Radio Browser: Recent Episodes
The Browser
What does the Minecraft NFT ban mean? Join @SebPark and @JayRosenkrantz as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Is there a formula for takedown pieces? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
How do we know what we know about tennis? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Why aren't note-taking apps effective? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Are rubber shoes the future? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Is indifference controversial? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Is indifference controversial? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
How old is the audience for the NFL? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
How old is the audience for the NFL? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Is real life as ridiculous as Game of Thrones? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Is real life as ridiculous as Game of Thrones? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Do we underestimate reputation risk? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Do we underestimate reputation risk? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Who are we failing to appreciate while they're alive? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Who are we failing to appreciate while they're alive? Join @SebPark and @UriBram as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
How do GIFs communicate? Join @SebPark and @JayRosenkrantz as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your morning coffee.
How do GIFs communicate? Join @SebPark and @JayRosenkrantz as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your morning coffee.
Why is Ender's Game a good book? Join @SebPark and @JayRosenkrantz as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee
Why is Ender's Game a good book? Join @SebPark and @JayRosenkrantz as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee
Why is emoji communication fraught with danger? Join @SebPark and @JayRosenkrantz as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to find your keys.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to burn your toast.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to burn your toast.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites explores a new idea each day, in under a minute. Join Uri Bram (Publisher of The Browser), Sebastian Park (@SebPark), and guests as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Browser Bites is a daily series where each episode is under 1 minute and explores a specific idea of the day. This week, join Sebastian Park (@SebPark) and Steve Sadin (@SteveSadin) as they blitz through an idea in less time than it takes to brush your teeth
Pamela Hobart is a philosopher turned philosophical life coach and mother of three. This week she discusses how to deal with an existential sandwich, why small innovations are valuable, and the deathbed fallacy.
(30m 23s,or read the transcript here)
Baiqu sits down with Ada Palmer, a cultural and intellectual historian and the author of science fiction and fantasy novels, including the award-winning Terra Ignota series.
Philosopher Rob Reich, political scientist Jeremy Weinstein and computer scientist Mehran Sahami are the authors of the brand new book System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot.
We play a round of The Last Word, where we ask fascinating people to answer difficult questions in a very specific number of words.
Sylvia is a children’s book writer and the Assistant Publisher of The Browser. Sylvia reveals why you always kill off the parents, how to tap into the mind of a child, and evolutionary psychology.
Charles Saumarez-Smith, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, discusses his new book, The Art Museum in Modern Times.Interview by Beatrice Wilford.
Inspired by his piece “Making Meaning”, Garth Greenwell joins Lindelani and Nontsi to discuss the meaning of the word and the idea of relevance when we talk about art, and how it poses a danger to how we encounter art.
Reading material mentioned in the conversation:
Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
What Belongs To You: A Novel by Garth Greenwell
Today, our host is Robert Cottrell, editor of the Browser. He is joined by Katy Gero and Jaan Altosaar, two guests with fascinating perspectives on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Katy is a computer scientist who uses AI in her work as a poet and an essayist, while Jaan is a postdoctoral researcher working on machine learning in health at Columbia University's Irving Medical Center.
Inspired by his piece “The Future of Biological Warfare”, LSUSR joins Lindelani and Nontsi to chat about the future of biological warfare.
Caroline Crampton, the deputy editor of the Browser, talks to literary non-fiction writer Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment, about abandoned places.
Inspired by his piece “The Hatboro Blues”, Shawn McCreesh joins Lindelani and Nontsi to share his experience on growing up in an American town during the opioid epidemic.
"The Hatboro Blues" was originally published in the Autumn issue of Liberties Journal. The piece has been taken down but if you are interested in reading it, please email editors@thebrowser.com.
Inspired by her essay “The Year of Grinding Teeth”, Madeleine Watts joins Lindelani and Nontsi to discuss her experience with bruxism and the shared anxiety that came with 2020.
Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist and now co-director of the Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy, talks to Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics at George Mason University and co-author of the blog Marginal Revolution, on lessons learned from the pandemic so far, and what lies ahead.
Hosts Lindelani and Nontsi discuss the moral ethics of giving with the philosopher Peter Singer focusing on the implications of the ethical code for people living in lower and middle income countries.
Reading material mentioned in the conversation:
The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer
Inspired by her essay “On Running”, Larissa Pham joins Lindelani and Nontsi to discuss the psychological effects, and meditative properties of running.
Reading material mentioned in the conversation::
Pop Song by Larissa Pham
Inspired by Emily Franklin’s thought-provoking piece “The Requirement of Adequacy”; Lindelani, Nontsi and Robert discuss restrictions to personal freedom, the bitter-sweet reality of parenting and coping with the dangers of life.
The view that malls are simply structures of commerce is challenged in this conversation between Nontsi, Lindelani and Diana. The article that inspired this conversation posits that malls in the Philippines are infrastructural, and also explores the emotional and psychological experience of going to a mall in the Philippines.
The article that inspired this episode is titled An Archipelago of Interiors: The Philippine Supermall as Infrastructure of Diaspora and is written by Diana Martinez.
Nontsi and Lindelani chat with Helen Lewis about "how the feminist passion for Artemisia Gentileschi’s life story risks overwhelming her artistic talent." Inspired by Helen's piece titled “Isn’t She Good—For a Woman?”
Reading material mentioned in the conversation:
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work by Germaine Greer
Nontsi and Lindelani chat with Joanne Limburg about her personal journey with disability and the impact it has had on her family, social and professional life. Inspired by Joanne’s piece titled “Am I disabled?”
Reading material mentioned in the conversation:
Disability Visibility by Alice Wong
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Inspiration Porn
Inspired by the piece 52 Things I Learned in 2020, Lindelani and Nontsi speak to the author Tom Whitwell about his list of interesting things he learned in the year 2020.
Inspired by the piece The Modern World Has Finally Become Too Complex for Any of Us to Understand, Lindelani and Nontsi speak to the author Tim Maughan about the complex systems of the modern world and how they affect us.
Inspired by the interview Men who have affairs: An Interview with Alicia Walker, conducted by Arielle Kuperberg, Lindelani and Nontsi speak to the Dr. Alicia Walker about her studies on cheating and how to better understand what cheating is.
Inspired by the piece Who’s in the Crossword, Lindelani speaks to the co-author Michelle McGhee about inclusion in the crossword and the experience of existing within marginalized and underrepresented cultures.
Lindelani and Nontsi chat with Sophie Haigney, about her piece featured in the Browser (titled Making Art Bad Again) about shock, protest, and visual art in the age of Trump and what similarities or differences exist in the South African context.
Mentioned in the episode:
Brett Murray
Ayanda Mabulu
This week, Lindelani and Nontsi chat with Alison Gopnik, about her wonderful piece featured in the Browser (titled Vulnerable yet vital) about the importance of grandparents in the life and upbringing of their grandchildren.
Inspired by Stefan Al’s “The Air-Conditioned Cowboy”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the similarities of the becoming of Las Vegas to that of Maboneng. They further discuss the good and bad that Maboneng Precinct has brought to the community of downtown Johannesburg.
This week, Lindelani and Nontsi chat with Sunaina Kumar, about her wonderful piece (featured in the titled Kingdom from which we learn about the "aristocrats, enigmatic wives, and spymasters in the drama of Sikkim’s merger with India." Sunaina's writings: 1. https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/11/uighur-exiles-kashmir-heaven-161117133848689.html
(A story of a hidden community of Uighurs living in Kashmir from the time of Silk Route trade)
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/peoples-linguistic-survey-of-india-ganesh-devy
(A story on a man who set out to count every language in India, he found 780)
- https://narratively.com/the-diver-who-brings-up-the-bodies/
(A story on a man whose job it is to dive in the water to bring out bodies of farmers who commit suicide in north India)
Sunaina's recommendations for the holiday season:
-
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford
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Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy and the new adaptation of the book by Mira Nair on Netflix, an enduring story from India
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The Jungle Prince of Delhi by Ellen Barry, widely shared but always worth talking about as long-form inspiration
Nontsi, Lindelani and X continue the conversation of soul-searching inspired by Morgan Housel's article I Have A Few Questions.
Nontsi and Lindelani are joined by X in attempting to answer some "Soul-searching" questions asked by an investment adviser, Morgan Housel. This episode is inspired by the article I Have A Few Questions.
Inspired by Zachary Crockett’s “The economics of vending machines”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the need and opportunity for vending machines in less privileged areas for business owners but most importantly, for the customers who need the products (that prove to not be as easily accessible through the currently available supply chains).
In this episode, Agnes Callard, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago joins our hosts Lindelani and Nontsi in an insightful discussion on Acceptance Parenting and how it either does or does not apply in their own lives. This episode was inspired by Agnes' recently Browser featured essay Acceptance Parenting
You can find Agnes here:
- Twitter: @AgnesCallard
- Book: http://is.gd/Ze88Za
- Column: http://is.gd/WHyOeh
- The University of Chicago: https://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/a-callard
Mentioned in this episode: * The Road by Cormac McCarthy * Life, Death, and Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions by David Benatar
Inspired by Morgan Housel’s “Common causes of very bad decisions”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the consequences of overlooking small decisions and the decisions we make in compromising situations.
Mentioned in this episode: - Article that inspired the episode https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/bad-decisions/ - Adventure Time - Sarafina - Mandla Hlatshwayo killed during a mugging - site for a place you mentioned
Inspired by Ken Weiss’s “He is (or well, he was) just a cat! On legalized killing.....er.....Euthenasia for mere animals”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss how they understand euthanasia for animals and how the love and compassion for animals sometimes outweighs that of humanity.
Inspired by Steve Randy Waldman’s “Dispersion causes discohesion”, Nontsi, Lindelani and X discuss what they have experienced of rivalry in society.
Inspired by Adrian Hon’s “Digital Sight Management, and the Mystery of the Missing Amazon Receipts”, Nontsi and Lindelani are joined by X to discuss the surveillance that our devices invite vs our privacy. They discuss private sexual expression in the presence of their computers and furthermore if digital surveillance is welcome or can work together with documenting and assisting in cultural rituals given the present constraints presented by the lockdown restrictions.
Inspired by Osama Shehzad ’s “Do you get shit for your name?”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss what is in a name, from the African context.
In this episode, Nontsi and Lindelani are joined by X Njokweni in discussing the societal, cultural and spiritual obligations of having children in the African context. This conversation was inspired by Rob Delaney’s article “The pain and pleasure of vasectomy"
Twitter: @XNjoks
Facebook: exnjokweni
Instagram: exnjokweni
This week Uri Bram, Publisher of The Browser, chats with Evangeline Garreau, Writer of May I Recommend, about the art of recommendation and curation.
May I Recommend: Evangeline.website
Twitter: @egarreau
In this episode, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss intelligence in the African context. This conversation was inspired by the article titled “Are Humans Intelligent?” by Arram Sabeti.
Inspired by Zachary Crockett’s “Meet the company that sells your lost airplane luggage”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the trend of thrifting in South Africa, the relationship South African’s have with clothing and some old superstitions around clothing.
In this episode, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss how each of them perceive art and the different ways in which it plays a role in their lives.This conversation was inspired by the interview titled “Posthuman Art” by Sam Barker et al.
Inspired by Jonathan Malesic’s “Drinking Alone”, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the culture of alcohol consumption in South Africa, the alcohol ban and some reasons why they do or don’t drink.
In this episode, Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the different ways in which WhatsApp is both good and bad. This conversation was inspired by the article “What’s wrong with WhatsApp” by William Davies.
In this episode, Nontsi and Lindelani are joined by Uri Bram in discussing why and how food matters as well as other fun food stories from the past. This conversation was inspired by Bee Wilson’s article “But Is It Food?”.
Inspired by Cameron Lombardo’s “A Queer Take On Gendered Japanese” on gender related semantics in the Japanese language. Nontsi and Lindelani discuss the differences, challenges and fun had around communicating in South Africa’s diverse languages.
Barâa Arar’s article "Between Two Worlds" inspired this beautiful conversation between co-hosts Lindelani and Nontsi on the ways in which the different worlds they occupy have shaped and influenced their identities.
For this episode, Browser Editor Robert Cottrell joins our hosts Lindelani and Nontsi to discuss human augmentation, inspired by the science fiction story “My Kid Could Do That” written by Elvia Wilk.
Agnes Callard’s article "How to Politicise the Classroom" inspired this conversation between Nontsi and Lindelani on teacher behavior that threatens child safety in the classroom based on their experiences. Nontsi brings the perspective of a learner in a private school; Lindelani reveals what it’s like for one in the public school system.
In this episode, our new co-host Nontsi discusses the shift in beauty standards in South Africa with Lindelani. In the country being light-skinned was associated with attractiveness and privilege for a long time, but the perception is changing in favour of dark-skinned people. The conversation was Inspired by Ken Mondschein’s “Fatness and Thinness in the Middle Ages”.
Nontsi Mapoma is the creative director of The Listener and The Browser.
Inspired by Ann Wroe’s “Can Words Do the Dead Justice?” on the difficulties of commemorating the dead. Uri and Lindelani talk about the unrelenting emotional weight of funerals, how burial societies help South Africans cover funeral costs, and their personal feelings on dealing with death and loss.
Inspired by Alex Danco’s “Debt: The First 5,000 Years”, Uri and Lindelani discuss how debt functions in South Africa.
Uri and Lindelani discuss Lindelani's childhood obsession, Kung Fu movies, many which are cult classics. The conversation turns to cheap Chinese goods known to South Africans as “Fong Kong”.
Inspired by "Total Beginner’s Guide to Guns" by John Ramey, Uri and Lindelani talk about guns in South Africa: where they come from, how to get one and how they are being used.
An Economist’s Guide to Potty Training by Joshua Gans has been described as the greatest thing ever written on the subject. It inspired this funny conversation between Uri and Lindelani, on potties… and soap, and enemas.
David Cooper’s article The Joy of Dogs inspired this conversation about our relationship with dogs. Uri tries to understand how Lindelani, and other South Africans in rural South Africa, relate to dogs and the shift in the nature of that relationship. They also explore the general relationship South Africans have with animals and its connection to ancestral beliefs.
Inspired by David Brooks’ The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake looking at the evolution of family structure and its history in Western societies. Uri and Lindelani talk about privacy, freedom, space and family in rural South Africa. The conversation inevitably takes a philosophical turn, examining how we define family, the nature of imposed vs chosen relationships and finally, how it all connects to the way we’ve evolved.
A discussion inspired by Zhang Feng’s Back To The Cash Age. Uri and Lindelani talk about the changing nature of financial transactions and money in South Africa and China. The discussion takes them to an interesting place: a look at South Africa’s innovative solutions to banking challenges (a popular one involves supermarkets) and local attitudes towards money and their interactions with formal institutions.
Uri and Robert discuss a deep Browser dilemma: what do we do about interesting pieces of writing by people who for other reasons we find distasteful or disturbing?
From Robert's Books in Riga, Robert and Svens discuss anger, inspired by Agnes Callard's essay in the Boston Review. What is anger? And how come Svens is so nice? We find out.
A new podcast from the Browser where we interview a certain type of person that there isn't a good name for yet: someone with excellent taste who finds good things in a particular area of life (art, wine, podcasts, potato peelers....) and recommends them to a broad audience. In today's pilot, Browser Publisher Uri Bram interviews Browser Editor Robert Cottrell about how he reads and recommends writing of lasting value.
Good Things mentioned in this episode:
Our newsletter: The Browser
Dance critic: Alastair Macaulay
Tyler Cowen's "Underrated or Overrated?" round
Underrated City: Poznań (and Riga, and Tallinn)
Underrated Book: The Just City, by Jo Walton
Audiobook: A History of Western Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell
Underrated Musician: violinist Gidon Kremer
Small Item: Valmiermuižas Tumšais Alus beer
First in a new series, Find Good Things, where we interview a certain type of person that there isn't an accepted name for yet: someone with excellent taste who finds good things in a particular area of life (art, wine, podcasts, potato peelers....) and recommends them to a broad audience. Today, Browser Publisher Uri Bram interviews Browser Editor Robert Cottrell about how he reads and recommends writing of lasting value.
Good Things mentioned in this episode:
Our newsletter: The Browser
Dance critic: Alastair Macaulay
Tyler Cowen's "Underrated or Overrated?" round
Underrated City: Poznań (and Riga, and Tallinn)
Underrated Book: The Just City, by Jo Walton
Audiobook: A History of Western Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell
Underrated Musician: violinist Gidon Kremer
Small Item: Valmiermuižas Tumšais Alus
The Art of Reading interview with John Thornhill, co-founder of Sifted (https://sifted.eu/) and the Innovation Editor at the Financial Times
"It's fundamentally altered my perception of what people are like. "
Co-founder of Future Crunch, political economist Dr Angus Hervey scours the web for good news every day. He says the world is becoming a better place. But, most people never get to read about it.
"Most people are fundamentally good... In general, humanity is moving in the right direction."
This interview is based on his piece 99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn’t Hear About in 2018.
"We are human, not because of what makes human, we are human because we are. We recognize other humans."
Professor Sang-Hee Lee is an explorer, of sorts. She's a biological anthropologist at the University of California, where she specializes in advancing our knowledge of human evolution. She trained in Korea, the US, and Japan, and is a professor of anthropology at the University of California.
This conversation is based on Lee's piece in Anthropology News - which featured in The Browser.
"Our loneliness drives us to be narcissistic. Isn’t that the most widely accepted argument that we are fundamentally alone?"
Maya Rao lived on the oil fields of North Dakota for a year, writing about America's modern day gold rush. She worked behind a cash register at a truck stop, meeting 'outsiders, outcasts and hustlers'. In this interview, Maya talks about the transient life of fortune-seeking men, their sense of adventure and risk-taking behaviour. Alongside the oil wells, she also found a culture of toxic masculinity bubbling to the surface. This episode is based Maya Rao's piece, Outsiders, Outcasts, Hustlers: A Year Reporting on the Modern-Day Frontier. Her book "Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks, and the Making of an Oil Frontier" was published in April 2018.
When an American died on a mysterious island, it threw a spotilght on an unknown group of people. Sentinel Island, about the size of Manhattan, lies in the Bay of Bengal. It's home to a pre-neolithic tribe who have occupied the area for more than 30,000 years - and they kill nearly everyone that approaches. In this episode, we talk to a reporter in India who tells us why they're so hostile to foreigners.
This story is based on Lhendup G Bhutia's story in Open Magazine:
The Sentinelese: The Death of a Missionary and the Lost Tribe of the Andamans
One organisation currently owns and controls all the emoji in the world. So who are they? And how do they decide what we type on the internet?
This conversation with Keith Houston is based on his story Who Owns Emoji
How did China end up with more bicycles than any other country in the world?
This conversation is based on The Rise, Fall, and Restoration of the Kingdom of Bicycles by Neil Thomas, which he wrote for MacroPolo.
When Ashlee was growing up in Kentucky, her mother told her about the rules for shopping as a black women: Never put your hands in your pockets, don't touch anything, always be polite. This is a story about what happens when no one's watching you shop.
This conversation is based on Ashlee Clark Thompson's story In Amazon Go, no one thinks I'm stealing for CNET.