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02-09-12 UPDATE: Ian Shoales: Sweden
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With the help of KQED in San Francisco, I'm happily able to bring listeners even more Ian Shoales this week, in an effort to catch up and keep up with his entertainingly prolific output. I just hope he will be willing to let us run his stuff when he finally gets picked up by 60 Minutes, who clearly need him. 60 Minutes, the nation needs you!

With help of the fine folks at KQED, I now present Ian Shoales' brilliant work as a part of this podcast. This time around, a commentary on copyright, copyleft and Sweden.




02-10-12: A 2012 Interview with Christopher Renstrom

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"...anything that is born into time has a natal horoscope..."

—Christopher Renstrom

I'll admit quite freely that my actions make no logical sense. I love reading my horoscope, even though I've never been particularly clear as to how the daily bits in the newspaper are derived and crafted. Horoscopes and astrology in general are the targets of both irrational belief and unseemly disdain. When you step back a bit from all the foofaraw, what you find is a sentence or two offered in the hope that you might get a different perspective on the day to come.

Step back even further, and you can see that horoscopes are stories we read to revise our own story. And since they are usually positive, they tend to put a good spin on the day to come. Whether or not they presage the future, and how they do so is somewhat irrelevant to me. I think the best horoscopes are fine little pieces of writing and once I thought about them in that manner, I thought it would be fun – and instructive – to talk to someone who wrote them.


Who better than the man whose horoscopes I've been reading for the past (mumble) years, Christopher Renstrom? His Ruling Planets website was not difficult to find and he was willing to talk. I found what he had to tell me fascinating. And as far as writing goes, it's an old story of getting rid of excess words. If you click on this link, what the future surely holds for you is 30ish minutes of my conversation with astrologer Christopher Renstrom.



02-08-12 UPDATE: Ian Shoales: Debates
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In my wanderings through the audio landscape, I've spent a fair amount of time at KQED in San Francisco, where I recently had the privilege of meeting the one and only Ian Shoales.

With help of the fine folks at KQED, I am now able to present Ian Shoales' brilliant work as a part of this podcast. This time around, a commentary on the Debates.




02-08-12: A 2012 Interview with Thrity Umrigar

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"...I walked away from that meeting in 2008 with an old friend of mine and literally saw at least the outline of the book in front of my eyes..."Thrity Umrigar

Smart, sweet and well-spoken; Thrity Umrigar is pretty much everything you'd expect her to be having read 'The World We Found.' There's something more though; she is so at ease with herself that she manages to entrance those around her. Spend a few minutes with her and you'll feel, at least (even if it later proves to be an illusion) that you might know your life as well as she knows hers.

Given that her novel is anything but direct, Thirty herself is very and surprisingly so. She picked the portion to read, and I was glad she did as it captured the book better than the passage I had marked. She's a great reader of her own work.

I tend to ask the sort of questions that writers will sometimes say suggest that I am reading more into their work than they put there deliberately. I don't have a problem with that; I think the best writers are working at a level of which they themselves are not conscious. That's what makes the books good, makes them worth my valuable reading time.

Thrity actually addressed this topic in the interview, even though I had asked no such question. Thrity told me that she was pleased that readers would see things in her work that she could not, in this case that a character in the novel tended to show up in a certain setting. She realized that readers would be able to see themes and throughlines in her work that she might not have realized were there. This is why talking with her was such a pleasure; she is a writer who intuitively understands her readers.

You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.




02-07-12 UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 30: Thrity Umrigar, 'The World We Found'
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Here's the thirtyth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.

My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.

The thirtyth episode is a look at Thrity Umrigar and her new book, 'The World We Found'.

Here's a link to the MP3 audio file of Time to Read, Episode 30: Thrity Umrigar, 'The World We Found'.




02-06-12: A 2012 Interview with Eric Weiner
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"...by the end, given all the amazing people I met out there, I've changed my views about that."

—Eric Weiner

Eric Weiner manages to duplicate his prose persona in person. He's very funny in a no-nonsense way. He knows how to observe the truth and then speak to that truth with an aplomb that counter-intuitively undercuts the seriousness of what he is saying. His self-effacing honesty is bracing. He makes you feel like you're sharing a beer with him even if beer is unfortunately far away.

When we sat down to talk about his book, the trick was to get to the themes and the best characters while still leaving them fresh enough for readers to discover. Weiner made that easy because, as he told me, there was a lot he had left out of the book. And yes, I did ask about Scientology.

One of the religions he has spent time visiting was the Jain religion. Now, I have some familiarity with this religion but only because the hive-mind wasps in Neal Asher's far-flung science fiction novels consider themselves to be of the Jain religion. Weiner's explanation helped me to understand Asher's choice. I'm guessing that this is not primary intention of either work, but it is one of those intersections you're only likely to find in this column. You can hear my conversation with Eric Weiner by following this link to the MP3 audio file.


New to the Agony Column

09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."

09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 213: Susan Casey : Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins

08-24-15: Commentary : Felicia Day Knows 'You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)' : Transformative Technology

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Felicia Day : "I think you have to be attention curators for audience in every way."

08-22-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 212: Felicia Day : You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]

Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]

08-10-15:Agony Column Podcast News Report : In Memory of Alan Cheuse : Thank you Alan, and Your Family, for Everything

07-11-15: Commentary : Robert Repino Morphs 'Mort(e)' : Housecat to Harbinger of the Apocalypse

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Robert Repino : "...an even bigger threat. which is us, the humans..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 208: Robert Repino : Mort(e)

07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 208: Michael Gazzaniga : Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience

06-26-15: Commentary : Neal Stephenson Crafts an Eden for 'Seveneves' : Blow It Up and Start All Over Again

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Neal Stephenson : "...and know that you're never going to se a tree again..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 207: Neal Stephenson : Seveneves

06-03-15: Commentary : Dan Simmons Opens 'The Fifth Heart' : Having it Every Way

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Dan Simmons : "...yes, they really did bring those bombs..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 206: Dan Simmons : The Fifth Heart

05-23-15: Commentary : John Waters Gets 'Carsick' : Going His Way

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with John Waters : "...you change how you would be in real life...”

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 205: John Waters : Carsick

05-09-15: Commentary : Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD and 'Shrinks' : A Most Fashionable Take on the Human Mind

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD : "..its influence to be as hegemonic as it was..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 204: Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD : Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry

04-29-15: Commentary : Barney Frank is 'Frank' : Interpersonally Ours

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Barney Frank : "...while you're trying to change it, don't ignore it..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 203: Barney Frank : Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage

04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 202: Kazuo Ishiguro : The Buried Giant

04-17-15: Commentary : Erik Larson Follows a 'Dead Wake' : Countdown to Destiny

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Erik Larson : "...said to have been found in the arms of a dead German sailor..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 201: Erik Larson : Dead Wake

04-15-15: Commentary : Peter Bell Reflects 'A Certain Slant of Light' : Strange Stories of Modern Scholars

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Peter Bell : "...I looked up some of the old books..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 200: Peter Bell : Strange Epiphanies and A Certain Slant of Light

03-14-15: Commentary : Marc Goodman Foresees 'Future Crimes' : Exponential Potential

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It

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