PECULIAR BOOK CLUB: ESTEEMED HOME OF THE QUIRKY, QUIZZICAL, CURIOUS, AND BIZARRE * Finally, a book club for the Peculiars! Join host Dr. Brandy Schillace for book club dates with your favorite authors of strange history, medical marvels, and weird science
Featuring : SUREKHA DAVIES, Humans: A Monstrous HistoryGuess what? We are featuring one of our own! Surekha Davis, long time peculiar, debuts a book on monsters. I mean on humans. Well. I mean both. Why do humans make monsters, and what do monsters tell us about humanity? Davies reveals how people have defined the human in relation to everything from apes to zombies, and how they invented race, gender, and nations along the way. With rich, evocative storytelling that braids together ancient gods and generative AI, Frankenstein's monster and ET, Humans: A Monstrous History shows how monster-making is about control: it defines who gets to count as normal. In an age when corporations increasingly see people as obstacles to profits, this book traces the long, volatile history of monster-making to chart a better path for the future. The result is a profound, effervescent, empowering retelling of the history of the world for anyone who wants to reverse rising inequality and polarization. This is not a history of monsters, but a history through monsters. THINK of the cocktail potential here, people! It's going to be a wild night of history and monster mystery—so don't miss out! Join us as an author-host is Bill Schutt, most recently author of BITE, and I can't think of a better pairing for our VIP show!Episode was recorded live April 24, 2025.Email: peculiar@bschillace.comWebsite: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbook
A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialTwitter: @peculiarBCFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book The Killer Whale Journals, we are reviewing a movie from our childhoods, 1993's Free Willy.Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this childhood favorite. We'll discuss the themes of the importance of family, respect and love for whales, and greed.Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialTwitter: @peculiarBCFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it's anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she's making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia's name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing—trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program.Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialTwitter: @peculiarBCFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Featuring : HANNE STRAGER, The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of OrcasORCA! It's about time one of our Book Club shows featured these fascinating animals! When Hanne Strager, then an intrepid biology student, volunteered to be the cook on a small research vessel in Norway's Lofoten Islands, she couldn't know the trip would launch a decades-long journey into the lives of killer whales―and an exploration of people's complex relationships with the biggest predators on earth. Killer whales' incredible intelligence, long life spans, and strong family bonds lead many people to see them as kindred spirits in the sea. But not everyone feels this way―like wolves, orcas have been both beloved and vilified throughout human history. Now an internationally renowned science writer, Strager gives us a book full of fascinating adventures, personal experiences with orcas, behavior, biology, and ecology. So grab a warm drink and join us for a journey into Arctic seas to decode whale-song, observe Inuit hunters in Greenland, and witness the dismantling of black market Russian "whale jails." It's a BIG story, true tales of killer whales!Episode was recorded live March 28, 2025.Email: peculiar@bschillace.comWebsite: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbook
Featuring : PAUL KOUDOUNARIS, Faithful unto Death: Pet cemeteries, animal graves, and eternal devotionWhen a little dog named Cherry died in 1881, his owners arranged for a grave in a nearby gatekeeper's garden in London. At this time, the idea that a pet, even one that had lived as a family member, might be given a dignified burial was considered comical. But when other pet owners―likewise determined to memorialize their companion animals―followed suit, the world's first urban pet cemetery was born. More soon followed across Europe, the United States, and then the rest of the world, resulting in a revolution in the way we consider animals. Paul Koudounaris, author, artist and photographer who gave us The Empire of Death and Heavenly Bodies returns with Faithful unto Death: the stories of people who gave their hearts to a disparate variety of species, yet were all united in one common belief. The reward at death for a faithful animal companion should reflect the love it offered during life. These astonishing photographs and stories are sure to move you—and Paul is an ever fascinating conversation companion.ikVPm8mqPY1NsIqqsV3EEpisode was recorded live March 13, 2025.Email: peculiar@bschillace.comWebsite: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbook
The New York Times bestselling author of They Knew, Hiding in Plain Sight, and The View from Flyover Country navigates a changing America as she and her family embark on a series of road trips, in a book that is part memoir, part history, and wholly unique. It is one thing to study the fall of democracy, another to have it hit your homeland -- and yet another to raise children as it happens. The Last American Road Trip is one family's journey to the most beautiful, fascinating, and bizarre places in the US during one of its most tumultuous eras. As Kendzior works as a journalist chronicling political turmoil, she becomes determined that her young children see America before it's too late. So Kendzior, her husband, and the kids hit the road -- again and again.Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialTwitter: @peculiarBCFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Featuring : CAT BOHANNON, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human EvolutionYou loved Rachel Gross's VAGINA OBSCURA? Of course you did. Then you MUST join us for this myth-busting, eye-opening landmark account of how humans evolved—answering questions like what IS the female body? How did it come to be? How does this evolution still shapes all our lives today? Some fast facts to whet your appetite: Women live longer than men; women are more likely to get Alzheimer's; girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet. What's behind all of this? And why, seriously why, do women have to sweat through our sheets every night when we hit menopause? (asking for me). Bohannon covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex: “We have to put the female body in the picture,” she writes, “If we don't, it's not just feminism that's compromised. Modern medicine, neurobiology, paleoanthropology, even evolutionary biology all take a hit when we ignore the fact that half of us have breasts.” Which means we are gonna talk about breasts. And blood and fat and vaginas and wombs. Let's face it, the world has focused primarily on the male body for far too long. It's time to dig deep—so join us for book talk, cocktails, and evolutionary science.Episode was recorded live February 27, 2025.Email: peculiar@bschillace.comWebsite: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbook
“Much like fine wine, battle-hardened assassins grow better with age.”#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa GardnerFour women assassins, senior in status—and in age—sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age.After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their time off, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone...literally. When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialTwitter: @peculiarBCFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book The Possibility of Life, we are stepping away from the movie world and into the TV world with 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. They are: season 3 episode 2 "The Ensigns of Command"season 4 episode 12 "The Wounded"season 5 episode 2 "Darmok".Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this classic sci-fi show, and specifically episodes where a new alien race is introduced into the Star Trek mythos. We'll discuss the themes of how leaders communicate, trust being earned, and what food would you order from a replicator.Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialTwitter: @peculiarBCFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
The fascinating, untold story of the air we breathe, the hidden life it contains, and invisible dangers that can turn the world upside downEvery day we draw in two thousand gallons of air—and thousands of living things. From the ground to the stratosphere, the air teems with invisible life. This last great biological frontier remains so mysterious that it took over two years for scientists to finally agree that the Covid pandemic was caused by an airborne virus.In Air-Borne, award-winning New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer leads us on an odyssey through the living atmosphere and through the history of its discovery. We travel to the tops of mountain glaciers, where Louis Pasteur caught germs from the air, and follow Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh above the clouds, where they conducted groundbreaking experiments. We meet the long-forgotten pioneers of aerobiology including William and Mildred Wells, who tried for decades to warn the world about airborne infections, only to die in obscurity.Air-Borne chronicles the dark side of aerobiology with gripping accounts of how the United States and the Soviet Union clandestinely built arsenals of airborne biological weapons designed to spread anthrax, smallpox, and an array of other pathogens. Air-Borne also leaves readers looking at the world with new eyes—as a place where the oceans and forests loft trillions of cells into the air, where microbes eat clouds, and where life soars thousands of miles on the wind.Weaving together gripping history with the latest reporting on Covid and other threats to global health, Air-Borne surprises us on every page as it reveals the hidden world of the air. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Bluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Featuring:JAIME GREEN, The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the CosmosOne of the most powerful questions humans ask about the cosmos is: Are we alone? While the science behind this inquiry is fascinating, it doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is a reflection of our values, our fears, and most importantly, our enduring sense of hope. In The Possibility of Life, acclaimed science journalist Jaime Green traces the history of our understanding, from the days of Galileo and Copernicus to our contemporary quest for exoplanets. Along the way, she interweaves insights from science fiction writers who construct worlds that in turn inspire scientists. This amazing book somehow managed to incorporate everything from expert interviews, cutting-edge astronomy research, philosophical inquiry, and pop culture touchstones ranging from A Wrinkle in Time to StarTrek to Arrival. But probably what makes this one of my favorites is a sneaky side quest you can't help but travel throughout: Not “are there aliens,” but “What does it mean to be human?” If you loved chatting with Katie Mack and Marc Hartzman, then you won't want to miss this night of wonders (and maybe little green cocktails). Only on the Peculiar Book Club!Episode was recorded live February 13, 2025.Email: peculiar@bschillace.comWebsite: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2YPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membershipYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streamsBluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.socialFacebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclubInstagram: @thepeculiarbook
From the authors of Quackery, a visual and narrative history of popular ideas, phenomena, and widely held beliefs disproven by science. From the easily disproved to the wildly speculative, to straight-up hucksterism, Pseudoscience is a romp through much more than bad science—it's a light-hearted look into why we insist on believing in things such as Big Foot, astrology, and the existence of aliens. Did you know, for example, that you can tell a person's future by touching their butt? Rumpology. It's a thing, but not really. Or that Stanley Kubrick made a fake moon landing film for the US government? Except he didn't. Or that spontaneous human combustion is real? It ain't, but it can be explained scientifically. Pseudoscience is a wild mix of history, pop culture, and good old fashioned science–that not just entertains, but sheds a little light on why we all love to believe in things we know aren't true. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Bluesky: @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
I loved this book so much that I wrote the Wall Street Journal review for it! It's an absolutely madcap and unexpected take on history I thought I knew… But I hadn't yet encountered Candace Pert. This amazing scientist stood at the dawn of three revolutions: the opioid crisis, the AIDS crisis, and the mind-body movement. A troubled genius, beleaguered, beguiling, and not above bedeviling, her visionary work shaped history - for good and, inadvertently, for evil. She discovered the opiate receptor (the mechanism by which opioids function in the brain), launching the opioid crisis… She proved the mind-body link, launching the field of integrative or functional medicine… and most shockingly, she created Peptide T, the underground AIDS drug featured in the film Dallas Buyers Club… and then went rogue, becoming a linchpin in the black market. Like a mythic hero, her greatest strengths—singularity of purpose and blind faith in her own virtuosity—would be her undoing. Come for a fast paced discussion about this singular woman, a name almost forgotten to history, now resurrected by Pamela Ryckman. It's a breathtaking ride! Episode was recorded live January 23, 2025. Email: peculiar@bschillace.com Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Invisibility, we are doing the 2020 reboot of The Invisible Man. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this inventive horror/thriller. We'll discuss the themes of gaslighting, the technology of invisibility, and strategies for fighting an invisible man. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
It's like that Monty Python Sketch… There are good reasons to know how not to be seen, and Gregory Gbur is ready to tell us all about the SCIENCE. Come now, you say, it isn't really possible to be made invisible! Or is it? You'll be surprised! In this book, science writer and optical physicist Gregory J. Gbur traces the science of invisibility from its sci-fi origins in the nineteenth-century writings of authors such as H. G. Wells and Fitz James O'Brien to modern stealth technology, invisibility cloaks, and metamaterials. He explores the history of invisibility and its science and technology connections, including the discovery of the electromagnetic spectrum, the development of the atomic model, and quantum theory. He shows how invisibility has moved from fiction to reality, and he questions the hidden paths that lie ahead for researchers. Join us for an evening of science, bad puns, and a cocktail that I'm sure we can make “disappear”—only on the Peculiar Book Club! Episode was recorded live January 10, 2025. Email: peculiar@bschillace.com Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Bite, we are doing the 1994 horror/romance film Interview with the Vampire Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this 90's classic. We'll discuss the themes of morality, vampire nihilism, and how great Kirsten Dunst was as a child actor and Tom Cruise was as a villian. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
If you follow the Peculiar Book Club Facebook group, you'll know Bill Schutt is EXACTLY our kind of weird. He's a vertebrate zoologist and author of six nonfiction and fiction books, including Pump, Cannibalism, and Dark Banquet! Recently retired from his post as professor of biology, Bill's now a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He knows ever so much about bats (our favorite night wings) and in this latest book, an “incisive” history of teeth (from hagfish to humans), he delivers a mouthful. Come on, you KNOW there will be puns in a book about teeth. Did you know crocodiles regrow theirs? Sharks, too. (And we can hope he'll throw in some facts about the Promachoteuthis Sulcus Squid, which looks like some combo of starfish and opera singer.) Join us for a fascinating lesson in denticulation! And sink your tusks into a good book. Episode was recorded live December 12, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Hurts So Good, we are doing the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into the world of ballet and pain. We'll discuss the themes of perfectionism, the effects on mental health from that competitive environment, and what was the most painful moment. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Can pain… be pleasure? I was never one to experience a runner's high, or to enjoy ‘feeling the burn' after a workout. But are there ways—or times—when pain provides something extra, or even extraordinary? Leigh Cowart sets out to ask and to answer this very question. Sure, we might first think of masochism as something to do with sex—but it gets out of the bedroom plenty. Cowart talks about Black Plague flagellants, ballerinas dancing on broken bones, ice bathers, and competitive eaters choking down hot peppers while they cry. Why do people engage in masochism? What are the benefits and the costs? And what does masochism have to say about the human experience? Cowart gives us a fascinating, at times hilarious, exposition on something they (a science writer) chooses to experiment with as well. We follow Leigh on surprising journeys into the pain/pleasure matrix as they unravel how our minds and bodies find meaning and relief in pain. Call it a quirk in the programming. Call it sexy. Call it natural. Pain for pleasure certainly provides food for thought—and some awesome cocktail ideas, too, for that matter. And that's not all! Also joining us will be alum Rachel Feltman, as part of our Author's Hosting Authors events! You won't want to miss these two as they talk about the intimate details of our pain/pleasure sensory system. Episode was recorded live November 14, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of The Framed Women of Ardemore House, we are doing the 2015 BBC One made-for-tv adaptation of An Inspector Calls. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this British Thriller. We'll discuss the themes of Capitalism vs. Socialism, the ominous warning of the story, and all the twists and turns along the way. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, for some Halloween fun, we are discussing the Irish Horror Comedy film Grabbers. Join Davey Berris as he takes a deep dive into this fun monster movie. There aren't many deep themes in this movie but we will talk about did it hit the comedy and horror marks, the fun bits in the movie, and connections to some legendary horror/action movies. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
An abandoned English manor. A peculiar missing portrait. A cozy, deviously clever muder mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horwitz. Jo Jones has always had a little trouble fitting in. As a neurodivergent, hyperlexic book editor and divorced New Yorker transplanted into the English countryside, Jo doesn't know what stands out more: her Americanisms or her autism. After losing her job, her mother, and her marriage all in one year, she couldn't be happier to take possession of a possibly haunted (and clearly unwanted) family estate in North Yorkshire. But when the body of the moody town groundskeeper turns up on her rug with three bullets in his back, Jo finds herself in potential danger—and she's also a potential suspect. At the same time, a peculiar family portrait vanishes from a secret room in the manor, bearing a strange connection to both the dead body and Jo's mysterious family history. With the aid of a Welsh antiques dealer, the morose local detective, and the Irish innkeeper's wife, Jo embarks on a mission to clear herself of blame and find the missing painting, unearthing a slew of secrets about the town—and herself—along the way. And she'll have to do it all before the killer strikes again… Episode was recorded live October 24, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn't a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms—like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children's book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed. But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt that implies he's aware of her surveillance, her tenuous hold on a normal life crumbles. Driven by compulsion, she enacts the most powerful ritual she has to reclaim control—a midnight visit to the Cayatoga Bridge—and arrives just in time to witness Kurt's suicide. Before he jumps, he slams her with a devastating accusation: his death is all her fault. Horrified, Katrina combs through the clues she's collected about Kurt over the last three years, but each revelation uncovers a menacing truth: for every moment she was watching him, he was watching her. And the past she thought she'd left behind? It's been following her more closely than she ever could have imagined. Don't miss this gripping thriller of a novel that explores the tenuous nature of our mental health—and might just cause us to question our own seeming realities. Live chat with author Maria Dong on Oct 10th—the perfect book for starting off the spooky season! Episode was recorded live October 10, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Tremors in the Blood, we are discussing a movie about the invention of the lie detector with Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this sexy origin story of the lie detector and Wonder Woman. We'll discuss themes such as Dominance and Submission, Polyamorous relationships, and was Luke Evans just to handsome to play this role. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Tracing uranium's past, and how it intersects with our understanding of other radioactive elements, this book aims to disentangle our attitudes and to unpick the atomic mindset. Chain Reactions looks at the fascinating, often-forgotten, stories that can be found throughout the history of the element. Ranging from glassworks to penny stocks; medicines to weapons; something to be feared to a powerful source of energy. This global history explores the scientific history of the element, but also shines a light on its cultural and social impact. By understanding our nuclear past, we can move beyond the ideological opposition to technologies and encourage a more nuanced dialogue about whether it is feasible – and desirable – to have a genuinely nuclear-powered future. Lucy Jane Santos's upcoming book Chain Reactions: A Hopeful History of Uranium will no doubt be a “glowing” success! Lucy looks beyond the familiar narratives to explore an alternative history of uranium in a lively, accessible way. Her previous work includes Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium. Episode was recorded live September 26, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
You asked and we delivered! Pulitzer-prize winning science journalist Deborah Blum—author of The Poisoner's Handbook—returns to PBC! This time, she comes to us as HOST! Two additional authors will be joining us, picked by Deborah herself: Amit Katwala as author of TREMORS IN THE BLOOD and Patti McCracken for ANGEL MAKERS. Where did lie detectors come from? Are they really accurate? The history isn't just fascinating, it's evocative—and bears an interesting connection to artificial intelligence. Everyone wants a machine that tells the truth. But chillingly, it turns out that machines can lie, too. Our next thrilling true-crime narrative takes us to a small town in Hungary. McCracken follows a trail of white powder—the colorless, odorless, deadly poison arsenic. Distributed by a wily midwife to women who needed a ‘cure' for abusive spouses, the little vials emptied and the grave yards started filling up. What caused a group of housewives to become a murder ring? Who were these “angel-makers” and how did their crimes (at least 160 dead) go so long undiscovered? Episode was recorded live September 12, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book A Gentleman and a Thief, we are discussing our own gentleman conman with The Music Man. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this classic Hollywood (and Broadway) musical to discuss our favorite songs, finding our someone, and seeing the good in someone else. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Suave and movie-star handsome, Arthur Barry charmed New York celebrities as he planned and executed some of the most brazen and lucrative heists of the 1920s. Think Cary Grant's character was clever and slick in the Hitchcock classic To Catch a Thief ? This gentleman thief was smarter, smoother. It sounds like fiction. But it isn't. Barry was real-life con artist who donned a tuxedo to crash the parties of the rich and famous as he planned his burglaries. Known as a “second-story man,” he could even slip in and out of bedrooms undetected as his victims slept only inches away! “I know he's terrible, but isn't he charming?” – wrote Robbery victim Dorothea Livermore. Barry was, shall we say, the aristocrat of crime—and a modern day Robin Hood. Well, except for the giving it to the poor part. In a span of seven years he stole diamonds, pearls and other precious gems worth almost $60 million today—in a whirlwind of roaring 20s decadence. Don your dapper attire, raise a coup cocktail glass—and join us for the latest by the brilliant Dean Jobb: A Gentleman and a Thief! Episode was recorded live August 22, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Whalefall, we are discussing the greatest tale of Whales ever told, the classic Moby Dick. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this classic tale of temptation, obsession, was Gregory Peck right for the role of Ahab (he didn't think so), and what are our white whales. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Just imagine for a moment—you are swimming in the cold dark of the Pacific Ocean, trying to find the lost remains of your father. But you aren't alone. There are shapes moving in the gloom, great, dark shapes. Shapes with mouths. That's what happens to Jay Gardiner in the latest novel by award winning author (and collaborator with Guillermo del Toro) Daniel Kraus. Caught first by a giant squid, then swallowed whole by a Sperm whale, Jay has one hour to get out alive. If he can get out of his own head, first. The thing is, If you were swallowed by a whale… it would be a VERY big GULP. And you know who can tell us about gulps, right? Mary Roach. Because on tonight's special VIP edition of Authors Hosting Authors, Mary will talk to Daniel about the ins and outs of being, well, in—and out. Because while the story might be fiction, the trial of our protagonist is based in scientific FACT. Join us for a wild night and learn the best possible escape routes out of an 80 ft, 60 ton whale. You never know when that will come in handy! Episode was recorded live July 25, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
How much do looks really matter? In society, whether we like it or not, how we look affects how we are treated—and even what opportunities we might have in life. A one-time New York prison commissioner, Henry Solomon, once stated that “physical defects…might conduce to crime” because a man with a poor physical appearance would have an easier time stealing a dollar than getting hired to earn one. That outlook wasn't new then, and it hasn't really gone away. In Zara Stone's amazing book KILLER LOOKS, she writes that “people have instinctively understood the societal benefits of conventional beauty” as a kind of social currency. It's literally like having money in the bank. “Beauty privilege is real,” she writes, “and it's real uncomfortable.” By the early 1980s, cosmetic surgery was firmly established as a path to economic success. Looks were so important that a new branch of therapy was created: cosmetic behavior therapy. If that sounds strange, just wait. Imagine a program that offers cosmetic changes to inmates as a means of lowering the crime rate—that instead of teaching us to lose out biases about looks, society is pretty willing to give in to it. Do looks really affect crime rates? More likely, appearance bias instead creates a situation where a person is both less likely to have opportunities AND more likely to be accused or arrested for a crime. What does appearance bias mean for us now, or for the future? Find out on July 11th, live with Zara Stone only on the Peculiar book club! Episode was recorded live July 11, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC
What happens when racism is not a bug in the system—but in fact IS the system? And the Health System, at that. Imagine being a high-achieving person of color, courted by prestigious medical institutions, but then denied the support you needed when you got there? Fighting through burnout and the grueling pace of residency, only to wind up a cog in a bureaucracy that sees patients as broken bits on an assembly line. “With] ninety-ninth percentile MCAT and Step and Board scores as entrance keys to the profession,” writes author Anthony Chin-Quee, “we too often neglect to screen for traits that truly matter: the self-awareness and strength of character necessary to weather the devastating emotional trials that are sure to come; the humility and grace required to be an effective, collaborative, and avid lifelong learner.” Chin-Quee's memoir, I CAN'T SAVE YOU, doesn't just present the trauma of our medical education system, but the trauma of living and of caring in a narrative described by NPR as “messy” but provocative—an “assemblage of shifting narrative perspectives, poetry, anecdotes, and hallucinatory performance, represents the structural equivalent of a mixtape.” Guess what, y'all, it's Medical Humanities. Yes, like that journal I happen to be the editor in chief of… and I cannot WAIT to chat live with Anthony about how we have lost—and how to regain—the human at the center of medicine. Don't miss this livestream on Jun 27th, only on the Peculiar Book Club. Episode was recorded live June 27, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book The Computer's Voice, we are discussing maybe the most iconic computer voice in cinema history with Hal 9000 and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this legendary Kubrick film and discuss man's evolution from apes, what the star child means, how this film was made, and why people in the 60's really started to dig this movie (wink, wink). Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
“Siri, what does it mean to have gender?” We have become very used to the dis-embodied voices that surround us, from the voice answering to ‘Siri' to the one giving us directions on our GPS apps. But have you ever stopped to wonder why some of these voices are coded “male” and others “female?” The tech isn't gendered, but the voices are—and it's true in fiction as well as fact. Consider “Vicki” from I, Robot, or HAL from Space Odyssey. Why does Star Trek have a female-coded central ship computer? Is it because, as Faber suggests, space is hostile and the ship womb-like and nurturing against the coldness of space? Food for thought, isn't it? Modern science understands gender as a social construct rather than an actual difference between one sex and another (and another)—that's why it has been so subject to change over the centuries. Consider the 18th century gent with his hair curlers and lace, tights and heels, penchant for poetry and fainting with feeling. So why bother “gender coding” our technology at all? What's it doing for us—or against us? To find out, we're reading THE COMPUTER'S VOICE by Liz Faber, a brilliant analytical romp through feminist psychoanalysis and trippy space operas. Join us live—and you also get to speak with our guest host Rebecca Gibson, author of THE BAD CORSET, A FEMINIST REIMAGINING (hint, the corset wasn't as bad as you think). Join us for an AUTHORS HOSTING AUTHORS event! There will be feminist cocktails. Episode was recorded live June 13, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book We Are Not Alone, we are discussing the legendary alien encounter movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this classic Spielberg movie as we discuss parallels between alien encounters and mental health, how practical effects can be so effective and scary, and some really great trivia about this film. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
A.J. Jacobs learned the hard way that donning a tricorne hat and marching around Manhattan with a 1700s musket will earn you a lot of strange looks. In the wake of several controversial rulings by the Supreme Court and the on-going debate about how the Constitution should be interpreted, Jacobs set out to understand what it means to live by the Constitution. In The Year of Living Constitutionally, A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment with a quill and handing them out to strangers in Times Square. He consents to quartering a soldier, as is his Third Amendment right. He turns his home into a traditional 1790s household by lighting candles instead of using electricity, boiling mutton, and—because women were not allowed to sign contracts— feebly attempting to take over his wife's day job, which involves a lot of contract negotiations.
Ever look up at the night sky and wonder what else is really out there? Or, like me, do you watch shows like Resident Alien with Alan Tudyk and realize you might actually be the extra-terrestrial (I mean, it would SO much sense). Seriously, though, do we just laugh off the X-files and move on? Note: we did have X-files producer Frank Spotnitz on our first season). Are UFOs hogwash? We have all been prepared to say so, at one time or another. Then, After decades of cover-ups and denials, in a June 2021 report, the US government finally admitted that UFOs are real. WHAT? Little green men? Not quite! It's exactly what hey stand for: flying things that we cannot identify. If you hope for a way to sift through the fact and fiction of outer-space possibilities… you're in luck. I can't think of any higher praise that being labeled “one of America's leading connoisseurs of the bizarre” but that's all in a day's work for Marc Hartzmann, who returns to MBC with his latest: WE ARE NOT ALONE. Are their alien abductions really? Is Area 51 hiding something? Life might be out there—and it probably won't be anything like we expect. Episode was recorded live May 9, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Grave yard. Cemetery. These are some of my favorite things! But walking through graveyards isn't just about getting your goth on. Cemeteries tell our human history—and they tell national history, too. Take central park for instance. In 1857, it was Seneca Village, a “rare haven of Black ownership” stretching from West 82nd to 89th Streets. NY took it over, seizing it for a park. And that means part of the park is also a burial ground, and tells the story of how black people were treated even in the supposedly free north. And that's just one little tidbit from a book that is sure to be near and dear to our Peculiar family: Over my Dead Body by Greg Melville. The chapters take us on a journey, via cemeteries, around the country, from the mass graves at Colonial Jamestown to Brooklyn's Green-Wood cemetery, the racially segregated Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah, Ga., Hollywood Forever and even a digital graveyard, i.e., Facebook. Aptly put by the NYT, the book is a social history: “What does the act of memorializing, who is remembered and who is left out, tell us about how people lived, what they valued, and the way we live now?” Also… did I mention there are cemeteries? Join us live to chat with Greg through our YouTube livestream—I can promise you a themed cocktail! Only on the PBC. Episode was recorded live April 25, 2024. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book What's Gotten Into You, we are discussing the 80's science fiction comedy Innerspace. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this silly yet action packed movie as we discuss believing in yourself, how wacky Martin Short can get, why pilots are just cooler then all of us, and robot arm attachments you wouldn't expect in a PG movie. Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeculiarBookClub/membership Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams Twitter: @peculiarBC Facebook: facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub Instagram: @thepeculiarbookclub
In this bonus episode of the Peculiar Book Club we got a chance to sit down with author Wendy Moore for a preview conversation of her new book Jack and Eve. Jack and Eve: Two Women in Love and at War, is published by Atlantic Books in the UK. It tells the story of Vera 'Jack' Holme and Evelina Haverfield, pioneering suffragettes who became lovers. Jack was an actress who specialised in cross-dressing roles. She became official chauffeur to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. Eve, who was born into the British aristocracy, was an intrepid traveller who became one of the suffragettes' most active speakers and agitators. In the First World War they went to Serbia with the Scottish Women's Hospitals (SWH) voluntary organisation to provide medical aid to the Serbian Army. When Serbia was invaded they were taken prisoners of war. After being freed, they travelled to Russia with the SWH to drive ambulances right up to the firing line on the Dobruja front. They were devoted lifelong partners but also pioneers of new ways of living and loving. Jack enjoyed numerous liaisons with other women - detailed in her diaries - and especially favoured three-way relationships. But when Eve died, in Serbia soon after the war ended, Jack was devastated. Jack and Eve is a love story set against the backdrop of intense acts of bravery during the First World War.
You know those amazing science document-aries you love so much? National Geo-graphic, Discover, Science, and History Channels? Yeah, you need to thank Dan Levitt—responsible for producing such shows as Unsolved History (2002), Great Transitions: The Origin of Birds (2015) and Naked Science (2004). That one sounds right up our street. Well, now Dan has decided to give us a new kind of scientific candy crunch: WHATS GOT INTO YOU, a book about, well, YOU. A 150-pound human body contains 60 elements, including “enough carbon to make 25 pounds of charcoal, enough salt to fill a saltshaker, enough chlorine to disinfect several backyard swimming pools, and enough iron to make a three-inch nail.” On the open market, our body chemicals would bring about $2,000. And.. here's the kicker… the stuff that makes up you and me has been evolving since the Bing Bang. You are made of actual bang dust. “Carl Sagan once famously said we are made of star stuff,” Levitt writes in his introduction. “This is the improbable story of how it happened.” It's a journey of atoms, astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry—and you are invited! Join us to chat live with the author on April 11, only on the Peculiar Book Club! (Of COURSE there will be cocktails). Episode was recorded live April 11, 2024. Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Unscientific America, we are discussing the recent dark comedy Don't Look Up. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this funny yet terrifying look at a possible natural disaster, how science fails to communicate with politicians, the media, and the public, and Adam McKay's unique style of making movies. Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
The earth is not flat. Vaccines work and they don't make you magnetic. Global warming is real. Covid is airborne. But you will hear a great deal to the contrary, too, from vaccine and climate deniers, flat-earthers, and plenty of conspiracy theorists willing to die on the hill of their chosen belief. Why? What happened? I thought it might be interesting to do a little time travel. What if we looked a book arguing for science and the humanities to join forces and stop science misinformation… BEFORE Covid. Heck, before Twitter was much of thing, even. Before the social media monoliths we explored in Cory Doctorow's recent work. Let's go all the way back to 2009—when I was still a graduate student—and revisit a collaboration between a journalist and a scientists: Unscientific America. We'll talk live to Sheril Kirschenbaum, host of SERVING UP SCIENCE on PBS, executive director of ScienceDebate, a national nonprofit that encourages politicians to address science and innovation, and director of The Energy Poll at The University of Texas at Austin. A prolific writer and scientific thinker, she brings a lot to the table when it comes to getting science on the ballot (and into the public). How has Unscientific America changed? What do we make of this new, science denying world? Bring your questions and your debate hat and let's get political! Only on PBC. Episode was recorded live March 14, 2024. Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
Surely you have questions… Weird, pressing questions. Tonight, we host our first ever AMA! You can try to stump Davey! You can inquire about my weirder exploits… we can talk movies and books and cocktails! We can talk about who we might want to join us in future! Free to all!
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Doctors and Distillers, we are discussing the 80's Tom Cruise "classic" Cocktail. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this fun movie as we discuss the mindset of the 80's, does the drama of this movie hold up or is it all just the flair, and is Tom Cruise's smile sexy or creepy? Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
From journalist and drag historian Elyssa Maxx Goodman, an intimate, evocative history of drag in New York City exploring its dynamic role, from the Jazz Age to Drag Race, in queer liberation and urban life. Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
Ever read The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart? I have. Several times, actually. Well, guess what book SHE is reading? “At last,” she writes, “a definitive guide to the medicinal origins of every bottle behind the bar! This is the cocktail book of the year, if not the decade.” What hallowed tome is she referring to? Folks, it's a book so perfect for Peculiar Book Club that if it didn't exist, I'd have to make it up: Doctors and Distillers by Camper English, the MEDICINAL history of beer, wine, spirits, and cocktails. BE STILL MY HEART. It's true that, as a medical historian, I've always known alcohol was among our earliest medicines—and that it remains crucial to not a few today. But this story goes all the way back—to Egypt—and then a bit forward—to alchemists and monastic apothecaries. It takes a side road into germ theory, and then pops back out in forensics and the dangers of risky prohibition cocktails. What was alcohol meant to cure? Let's see; wounds, worms, snakebite, malaria, scurvy, plague… Of course, we at the Peculiar Book Club feel it helps prepare you to read more weird books.
Let's imagine you're nestling down for a good nap. You've already been to the market for food stuffs, you have filled your larder, and you even managed to get some brand new bedding. It's cold out, and you are definitely ready for a long winter's nap—when suddenly, someone rudely breaks into your home. Screaming. And maybe standing on a chair. Even though you're just a common house mouse, minding his own business in someone's sock drawer. Yes, we think of mice and rates and other critter as “pests”—vermin—the bad guys. Are they, though? Bethany Brookshire tackles this question in PESTS: How humans create animal villains. “Pests — the mice, raccoons, and seagulls of the world — are not irritating by nature,” Brookshire begins. Rather, she explains, “they are animal winners on a planet full of loss. When your habitat is full of parking lots, brick apartment buildings, and carefully tended gardens, survival isn't about staying sweetly in the woods and meadows. Instead, evolutionary success looks a lot like raiding our trash, nesting on our buildings, and eating our gardens down to nubs.” Nature, you see, evolves WITH us. We learned a bit about this in The Natural History of the Future last year; we make these environments; we destroy natural ones. And sometimes, the animals we like (our beloved cats, for instance) are actually little destruction machines wreaking havoc on natural fauna. What we call a pest and what we call a PET comes down to how we personally interact—but there's so much more to the story. Join us on Jan 25th for a livestream and chat with Bethany Brookshire as she breaks down the science of our imagined foes. Episode was recorded live on January 25th, 2024. To join future broadcasts check out our Book Club schedule at https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/. Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book The Internet Con, we are discussing the early 2000's tech thriller Antitrust. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as we take a deep dive into this internet, tech company thriller and the themes of Big Tech, stealing IP, knowledge belonging to the people, and why Tim Robbins is smashing potato chips the whole movie. Follow us on Twitter (@peculiarBC), Facebook (facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub), Instagram (@thepeculiarbookclub), and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/PeculiarBookClub)!
Remember when wasting time on Twitter and Facebook was… fun? When we thought a future of connection awaited us, with endless promise? Those hopes have not aged well, have they? Twitter, Facebook and other Big Tech platforms made things easier… and then, when we weren't looking, those easy-buttons became bricks in a prison wall. Just try leaving, they seem to say (I have left FB and then had to come back again for work, so I know this first hand). As Cory Doctorow puts it in The Internet Con, “They hold hostage the people we love, the communities that matter to us, the audiences and customers we rely on. The impossibility of staying connected to these people after you delete your account has nothing to do with technological limitations: it's a business strategy in service to commodifying your personal life and relationships.” He says we need to take control of this mess. But how? The solution, it would seem, is “interoperability.” A really simple example is demanding that Apple make their power ports compatible with the ports that work on everything else. “Use any ink in your printer with any paper, use any socks with your shoes, anyone's gasoline in your car, put any lightbulb in your light socket,” he tells us. The platform prison is built of deep separation, and it builds divisive-ness right into the design. Join us January 11th and talk live to Cory Doctorow about this award winning, eye-brow raising, con-busting book! But that's not all!! We will also talk about his new SciFi novel about fear and hope for the future: The Lost Cause. Maybe we can start 2024 by taking the internet by storm.
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