=the_heart_goes_last\" width=\"238\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last-400x607.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last-395x600.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\">\u003c/a>But Stan and Charmaine are lucky: they make it in to the “Positron Project.” It turns out that all those for-profit prisons popping up around the nation in the present have engineered a post-collapse economy that offers safety in the form of a Faustian bargain. Half of the time you live in the lovely little company town of Consilience, and the other half you spend in prison as an inmate. You’re employed and safe and…in prison. And the sex robots, they can’t be bad, can they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atwood works the Kafkaesque foreboding with impeccable prose, tightening the screws with an invisibly terrifying precision. Charmaine starts to fall for the man who lives in her house when she’s not there. Stan finds himself in limbo. It’s no metaphor, and the waiting room for hell is just about as much fun as Atwood can have. For those who expect a tour of the ninth circle, Atwood has some funny surprises in store. Eventually the tightest screws spring loose and Atwood’s penchant for dark humor and satire take center stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who look to Atwood for mere dread, which she does so well, \u003cem>The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em> may have more dimensions than they desire. But Atwood has always had a sense of humor, and when she decides to have fun, her prose and imagination are bolstered by the consistency of her characters. And for all her literary reputation and prowess, the author is perfectly happy to morph her economic parable into an unusual thriller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Atwood is too canny to stop at mere thrills. She certainly makes you turn those pages, but she’s also makes them pretty damn difficult to forget. It’s hard to put down\u003cem> The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em> and not see the seeds of her unhappy but sometimes funny future sprouting between the cracks in the asphalt of the present. We can slather over the cracks with another layer of cement and hope to forget what’s underneath. But the past has seeped into the present. And the present, to our dismay, will inform and infect the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2013/2013-interviews/margaret_atwood-2013.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hear an interview with Margaret Atwood about her MaddAddam trilogy here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The future does not replace the present. It’s slathered on top of it, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. But moment by moment, we struggle with the minutia of our lives. Our visions of the future are based firmly not on where we are headed, but instead on where we have come from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margaret Atwood understands all too well how the past infects the present. When she writes about the future, it feels real because any future she imagines consists mostly of its own past. Which is to say, our world as it is today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10990329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam.jpg\" alt=\"atwood-maddaddam\" width=\"225\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam.jpg 466w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam-400x588.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-maddaddam-408x600.jpg 408w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\">\u003c/a>In her \u003cem>MaddAddam\u003c/em> trilogy (\u003cem>Oryx & Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam\u003c/em>), Atwood crafts a piercing, poignant portrait of our world transformed by genetic pollution and global warming. The power of her vision stems from the fact that underneath all her invention, the skeletal remains of the present are clearly visible. In these books she embraces science fiction as extrapolation. Reading them as the world’s temperature inexorably increases, it’s hard not to feel like a frog being slowly boiled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her latest novel, \u003cem>The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em>, Atwood embraces different aspects of science fiction. First and foremost, this is what in the Golden Age of sci-fi (1938-1946) was called a “fix-up” novel. Ray Bradbury’s \u003cem>The Martian Chronicles\u003c/em> and Isaac Asimov’s\u003cem> I, Robot\u003c/em> are the best known examples of the genre — classics stitched together from previously published short fiction. Parts of \u003cem>The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em> first appeared at \u003ca href=\"http://Byliner.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Byliner.com\u003c/a>. But the final product has the weird, organic feel of all pf Atwood’s work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, Atwood is not exploring the future as much as she is rewriting the present. We meet Stan and Charmaine sleeping in their car. Had things gone farther south on the economic front in 2008, it’s a scenario that might be much closer than many of us would care to admit. The crash and burn of Atwood’s “day after tomorrow” has left most of the U.S. population homeless, desperate and vulnerable. A once-working civilization has become prey to a nasty set of unseen predators we as readers know must exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10990328\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last.jpg\" alt=\"atwood-=the_heart_goes_last\" width=\"238\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last-400x607.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/atwood-the_heart_goes_last-395x600.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\">\u003c/a>But Stan and Charmaine are lucky: they make it in to the “Positron Project.” It turns out that all those for-profit prisons popping up around the nation in the present have engineered a post-collapse economy that offers safety in the form of a Faustian bargain. Half of the time you live in the lovely little company town of Consilience, and the other half you spend in prison as an inmate. You’re employed and safe and…in prison. And the sex robots, they can’t be bad, can they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atwood works the Kafkaesque foreboding with impeccable prose, tightening the screws with an invisibly terrifying precision. Charmaine starts to fall for the man who lives in her house when she’s not there. Stan finds himself in limbo. It’s no metaphor, and the waiting room for hell is just about as much fun as Atwood can have. For those who expect a tour of the ninth circle, Atwood has some funny surprises in store. Eventually the tightest screws spring loose and Atwood’s penchant for dark humor and satire take center stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who look to Atwood for mere dread, which she does so well, \u003cem>The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em> may have more dimensions than they desire. But Atwood has always had a sense of humor, and when she decides to have fun, her prose and imagination are bolstered by the consistency of her characters. And for all her literary reputation and prowess, the author is perfectly happy to morph her economic parable into an unusual thriller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Atwood is too canny to stop at mere thrills. She certainly makes you turn those pages, but she’s also makes them pretty damn difficult to forget. It’s hard to put down\u003cem> The Heart Goes Last\u003c/em> and not see the seeds of her unhappy but sometimes funny future sprouting between the cracks in the asphalt of the present. We can slather over the cracks with another layer of cement and hope to forget what’s underneath. But the past has seeped into the present. And the present, to our dismay, will inform and infect the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2013/2013-interviews/margaret_atwood-2013.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hear an interview with Margaret Atwood about her MaddAddam trilogy here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Summer Reading List for Those Who Crave the Eclectic",
"headTitle": "A Summer Reading List for Those Who Crave the Eclectic | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Summer books, like summer movies, are generally widely promoted and easily found. Here are the books not so easily found that provide the pleasures of summer reading and leaven them with more than a frisson of the unusual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the San Francisco steampunk ghost huntress to the true story of the mother and daughter behind feminism and \u003cem>Frankenstein\u003c/em>, these ARE the books you were looking for – but might not otherwise have found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/tanzer-vermillion.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653566 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/tanzer-vermillion.jpg\" alt=\"tanzer-vermillion\" width=\"177\" height=\"266\">\u003c/a>Let’s start with \u003cem>Vermillion\u003c/em> by Molly Tanzer, a trade paperback from Petaluma publisher Word Horde. This is the epitome of the weird Western adventure, featuring Elouise “Lou” Merriwether, a 19 -ear-old “psychopomp” keeping San Francisco safe from ghosts, shades and the undead. Jung tells us the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms. For Tanzer she’s a supernatural troubleshooter. For the readers, she’s one hell of a lot of thought-provoking Taoist heroine fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653562 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute.jpg\" alt=\"cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute\" width=\"164\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute-384x600.jpg 384w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 164px) 100vw, 164px\">\u003c/a>As it happens, British publisher Egaeus Press recently published Tanzer’s collection of recipe-driven short stories \u003cem>Rumbullion\u003c/em>. Their latest book is \u003cem>Bastards of the Absolute\u003c/em> by Adam Cantwell. Egaeus crafts books as art on all levels. \u003cem>Bastards\u003c/em> looks like an ancient volume of forbidden lore, and happily it reads like that as well. From prisoners entombed in murals to stories narrated by classical composers, this is deeply bent high literature. You may think that the author needs therapy while reading these, and you might seek the same tre afterwards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/gordon-romantic_outlaws.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653572 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/gordon-romantic_outlaws.jpg\" alt=\"gordon-romantic_outlaws\" width=\"169\" height=\"248\">\u003c/a>In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft gave birth to \u003cem>A Vindication of the Rights of Woman\u003c/em>. She’s a founding figure of feminist philosophy and action. In 1797, she gave birth to her second daughter, also named Mary, who grew up to become Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of \u003cem>Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus\u003c/em>. Charlotte Gordon examines the lives of these two literary and philosophical ground-breakers with the passion and intensity of a literary thriller. Gordon has the gift of great characters to work with, and she tells their story with verve. A great pairing with Tanzer’s novel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653560 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife.jpg\" alt=\"bacigalupi-the_water_knife\" width=\"191\" height=\"285\">\u003c/a>We’re all about the water shortage, and what better way to enjoy it than reading \u003cem>The Water Knife\u003c/em> by Paolo Bacigalupi? Bacigalupi’s novel looks out about say, fifteen years? – and finds “water knife” Angel Velasquez as the man who “cuts” water for Nevada arcology boss Catherine Case. He makes sure she gets plenty even if California goes to dust. Rumors of a new tech surface, and the bodies follow on. This book will not re-assure you. This is not a happy adventure dystopia. This is a day-after-tomorrow novel of intense suspense. Like most knives, this one cuts both ways, in that it is both engrossingly entertaining and deeply disturbing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/faye-the_fatal-flame.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653563 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/faye-the_fatal-flame.jpg\" alt=\"faye-the_fatal-flame\" width=\"178\" height=\"261\">\u003c/a>It’s always a good idea start a series after the third book is released. To that end, you can now start reading \u003cem>The Gods of Gotham\u003c/em> by Lyndsay Faye, knowing the follow-up \u003cem>Seven for a Secret\u003c/em>, and now the third book, \u003cem>The Fatal Flame\u003c/em> and the author, are showing up in local bookstores. The first introduces us to Timothy Wilde, a barkeeper in 1845 New York who is pulled into the just-formed police force after a fire destroys his bar and part of his face. Crisp but filled with gritty details, \u003cem>The Gods of Gotham\u003c/em> sends Timothy in pursuit of a child killer; the newest book has him after a serial arsonist. It’s nice to know just how much worse things were back then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/The-Border-e1436505888720.jpg\" alt=\"The Border\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10829375\">The alien invasion novel seems as if it must be by definition limited; creatures show up, attack and conquer, almost. Robert R. McCammon turns in one of the year’s best under-the-radar novels, \u003cem>The Border\u003c/em>, and proves this is not the case. He immerses us in the post-apocalyptic aftermath of a war between two alien races, the Cyphers and the Gorgons, fought on earth. We’re collateral damage. Ethan, a teenage boy finds himself recovering from amnesia with a set of powers that may tip the balance of power. McCammon offers a big cast, great characters, and dialogue that rings true even in circumstances that demonstrate his horrifically vivid imagination. Subterranean Press makes a beautiful book, illustrated with color plates. Snap up a copy while you can and make the world go away before the Cyphers and Gorgons do it for you. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653565 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v.jpg\" alt=\"parker-strange_tales_v\" width=\"206\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v-397x600.jpg 397w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\">\u003c/a>You can hardly walk through a bookstore without seeing a dozen spins on the “Year’s Best” genre fiction anthologies. But visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.ziesings.com/?folio=9POR7JU99\">Borderlands Books\u003c/a>, which does still exist, and ask for \u003cem>Strange Takes V\u003c/em>, from Tartarus Press, edited by Rosalie Parker to find a book worth keeping. Parker has a very eclectic sensibility, and here you’ll find all original stories you’ll not find anywhere else. This is wild variety defined, from Mark Valentine’s “Yes, I Knew the Venusian Commodore” to Jacarutu:23’s “Bardo Thodol Backup File.” Northern California’s L. S. Johnson’s story “Julie” reads like a great Anne Rice novel in miniature. This is a lovely book with a silk bookmark and a gorgeous frontispiece by artist Stephen J Clark. Read with care so you can show it off later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653567 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty.jpg\" alt=\"vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty\" width=\"212\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty-397x600.jpg 397w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\">\u003c/a>Who are you? You look in the mirror and there’s no answer. But Vendela Vida’s \u003cem>The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty\u003c/em> is an excellent place to start looking. She’s a Bay Area literary icon for a very good reason well beyond her work in the publishing world. She writes sparse, tense novels that are thrilling to both read and think about. Here, her unnamed narrator goes to Morocco, where she loses her backpack and slowly, her sense of self. Vida expertly captures the sense of a bureaucratic, life-changing nightmare. Perhaps there’s a reason that she lost the backpack. Memory plays tricks on the mind. We are ever our own worst enemies. All it takes is a great book, an unexpected find, to help us remember why we read. To help us remember who we are, and why.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Summer books, like summer movies, are generally widely promoted and easily found. Here are the books not so easily found that provide the pleasures of summer reading and leaven them with more than a frisson of the unusual.",
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"description": "Summer books, like summer movies, are generally widely promoted and easily found. Here are the books not so easily found that provide the pleasures of summer reading and leaven them with more than a frisson of the unusual.",
"title": "A Summer Reading List for Those Who Crave the Eclectic | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Summer books, like summer movies, are generally widely promoted and easily found. Here are the books not so easily found that provide the pleasures of summer reading and leaven them with more than a frisson of the unusual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the San Francisco steampunk ghost huntress to the true story of the mother and daughter behind feminism and \u003cem>Frankenstein\u003c/em>, these ARE the books you were looking for – but might not otherwise have found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/tanzer-vermillion.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653566 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/tanzer-vermillion.jpg\" alt=\"tanzer-vermillion\" width=\"177\" height=\"266\">\u003c/a>Let’s start with \u003cem>Vermillion\u003c/em> by Molly Tanzer, a trade paperback from Petaluma publisher Word Horde. This is the epitome of the weird Western adventure, featuring Elouise “Lou” Merriwether, a 19 -ear-old “psychopomp” keeping San Francisco safe from ghosts, shades and the undead. Jung tells us the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms. For Tanzer she’s a supernatural troubleshooter. For the readers, she’s one hell of a lot of thought-provoking Taoist heroine fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653562 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute.jpg\" alt=\"cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute\" width=\"164\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/cantwell-bastards_of_the_absolute-384x600.jpg 384w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 164px) 100vw, 164px\">\u003c/a>As it happens, British publisher Egaeus Press recently published Tanzer’s collection of recipe-driven short stories \u003cem>Rumbullion\u003c/em>. Their latest book is \u003cem>Bastards of the Absolute\u003c/em> by Adam Cantwell. Egaeus crafts books as art on all levels. \u003cem>Bastards\u003c/em> looks like an ancient volume of forbidden lore, and happily it reads like that as well. From prisoners entombed in murals to stories narrated by classical composers, this is deeply bent high literature. You may think that the author needs therapy while reading these, and you might seek the same tre afterwards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/gordon-romantic_outlaws.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653572 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/gordon-romantic_outlaws.jpg\" alt=\"gordon-romantic_outlaws\" width=\"169\" height=\"248\">\u003c/a>In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft gave birth to \u003cem>A Vindication of the Rights of Woman\u003c/em>. She’s a founding figure of feminist philosophy and action. In 1797, she gave birth to her second daughter, also named Mary, who grew up to become Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of \u003cem>Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus\u003c/em>. Charlotte Gordon examines the lives of these two literary and philosophical ground-breakers with the passion and intensity of a literary thriller. Gordon has the gift of great characters to work with, and she tells their story with verve. A great pairing with Tanzer’s novel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653560 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/bacigalupi-the_water_knife.jpg\" alt=\"bacigalupi-the_water_knife\" width=\"191\" height=\"285\">\u003c/a>We’re all about the water shortage, and what better way to enjoy it than reading \u003cem>The Water Knife\u003c/em> by Paolo Bacigalupi? Bacigalupi’s novel looks out about say, fifteen years? – and finds “water knife” Angel Velasquez as the man who “cuts” water for Nevada arcology boss Catherine Case. He makes sure she gets plenty even if California goes to dust. Rumors of a new tech surface, and the bodies follow on. This book will not re-assure you. This is not a happy adventure dystopia. This is a day-after-tomorrow novel of intense suspense. Like most knives, this one cuts both ways, in that it is both engrossingly entertaining and deeply disturbing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/faye-the_fatal-flame.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653563 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/faye-the_fatal-flame.jpg\" alt=\"faye-the_fatal-flame\" width=\"178\" height=\"261\">\u003c/a>It’s always a good idea start a series after the third book is released. To that end, you can now start reading \u003cem>The Gods of Gotham\u003c/em> by Lyndsay Faye, knowing the follow-up \u003cem>Seven for a Secret\u003c/em>, and now the third book, \u003cem>The Fatal Flame\u003c/em> and the author, are showing up in local bookstores. The first introduces us to Timothy Wilde, a barkeeper in 1845 New York who is pulled into the just-formed police force after a fire destroys his bar and part of his face. Crisp but filled with gritty details, \u003cem>The Gods of Gotham\u003c/em> sends Timothy in pursuit of a child killer; the newest book has him after a serial arsonist. It’s nice to know just how much worse things were back then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/The-Border-e1436505888720.jpg\" alt=\"The Border\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10829375\">The alien invasion novel seems as if it must be by definition limited; creatures show up, attack and conquer, almost. Robert R. McCammon turns in one of the year’s best under-the-radar novels, \u003cem>The Border\u003c/em>, and proves this is not the case. He immerses us in the post-apocalyptic aftermath of a war between two alien races, the Cyphers and the Gorgons, fought on earth. We’re collateral damage. Ethan, a teenage boy finds himself recovering from amnesia with a set of powers that may tip the balance of power. McCammon offers a big cast, great characters, and dialogue that rings true even in circumstances that demonstrate his horrifically vivid imagination. Subterranean Press makes a beautiful book, illustrated with color plates. Snap up a copy while you can and make the world go away before the Cyphers and Gorgons do it for you. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653565 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v.jpg\" alt=\"parker-strange_tales_v\" width=\"206\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/parker-strange_tales_v-397x600.jpg 397w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\">\u003c/a>You can hardly walk through a bookstore without seeing a dozen spins on the “Year’s Best” genre fiction anthologies. But visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.ziesings.com/?folio=9POR7JU99\">Borderlands Books\u003c/a>, which does still exist, and ask for \u003cem>Strange Takes V\u003c/em>, from Tartarus Press, edited by Rosalie Parker to find a book worth keeping. Parker has a very eclectic sensibility, and here you’ll find all original stories you’ll not find anywhere else. This is wild variety defined, from Mark Valentine’s “Yes, I Knew the Venusian Commodore” to Jacarutu:23’s “Bardo Thodol Backup File.” Northern California’s L. S. Johnson’s story “Julie” reads like a great Anne Rice novel in miniature. This is a lovely book with a silk bookmark and a gorgeous frontispiece by artist Stephen J Clark. Read with care so you can show it off later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10653567 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty.jpg\" alt=\"vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty\" width=\"212\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/vida-the_divers_clothes_lie_empty-397x600.jpg 397w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\">\u003c/a>Who are you? You look in the mirror and there’s no answer. But Vendela Vida’s \u003cem>The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty\u003c/em> is an excellent place to start looking. She’s a Bay Area literary icon for a very good reason well beyond her work in the publishing world. She writes sparse, tense novels that are thrilling to both read and think about. Here, her unnamed narrator goes to Morocco, where she loses her backpack and slowly, her sense of self. Vida expertly captures the sense of a bureaucratic, life-changing nightmare. Perhaps there’s a reason that she lost the backpack. Memory plays tricks on the mind. We are ever our own worst enemies. All it takes is a great book, an unexpected find, to help us remember why we read. To help us remember who we are, and why.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New Book says Blame Humans for Legal Injustice, Not the System",
"headTitle": "New Book says Blame Humans for Legal Injustice, Not the System | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>We have a justice problem in America. It’s obvious, even embarrassing. Our so-called system of justice churns out one bad verdict after another, followed closely by constant cries to reform the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what if it’s not the system that’s the problem?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adam Benforado, who teaches law at Drexel University and is an attorney himself, has come to the conclusion that \u003cem>we\u003c/em> are the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. legal system is based on assumptions about human behavior that are no longer supported by the latest facts emerging from the world of neuroscience, Benforado argues. We are not in control of our perceptions, let alone the justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10780387\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400.jpg\" alt=\"benforado-unfair-400\" width=\"197\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400-395x600.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\">\u003c/a>In \u003cem>Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice\u003c/em>, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/opinion/flawed-humans-flawed-justice.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1\">in a recent op-ed for \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Benforado methodically looks at each player in the system – the Victim, the Detective, the Suspect, the Lawyer, the Jury, the Eyewitness, the Expert, the Judge, the Public and the Prisoner – and then examines the many unconscious and subconscious forces that make justice unlikely, if not impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the power of the book stems from the fact that it grew out of Benforado’s personal journey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The seeds of the book were sewn in my experience as an idealistic and somewhat naïve law student,” Benforado tells me. “I went to law school, in large part, because I wanted to combat injustice. And what often mattered most seemed not to be the black-letter law, but the particular thinking and behavior of the legal decision-makers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2015/2015-interviews/adam_benforado-2015.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[Listen to a full audio interview with Adam Benforado here.]\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of his research, Benforado sought the voices of system skeptics, including Jon Hanson, now Director of the Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I began engaging the psychological literature and that’s what spurred me to one of the book’s core conclusions,” Benforado says. “The foundation of our legal system is fundamentally flawed because it’s built on an incorrect model of human behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reception of these ideas in the legal community has been surprisingly warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One day, I walked into my judge’s office and presented her with a big stack of psychological research,” Benforado says. “To her credit, she read through it all. With the book out a week, I’ve already heard from a couple of judges who are interested in developing continuing education for members of the bench.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those in policing seem equally ready to embrace his ideas. Benforado recently received an email from a police chief in Wisconsin who attached some scientific articles on the subject, asking to know his thoughts. “That gives me real hope for our future,” Benforado says. “Here is someone out there on the streets who is committed to evidence-based criminal justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Unfair,\u003c/em> Benforado offers readers compelling stories and anecdotes that demonstrate his science. Sourcing the right narratives was challenging. “I was always trying to figure out how I could be factually accurate and true to the science, but still tell a story that would bring in the broad set of readers I wanted to reach,” Benforado says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the author had to temper his approach so as not to mislead his audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tried to be careful about using the stories as a means to provide a real-world context for the science, but to avoid falling into the trap of saying the reason that this particular real world event occurred was this particular psychological phenomenon,” Benforado said. “For the most part, the data just doesn’t allow us to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benfordo thinks insights from psychology can help shed light on almost every tragic case that has emerged over the last several months, such as the shooting of David Baril in Baltimore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Two witnesses immediately came forward to say that they had seen a police officer shoot an unarmed man who was running away,” Benforado said of the case. “But surveillance footage revealed that the man had actually been chasing an officer, swinging a hammer. Neither witness was apparently trying to mislead anyone; they genuinely believed they saw something that did not happen. It’s hard to understand this without looking at the experimental evidence on false memory and how we fill in gaps in our recollection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Unfair\u003c/em>, Adam Benforado makes a compelling argument that if justice is at the moment impaired, it is not altogether impossible. We just need to understand how \u003cem>we\u003c/em> work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Adam Benforado appears at the Commonwealth Club on Wednesday, June 24 at 6pm, at 555 Post St., San Francisco; and at Book Passage on Thursday, June 25 at 7pm, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA 94925.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We have a justice problem in America. It’s obvious, even embarrassing. Our so-called system of justice churns out one bad verdict after another, followed closely by constant cries to reform the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what if it’s not the system that’s the problem?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adam Benforado, who teaches law at Drexel University and is an attorney himself, has come to the conclusion that \u003cem>we\u003c/em> are the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. legal system is based on assumptions about human behavior that are no longer supported by the latest facts emerging from the world of neuroscience, Benforado argues. We are not in control of our perceptions, let alone the justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10780387\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400.jpg\" alt=\"benforado-unfair-400\" width=\"197\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/benforado-unfair-400-395x600.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\">\u003c/a>In \u003cem>Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice\u003c/em>, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/opinion/flawed-humans-flawed-justice.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1\">in a recent op-ed for \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Benforado methodically looks at each player in the system – the Victim, the Detective, the Suspect, the Lawyer, the Jury, the Eyewitness, the Expert, the Judge, the Public and the Prisoner – and then examines the many unconscious and subconscious forces that make justice unlikely, if not impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the power of the book stems from the fact that it grew out of Benforado’s personal journey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The seeds of the book were sewn in my experience as an idealistic and somewhat naïve law student,” Benforado tells me. “I went to law school, in large part, because I wanted to combat injustice. And what often mattered most seemed not to be the black-letter law, but the particular thinking and behavior of the legal decision-makers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2015/2015-interviews/adam_benforado-2015.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[Listen to a full audio interview with Adam Benforado here.]\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of his research, Benforado sought the voices of system skeptics, including Jon Hanson, now Director of the Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I began engaging the psychological literature and that’s what spurred me to one of the book’s core conclusions,” Benforado says. “The foundation of our legal system is fundamentally flawed because it’s built on an incorrect model of human behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reception of these ideas in the legal community has been surprisingly warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One day, I walked into my judge’s office and presented her with a big stack of psychological research,” Benforado says. “To her credit, she read through it all. With the book out a week, I’ve already heard from a couple of judges who are interested in developing continuing education for members of the bench.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those in policing seem equally ready to embrace his ideas. Benforado recently received an email from a police chief in Wisconsin who attached some scientific articles on the subject, asking to know his thoughts. “That gives me real hope for our future,” Benforado says. “Here is someone out there on the streets who is committed to evidence-based criminal justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Unfair,\u003c/em> Benforado offers readers compelling stories and anecdotes that demonstrate his science. Sourcing the right narratives was challenging. “I was always trying to figure out how I could be factually accurate and true to the science, but still tell a story that would bring in the broad set of readers I wanted to reach,” Benforado says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the author had to temper his approach so as not to mislead his audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tried to be careful about using the stories as a means to provide a real-world context for the science, but to avoid falling into the trap of saying the reason that this particular real world event occurred was this particular psychological phenomenon,” Benforado said. “For the most part, the data just doesn’t allow us to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benfordo thinks insights from psychology can help shed light on almost every tragic case that has emerged over the last several months, such as the shooting of David Baril in Baltimore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Two witnesses immediately came forward to say that they had seen a police officer shoot an unarmed man who was running away,” Benforado said of the case. “But surveillance footage revealed that the man had actually been chasing an officer, swinging a hammer. Neither witness was apparently trying to mislead anyone; they genuinely believed they saw something that did not happen. It’s hard to understand this without looking at the experimental evidence on false memory and how we fill in gaps in our recollection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Unfair\u003c/em>, Adam Benforado makes a compelling argument that if justice is at the moment impaired, it is not altogether impossible. We just need to understand how \u003cem>we\u003c/em> work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Adam Benforado appears at the Commonwealth Club on Wednesday, June 24 at 6pm, at 555 Post St., San Francisco; and at Book Passage on Thursday, June 25 at 7pm, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA 94925.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Stephen Witt came of age in a generation of thieves. The theft was so easy, so ubiquitous, that it didn’t even feel like stealing. It only felt like keeping up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His story — our story, really — as told in \u003cem>How Music Got Free: The End of An Industry, The Turn of the Century and The Patient Zero of Piracy\u003c/em> is a scathing and hilarious one. What’s left but laughter? These horses have long since left the barn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am a member of the pirate generation,” Witt writes. “I pirated on an industrial scale, but told no one… Most of the music I never actually listened to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, as a journalism student, he grew curious as to where all his ill-gotten gains came from. It’s a digital era, and we all leave tracks we cannot erase, so with an impressive sense of sleuthing, Witt tracked down the narrative of file-sharing. And for all the Napsters, the Universal Music Groups and Lars Ulrichs who dominated the headlines of the times, at the center of the story he found truly compelling characters who never made it above the fold, or even to the back pages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/witt-how_music_got_free-400.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10763242\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/witt-how_music_got_free-400.jpg\" alt=\"witt-how_music_got_free-400\" width=\"231\" height=\"341\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them was Karlheinz Brandenburg, who began as a grad student working for the Fraunhofer IIS and who eventually led the crew who created the MP3 file format. The marketing team at Phillips eviscerated his business model, and marginalized his superior product. Brandenburg was left to license his work wherever he could, even giving it away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Witt’s “patient zero” was even more unprepossessing. Benny Lydell Glover started out as a temp working on the line at a CD manufacturing plant in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, living with his girlfriend in a trailer behind his parents’ house. As Witt writes, “his favorite musical genre was rap, his second favorite was country, and his lifestyle was a mash-up of the two.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Glover also had a love for computers. He got himself on the internet early, and found his way into chat rooms where teenagers with names like Kali had set up secret sharing sites with thousands of albums, video games, videos — anything that could be broken down into ones and zeros. Glover, willing to leak albums before their release from the CD manufacturing warehouse, proved to be an ongoing gold mine for the file-sharing sites. (\u003cem>The New Yorker\u003c/em> published Witt’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/27/the-man-who-broke-the-music-business\">article on Glover\u003c/a> in April.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t matter if you think you know what happened next, because Witt weaves a ripping yarn, from the tattered rags of the music industry to the world we know today. Brandenburg’s original impulse for creating the MP3 format was to create a “digital radio jukebox”; he had Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music in his sights long before such streaming services became ubiquitous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10763245\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan.jpeg\" alt=\"fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan\" width=\"201\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan.jpeg 349w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan-32x32.jpeg 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\">Not surprisingly, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/a354d97e-1022-11e5-ad5a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3d5EfGj41\">Witt has some smart and not so happy news for those services as well\u003c/a>. With his combination of humor, insight and storytelling skill, he’s a must-see when he’s town, and especially if he decides to train that laser-like sensibility on \u003cem>your\u003c/em> business model. “Look upon \u003cem>your\u003c/em> works, ye mighty, and despair,” indeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I caught up with Stephen Witt via email to ask him about writing the book — and about the possibility of seeing it pirated online. (You can also listen to my \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2015/2015-interviews/stephen_witt-2015.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">audio interview with Witt here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Your book describes a collision of technical and social visionaries, none of whom had great social skills. How did you go about researching and interviewing players who had trouble expressing themselves?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had to re-draft the portions explaining the origins of the mp3 many times. The German engineers in particular were difficult; they all spoke perfect English, but they used very technical language, and objected to any imprecision in description. Fortunately, I had taped many of these interviews, so I could play them back as needed. With time, I was able to simplify the story to three points: 1) that the mp3 worked by taking advantage of inherent flaws in the human ear, 2) that inventor Karlheinz Brandenburg really was the key intellectual force behind the thing, despite his modest attempts to deflect credit, and 3) that it was an almost total commercial failure, until the pirates got their hands on it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We’re accustomed to stories where “Follow the money” provides an easy through line for “solving the crime” or unraveling the nefarious netherworld. Was that the case with this story, and if not, how did you unearth the unconnected and determine how one life touched another?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, the FBI had done a lot of the work already. I pulled the files on nearly 100 piracy prosecutions in the course of writing this book; I also was able to obtain access to some of the FBI’s internal memoranda, via the Freedom of Information Act. The other thing that really helped was the pirate’s own bureaucracy! For a shadowy network of digital outlaws, they kept very good records. There’s a number of hobbyists who now work to archive and preserve this stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The initial intention of the inventors of the MP3 is only now being realized as so-called streaming services come online. Have the creators of these services researched what happened and how in order to foresee future potential perversions of their intent that may bring about their demise?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Streaming presents an elegant solution to the problem of piracy-in fact, it was Brandenburg’s original purpose in creating the mp3. Since the streams originate from centralized servers, under corporate oversight, it’s much easier to police their content. Of course, pirate streamers exist too, as many people who watched the recent Mayweather-Pacquiao fight know. But it’s harder for them to reach scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Has your experience researching and writing the book brought you to believe that there is a means of policing music and other digital entertainment? Coming back to its origins, is the solution technical, social or impossible?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solution is technically possible; we’re watching it unfold right now. Decisions made in the early days of the Internet gave the average user a tremendous amount of power. The IRC underground where digital piracy originated was a home-brew affair-average people sharing information without oversight. That enabled a lot of wonderful things, but it was terrible for rightsholders. So, for a long time, technology and copyright were in opposition; I’d say, though, starting around 2007 or 2008, there was a shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the interests of rightsholders and technologists are aligned, and the goal is not to empower the user, but to extract value from them. Today, most Internet content is hosted in corporate libraries, with robots scanning uploaded files in search of infringing content-both Youtube and Soundcloud have such systems. Megaupload, by contrast, refused to police its users’ activity; now its founder Kim Dotcom is facing jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have you considered posting your book online? If it were to happen, how would you feel?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I won’t do it myself, but there’s already a large number of requests for it in the torrent underground. I suspect it will be available within minutes of the e-book going on sale. I’m cool with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Stephen Witt appears at \u003ca href=\"http://www.townecenterbooks.com/townecenternews.html\">Towne Center Books in Pleasanton\u003c/a> on June 19 at 7pm, and at \u003ca href=\"http://www.bookpassage.com/event/stephen-witt-how-music-got-free\">Book Passage in the Ferry Building\u003c/a> on June 20 at 12:30pm.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Stephen Witt came of age in a generation of thieves. The theft was so easy, so ubiquitous, that it didn’t even feel like stealing. It only felt like keeping up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His story — our story, really — as told in \u003cem>How Music Got Free: The End of An Industry, The Turn of the Century and The Patient Zero of Piracy\u003c/em> is a scathing and hilarious one. What’s left but laughter? These horses have long since left the barn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am a member of the pirate generation,” Witt writes. “I pirated on an industrial scale, but told no one… Most of the music I never actually listened to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, as a journalism student, he grew curious as to where all his ill-gotten gains came from. It’s a digital era, and we all leave tracks we cannot erase, so with an impressive sense of sleuthing, Witt tracked down the narrative of file-sharing. And for all the Napsters, the Universal Music Groups and Lars Ulrichs who dominated the headlines of the times, at the center of the story he found truly compelling characters who never made it above the fold, or even to the back pages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/witt-how_music_got_free-400.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10763242\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/witt-how_music_got_free-400.jpg\" alt=\"witt-how_music_got_free-400\" width=\"231\" height=\"341\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them was Karlheinz Brandenburg, who began as a grad student working for the Fraunhofer IIS and who eventually led the crew who created the MP3 file format. The marketing team at Phillips eviscerated his business model, and marginalized his superior product. Brandenburg was left to license his work wherever he could, even giving it away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Witt’s “patient zero” was even more unprepossessing. Benny Lydell Glover started out as a temp working on the line at a CD manufacturing plant in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, living with his girlfriend in a trailer behind his parents’ house. As Witt writes, “his favorite musical genre was rap, his second favorite was country, and his lifestyle was a mash-up of the two.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Glover also had a love for computers. He got himself on the internet early, and found his way into chat rooms where teenagers with names like Kali had set up secret sharing sites with thousands of albums, video games, videos — anything that could be broken down into ones and zeros. Glover, willing to leak albums before their release from the CD manufacturing warehouse, proved to be an ongoing gold mine for the file-sharing sites. (\u003cem>The New Yorker\u003c/em> published Witt’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/27/the-man-who-broke-the-music-business\">article on Glover\u003c/a> in April.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t matter if you think you know what happened next, because Witt weaves a ripping yarn, from the tattered rags of the music industry to the world we know today. Brandenburg’s original impulse for creating the MP3 format was to create a “digital radio jukebox”; he had Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music in his sights long before such streaming services became ubiquitous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10763245\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan.jpeg\" alt=\"fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan\" width=\"201\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan.jpeg 349w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/fraunhofer-mp3_front_cd-scan-32x32.jpeg 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\">Not surprisingly, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/a354d97e-1022-11e5-ad5a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3d5EfGj41\">Witt has some smart and not so happy news for those services as well\u003c/a>. With his combination of humor, insight and storytelling skill, he’s a must-see when he’s town, and especially if he decides to train that laser-like sensibility on \u003cem>your\u003c/em> business model. “Look upon \u003cem>your\u003c/em> works, ye mighty, and despair,” indeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I caught up with Stephen Witt via email to ask him about writing the book — and about the possibility of seeing it pirated online. (You can also listen to my \u003ca href=\"http://bookotron.com/agony/audio/2015/2015-interviews/stephen_witt-2015.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">audio interview with Witt here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Your book describes a collision of technical and social visionaries, none of whom had great social skills. How did you go about researching and interviewing players who had trouble expressing themselves?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had to re-draft the portions explaining the origins of the mp3 many times. The German engineers in particular were difficult; they all spoke perfect English, but they used very technical language, and objected to any imprecision in description. Fortunately, I had taped many of these interviews, so I could play them back as needed. With time, I was able to simplify the story to three points: 1) that the mp3 worked by taking advantage of inherent flaws in the human ear, 2) that inventor Karlheinz Brandenburg really was the key intellectual force behind the thing, despite his modest attempts to deflect credit, and 3) that it was an almost total commercial failure, until the pirates got their hands on it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We’re accustomed to stories where “Follow the money” provides an easy through line for “solving the crime” or unraveling the nefarious netherworld. Was that the case with this story, and if not, how did you unearth the unconnected and determine how one life touched another?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, the FBI had done a lot of the work already. I pulled the files on nearly 100 piracy prosecutions in the course of writing this book; I also was able to obtain access to some of the FBI’s internal memoranda, via the Freedom of Information Act. The other thing that really helped was the pirate’s own bureaucracy! For a shadowy network of digital outlaws, they kept very good records. There’s a number of hobbyists who now work to archive and preserve this stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The initial intention of the inventors of the MP3 is only now being realized as so-called streaming services come online. Have the creators of these services researched what happened and how in order to foresee future potential perversions of their intent that may bring about their demise?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Streaming presents an elegant solution to the problem of piracy-in fact, it was Brandenburg’s original purpose in creating the mp3. Since the streams originate from centralized servers, under corporate oversight, it’s much easier to police their content. Of course, pirate streamers exist too, as many people who watched the recent Mayweather-Pacquiao fight know. But it’s harder for them to reach scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Has your experience researching and writing the book brought you to believe that there is a means of policing music and other digital entertainment? Coming back to its origins, is the solution technical, social or impossible?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solution is technically possible; we’re watching it unfold right now. Decisions made in the early days of the Internet gave the average user a tremendous amount of power. The IRC underground where digital piracy originated was a home-brew affair-average people sharing information without oversight. That enabled a lot of wonderful things, but it was terrible for rightsholders. So, for a long time, technology and copyright were in opposition; I’d say, though, starting around 2007 or 2008, there was a shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the interests of rightsholders and technologists are aligned, and the goal is not to empower the user, but to extract value from them. Today, most Internet content is hosted in corporate libraries, with robots scanning uploaded files in search of infringing content-both Youtube and Soundcloud have such systems. Megaupload, by contrast, refused to police its users’ activity; now its founder Kim Dotcom is facing jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have you considered posting your book online? If it were to happen, how would you feel?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I won’t do it myself, but there’s already a large number of requests for it in the torrent underground. I suspect it will be available within minutes of the e-book going on sale. I’m cool with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Stephen Witt appears at \u003ca href=\"http://www.townecenterbooks.com/townecenternews.html\">Towne Center Books in Pleasanton\u003c/a> on June 19 at 7pm, and at \u003ca href=\"http://www.bookpassage.com/event/stephen-witt-how-music-got-free\">Book Passage in the Ferry Building\u003c/a> on June 20 at 12:30pm.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California is blessed with lots of great beaches, where we paradoxically go to ignore all that beauty and read. “Beach reading” books are typically designated to be trashy thrillers or romances, or both. You can feel good about leaving one behind for the next occupant of your vacation villa to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/summer-arts-guide-2015\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-10671038\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-400x400.png\" alt=\"SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-64x64.png 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-96x96.png 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-128x128.png 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-75x75.png 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t have to be that way. You can find books you’ll want to keep, both because they’re great reading and because every beach has a book that belongs on that stretch of sand. You can read great books that relate to any of the beautiful beaches you’ll find here in Northern California, and return to that beach when you re-read the book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636320\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 329px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/casey-the_wave.jpg\" alt=\"<i>The Wave</i>\" width=\"329\" height=\"498\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636320\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>The Wave\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The Wave\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Baker Beach\u003c/h5>\n\u003cdiv class=\"inside text\" style=\"width: 600px;float: left\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Baker Beach is the quintessential San Francisco Beach. It’s the sense of scale that is striking; the view of the Golden Gate and the Bay. Why not kick back in your beach chair and read Susan Casey’s \u003cem>The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean\u003c/em> and let your imagination take it from there. \u003cem>The Wave\u003c/em> begins in the middle of a storm in the North Sea, in February of 2000 when the \u003cem>RRS Discovery\u003c/em>, en route from England to Iceland to sample ocean water and test for changes in salinity, oxygen and other factors, found itself being slammed by waves that some thought could not exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Casey goes on to interview surfers of giant waves, the scientists who study rogue waves – and rides them herself. This is a fascinating, intense, involving work of non-fiction that will give you visions of watery grandeur for years to come – and help you fill in the Baker Beach view with the terrifying majesty of the waves Casey describes.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636321\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/du_maurier-the_birds-400x618.jpg\" alt=\"<i>The Birds</i>\" width=\"400\" height=\"618\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636321\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/du_maurier-the_birds.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/du_maurier-the_birds-388x600.jpg 388w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>The Birds\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The Birds\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Rio Del Mar Beach\u003c/h5>\n\u003cdiv class=\"inside text\" style=\"width: 600px;float: left\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Daphne Du Maurier is not a name we associate with beach reading, but her novella \u003cem>The Birds\u003c/em> still stands as one of great works of beach-based fiction. And while you might be inclined to read it at Bodega Bay, where the movie by Hitchcock was famously filmed, you’re better advised to head a couple of hours south, to Rio Del Mar Beach, which is just south of Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">There you’ll find the Palo Alto sunk just off the shore, one of the cement ships created during the steel shortages of World War One. Hitchcock was living in nearby Scotts Valley in 1961, when he read a news story in which, “A massive flight of sooty shearwaters, fresh from a feast of anchovies, collided with shoreside structures from Pleasure Point to Rio del Mar during the night.” Algae blooms are to blame, but du Maurier’s chilling vision of nature itself striking a blow again humanity remains ever relevant. Let every bird shadow bring a chill as you read this on that very beach – or anywhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636323\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/kotler-west_of_jesus.jpg\" alt=\"<i>West of Jesus</i>\" width=\"288\" height=\"431\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636323\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>West of Jesus\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>West Of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Stinson Beach\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Stinson Beach, home to surf camps and surf lessons, deserves no less than Steven Kotler’s \u003cem>West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief\u003c/em>, an engagingly eccentric combination of lyme-disease memoir, surf lore and neuroscience. Kotler is profound when he’s not screamingly funny; he surfs, often badly, and when he’s not suspended in the moment while riding the waves, he’s always a thought-provoking, engaging writer. Researching the states of ecstasy found in surfers and nuns, Kotler manages to craft a work that takes us on a journey from one to the other in a manner that seems natural and is consistently entertaining.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636322\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/dyer-another_great_day_at_sea-400x587.jpg\" alt=\"<i>Another Great Day At Sea</i>\" width=\"400\" height=\"587\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636322\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>Another Great Day At Sea\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>Another Great Day At Sea\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Fisherman’s Wharf\u003c/h5>\n\u003cdiv class=\"inside text\" style=\"width: 600px;float: left\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Beaches don’t always come with sand. One of the classic destinations in San Francisco is Fisherman’s Wharf, and there are lots of places to take up a chair and read. Between the \u003cem>SS Jeremiah O’Brien\u003c/em> and the\u003cem> USS Pampanito\u003c/em>, you’ll find the perfect places to read Geoff Dyer’s \u003cem>Another Great Day At Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush\u003c/em>. Asked if there was anywhere he’d like to go for a couple of weeks, with the idea he’d write a smallish book about his experiences, Dyer chooses an American aircraft carrier. For two weeks, he was the writer in residence aboard the\u003cem> USS George H. W. Bush\u003c/em>. He’s a genial passenger and a hilarious writer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Dyer portrays himself as a bit fussy, insisting on a cabin by himself, a luxury unheard of on the carrier — but he manages to get it. For all his joviality, Dyer has a deep streak of honesty in him. As we read his self-deprecating prose, we feel we’re getting raw reportage, the real deal, even as Dyer waxes effectively poetic. This is jaunty, informative and fun book about a city at sea, full of great characters and memorable scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636324\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/nunn-the_dogs_of_winter-400x620.jpg\" alt=\"<i>The Dogs Of Winter</i>\" width=\"400\" height=\"620\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/nunn-the_dogs_of_winter.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/nunn-the_dogs_of_winter-387x600.jpg 387w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>The Dogs Of Winter\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The Dogs Of Winter\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Half Moon Bay\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Half Moon Bay is synonymous with great surf. Sneak just a bit south to Martin’s Beach, now that Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla has lost his lawsuit regarding public access. Make sure you take with you Kem Nunn’s surf novel classic \u003cem>The Dogs of Winter\u003c/em>, and let the literary echoes carry you away. When surf photographer Fletcher is hired by a glossy surfing magazine to shoot aging master Drew Harmon at Heart Attacks, a secluded beach, he starts down a road filled with bad blood and gorgeous prose. The primal power of great fiction, the roll of the great waves and pounding of your pulse as you read. You’ll look up and, holding \u003cem>this\u003c/em> book at \u003cem>this\u003c/em> beach, know what beach reading is really all about.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California is blessed with lots of great beaches, where we paradoxically go to ignore all that beauty and read. “Beach reading” books are typically designated to be trashy thrillers or romances, or both. You can feel good about leaving one behind for the next occupant of your vacation villa to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/series/summer-arts-guide-2015\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-10671038\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-400x400.png\" alt=\"SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-64x64.png 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-96x96.png 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-128x128.png 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/SummerArtsGuide-2015-400x400-1-75x75.png 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t have to be that way. You can find books you’ll want to keep, both because they’re great reading and because every beach has a book that belongs on that stretch of sand. You can read great books that relate to any of the beautiful beaches you’ll find here in Northern California, and return to that beach when you re-read the book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636320\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 329px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/casey-the_wave.jpg\" alt=\"<i>The Wave</i>\" width=\"329\" height=\"498\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636320\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>The Wave\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The Wave\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Baker Beach\u003c/h5>\n\u003cdiv class=\"inside text\" style=\"width: 600px;float: left\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Baker Beach is the quintessential San Francisco Beach. It’s the sense of scale that is striking; the view of the Golden Gate and the Bay. Why not kick back in your beach chair and read Susan Casey’s \u003cem>The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean\u003c/em> and let your imagination take it from there. \u003cem>The Wave\u003c/em> begins in the middle of a storm in the North Sea, in February of 2000 when the \u003cem>RRS Discovery\u003c/em>, en route from England to Iceland to sample ocean water and test for changes in salinity, oxygen and other factors, found itself being slammed by waves that some thought could not exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Casey goes on to interview surfers of giant waves, the scientists who study rogue waves – and rides them herself. This is a fascinating, intense, involving work of non-fiction that will give you visions of watery grandeur for years to come – and help you fill in the Baker Beach view with the terrifying majesty of the waves Casey describes.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636321\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/du_maurier-the_birds-400x618.jpg\" alt=\"<i>The Birds</i>\" width=\"400\" height=\"618\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636321\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/du_maurier-the_birds.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/du_maurier-the_birds-388x600.jpg 388w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>The Birds\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The Birds\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Rio Del Mar Beach\u003c/h5>\n\u003cdiv class=\"inside text\" style=\"width: 600px;float: left\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Daphne Du Maurier is not a name we associate with beach reading, but her novella \u003cem>The Birds\u003c/em> still stands as one of great works of beach-based fiction. And while you might be inclined to read it at Bodega Bay, where the movie by Hitchcock was famously filmed, you’re better advised to head a couple of hours south, to Rio Del Mar Beach, which is just south of Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">There you’ll find the Palo Alto sunk just off the shore, one of the cement ships created during the steel shortages of World War One. Hitchcock was living in nearby Scotts Valley in 1961, when he read a news story in which, “A massive flight of sooty shearwaters, fresh from a feast of anchovies, collided with shoreside structures from Pleasure Point to Rio del Mar during the night.” Algae blooms are to blame, but du Maurier’s chilling vision of nature itself striking a blow again humanity remains ever relevant. Let every bird shadow bring a chill as you read this on that very beach – or anywhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636323\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/kotler-west_of_jesus.jpg\" alt=\"<i>West of Jesus</i>\" width=\"288\" height=\"431\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636323\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>West of Jesus\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>West Of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Stinson Beach\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Stinson Beach, home to surf camps and surf lessons, deserves no less than Steven Kotler’s \u003cem>West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief\u003c/em>, an engagingly eccentric combination of lyme-disease memoir, surf lore and neuroscience. Kotler is profound when he’s not screamingly funny; he surfs, often badly, and when he’s not suspended in the moment while riding the waves, he’s always a thought-provoking, engaging writer. Researching the states of ecstasy found in surfers and nuns, Kotler manages to craft a work that takes us on a journey from one to the other in a manner that seems natural and is consistently entertaining.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636322\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/dyer-another_great_day_at_sea-400x587.jpg\" alt=\"<i>Another Great Day At Sea</i>\" width=\"400\" height=\"587\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636322\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>Another Great Day At Sea\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>Another Great Day At Sea\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Fisherman’s Wharf\u003c/h5>\n\u003cdiv class=\"inside text\" style=\"width: 600px;float: left\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Beaches don’t always come with sand. One of the classic destinations in San Francisco is Fisherman’s Wharf, and there are lots of places to take up a chair and read. Between the \u003cem>SS Jeremiah O’Brien\u003c/em> and the\u003cem> USS Pampanito\u003c/em>, you’ll find the perfect places to read Geoff Dyer’s \u003cem>Another Great Day At Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush\u003c/em>. Asked if there was anywhere he’d like to go for a couple of weeks, with the idea he’d write a smallish book about his experiences, Dyer chooses an American aircraft carrier. For two weeks, he was the writer in residence aboard the\u003cem> USS George H. W. Bush\u003c/em>. He’s a genial passenger and a hilarious writer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Dyer portrays himself as a bit fussy, insisting on a cabin by himself, a luxury unheard of on the carrier — but he manages to get it. For all his joviality, Dyer has a deep streak of honesty in him. As we read his self-deprecating prose, we feel we’re getting raw reportage, the real deal, even as Dyer waxes effectively poetic. This is jaunty, informative and fun book about a city at sea, full of great characters and memorable scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"callout noborder\">\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10636324\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/nunn-the_dogs_of_winter-400x620.jpg\" alt=\"<i>The Dogs Of Winter</i>\" width=\"400\" height=\"620\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-10636324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/nunn-the_dogs_of_winter.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/nunn-the_dogs_of_winter-387x600.jpg 387w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003ci>The Dogs Of Winter\u003c/i>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ci>The Dogs Of Winter\u003c/i>\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch5>Half Moon Bay\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>Half Moon Bay is synonymous with great surf. Sneak just a bit south to Martin’s Beach, now that Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla has lost his lawsuit regarding public access. Make sure you take with you Kem Nunn’s surf novel classic \u003cem>The Dogs of Winter\u003c/em>, and let the literary echoes carry you away. When surf photographer Fletcher is hired by a glossy surfing magazine to shoot aging master Drew Harmon at Heart Attacks, a secluded beach, he starts down a road filled with bad blood and gorgeous prose. The primal power of great fiction, the roll of the great waves and pounding of your pulse as you read. You’ll look up and, holding \u003cem>this\u003c/em> book at \u003cem>this\u003c/em> beach, know what beach reading is really all about.\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Fighting the Laughter Drought: Humor Where You Least Expect To Find It",
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"content": "\u003cp>We live in an era of shortages. From water to income, there’s dearth of the things we need to make life livable — especially humor. Yes, we’re lucky to have writers like Dave Barry and Nick Hornby to get us through a week or two with a smile on our faces. But once we’ve exhausted the obvious, where do we look next? Are we headed into the next humor shortage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately for readers, there’s lots of laughter to be found in places where one least expects it. Humor is not just a genre. It can be a part of any writer’s literary toolkit, and deployed as needed. It’s in the turn of the phrase as much as the pratfall or fart joke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583083 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation-395x600.jpg\" alt=\"sluyter-natural_meditation\" width=\"151\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation-395x600.jpg 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 151px) 100vw, 151px\">\u003c/a>Probably the last place one might look for a great, funny, even hilarious piece of writing is a book on meditation. Unless you’re hiding under a rock, you’ve been told meditation is good for you, and “good for you” is generally the most effective laugh-killer on the planet. But, if you’re Dean Sluyter, and the book is \u003cem>Natural Meditation: A Guide to Effortless Meditative Practice\u003c/em>, you know that laughter requires no practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sluyter (pronounced “slighter”) offers readers solid advice for meditation in prose that’s often funny, and lessons that run toward the risqué. Here’s the only meditation guide where the author demonstrates the “hammock pose.” Sluyter soft-pedals his prose; he doesn’t overplay the humor, but lets it cross the road. Not too much of a surprise for the author of \u003cem>Why the Chicken Crossed the Road and Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583078 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/frank-frank-395x600.jpg\" alt=\"frank-frank\" width=\"240\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/frank-frank-395x600.jpg 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/frank-frank.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\">Era-sweeping political memoir is generally the stuff of self-congratulatory puffery. “Import” is inversely proportional to laughter, but in the case of \u003cem>Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage\u003c/em>, humor is a big part of author’s arsenal. Author and former congressman Barney Frank is well-known for his wit, and it’s on full display here, even (perhaps especially) when he’s explicating the inner workings of the sausage machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first paragraph of the book gives the reader a great idea of Frank’s approach: “In 1954, I was a fairly normal fourteen-year-old, enjoying sports, unhealthy food, and loud music. But even then I realized that there were two ways in which I was different from the other guys: I was attracted to the idea of serving in government and I was attracted to the other guys.” No matter what your affiliation, there’s a lot of dry wit. Frank is an equal opportunity observer of human frailty, including his own. He’s so entertaining, you might even see sausage in a better light after reading his book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583082 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart-388x600.jpg\" alt=\"simmons-the_fifth_heart\" width=\"215\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart-388x600.jpg 388w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart-400x618.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart.jpg 621w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\">\u003c/a>Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Henry James are names one might associate immediately with humor. Nor would one think the meta-fictional combination of the two in Dan Simmons’ compelling, suspense historical mystery novel \u003cem>The Fifth Heart\u003c/em> would also be so funny. But make no mistake — Simmons takes his characters and his suspense seriously. His detailed prose re-creates the post-Victorian era with meticulous care. The premise in \u003cem>The Fifth Heart\u003c/em> is clever: Holmes, having deduced that he’s a fictional character, seeks James’ help in solving a mystery. It’s a novel that really needs nothing more to be enjoyable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Simmons has so much fun sending up Holmes, James, and his own metafictional construct that he turns it into a rousing combination of satire and suspense. It helps that he’s hardest on himself, as one of those narrators who pops in now and again to interrupt the story. The deadpan patter between authors and characters on every level adds a layer of laughter to this book that’s transcendently hilarious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/ronson-so_youve_been_publicly_shamed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583081 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/ronson-so_youve_been_publicly_shamed.jpg\" alt=\"ronson-so_youve_been_publicly_shamed\" width=\"252\" height=\"374\">\u003c/a>We know that the internet is the new frontier for maliciousness and malingering. Fingers flicker across a keyboard and families fly asunder. It’s an instrument with which one can commit social suicide on an international scale. None of this should be funny. But Jon Ronson’s \u003cem>So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed\u003c/em> makes the case for the enjoyability of embarrassing others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like any good comedian, Ronson takes aim at himself. “It’s like when I used to smoke and I’d hope the tobacconist would hand me the pack that read SMOKING CAUSES AGING OF THE SKIN instead of the pack that read SMOKING KILLS — because aging of the skin? I didn’t mind that.” Ronson manages to offer lots of fascinating dissection of a culture that’s in constant flux, with prose that mines his astonishing powers of self-deprecation. The world is going to hell on a bullet train, but Ronson makes sure he gets there first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The power of books that are funny, but don’t look like it, is that you can have it both ways. Learn something and laugh out loud early and often. You can fight the humor shortage — without recycling jokes.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We live in an era of shortages. From water to income, there’s dearth of the things we need to make life livable — especially humor. Yes, we’re lucky to have writers like Dave Barry and Nick Hornby to get us through a week or two with a smile on our faces. But once we’ve exhausted the obvious, where do we look next? Are we headed into the next humor shortage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately for readers, there’s lots of laughter to be found in places where one least expects it. Humor is not just a genre. It can be a part of any writer’s literary toolkit, and deployed as needed. It’s in the turn of the phrase as much as the pratfall or fart joke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583083 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation-395x600.jpg\" alt=\"sluyter-natural_meditation\" width=\"151\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation-395x600.jpg 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/sluyter-natural_meditation.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 151px) 100vw, 151px\">\u003c/a>Probably the last place one might look for a great, funny, even hilarious piece of writing is a book on meditation. Unless you’re hiding under a rock, you’ve been told meditation is good for you, and “good for you” is generally the most effective laugh-killer on the planet. But, if you’re Dean Sluyter, and the book is \u003cem>Natural Meditation: A Guide to Effortless Meditative Practice\u003c/em>, you know that laughter requires no practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sluyter (pronounced “slighter”) offers readers solid advice for meditation in prose that’s often funny, and lessons that run toward the risqué. Here’s the only meditation guide where the author demonstrates the “hammock pose.” Sluyter soft-pedals his prose; he doesn’t overplay the humor, but lets it cross the road. Not too much of a surprise for the author of \u003cem>Why the Chicken Crossed the Road and Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583078 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/frank-frank-395x600.jpg\" alt=\"frank-frank\" width=\"240\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/frank-frank-395x600.jpg 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/frank-frank.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\">Era-sweeping political memoir is generally the stuff of self-congratulatory puffery. “Import” is inversely proportional to laughter, but in the case of \u003cem>Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage\u003c/em>, humor is a big part of author’s arsenal. Author and former congressman Barney Frank is well-known for his wit, and it’s on full display here, even (perhaps especially) when he’s explicating the inner workings of the sausage machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first paragraph of the book gives the reader a great idea of Frank’s approach: “In 1954, I was a fairly normal fourteen-year-old, enjoying sports, unhealthy food, and loud music. But even then I realized that there were two ways in which I was different from the other guys: I was attracted to the idea of serving in government and I was attracted to the other guys.” No matter what your affiliation, there’s a lot of dry wit. Frank is an equal opportunity observer of human frailty, including his own. He’s so entertaining, you might even see sausage in a better light after reading his book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583082 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart-388x600.jpg\" alt=\"simmons-the_fifth_heart\" width=\"215\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart-388x600.jpg 388w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart-400x618.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/simmons-the_fifth_heart.jpg 621w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\">\u003c/a>Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Henry James are names one might associate immediately with humor. Nor would one think the meta-fictional combination of the two in Dan Simmons’ compelling, suspense historical mystery novel \u003cem>The Fifth Heart\u003c/em> would also be so funny. But make no mistake — Simmons takes his characters and his suspense seriously. His detailed prose re-creates the post-Victorian era with meticulous care. The premise in \u003cem>The Fifth Heart\u003c/em> is clever: Holmes, having deduced that he’s a fictional character, seeks James’ help in solving a mystery. It’s a novel that really needs nothing more to be enjoyable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Simmons has so much fun sending up Holmes, James, and his own metafictional construct that he turns it into a rousing combination of satire and suspense. It helps that he’s hardest on himself, as one of those narrators who pops in now and again to interrupt the story. The deadpan patter between authors and characters on every level adds a layer of laughter to this book that’s transcendently hilarious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/ronson-so_youve_been_publicly_shamed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10583081 alignleft\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/ronson-so_youve_been_publicly_shamed.jpg\" alt=\"ronson-so_youve_been_publicly_shamed\" width=\"252\" height=\"374\">\u003c/a>We know that the internet is the new frontier for maliciousness and malingering. Fingers flicker across a keyboard and families fly asunder. It’s an instrument with which one can commit social suicide on an international scale. None of this should be funny. But Jon Ronson’s \u003cem>So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed\u003c/em> makes the case for the enjoyability of embarrassing others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like any good comedian, Ronson takes aim at himself. “It’s like when I used to smoke and I’d hope the tobacconist would hand me the pack that read SMOKING CAUSES AGING OF THE SKIN instead of the pack that read SMOKING KILLS — because aging of the skin? I didn’t mind that.” Ronson manages to offer lots of fascinating dissection of a culture that’s in constant flux, with prose that mines his astonishing powers of self-deprecation. The world is going to hell on a bullet train, but Ronson makes sure he gets there first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The power of books that are funny, but don’t look like it, is that you can have it both ways. Learn something and laugh out loud early and often. You can fight the humor shortage — without recycling jokes.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Magazine-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
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