Podcast appearances and mentions of Edward D Melillo

Insects might make us shudder in disgust, but they are also responsible for many of the things we take for granted in our daily lives. When we bite into a shiny apple, listen to the resonant notes of a violin, get dressed, receive a dental implant, or get a manicure, we are the beneficiaries of a vast army of insects. Try as we might to replicate their raw material (silk, shellac, and cochineal, for instance), our artificial substitutes have proven subpar at best, and at worst toxic, ensuring our interdependence with the insect world for the foreseeable future.      Drawing on research in laboratory science, agriculture, fashion, and international cuisine, Edward D. Melillo weaves a vibrant world history in The Butterfly Effect that illustrates the inextricable and fascinating bonds between humans and insects. Across time, we have not only coexisted with these creatures but have relied on them for, among other things, the key discoveries of modern medical science and the future of the world's food supply. Without insects, entire sectors of global industry would grind to a halt and essential features of modern life would disappear. Here is a beguiling appreciation of the ways in which these creatures have altered--and continue to shape--the very framework of our existence. _______________________________________________   Produced by Maddie Gobbo, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang. Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.

“In November 1944,” Edward D. Melillo writes in his book The Butterfly Effect​, “Decca Records released a single featuring Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots. ‘Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall' skyrocketed to number one on the top of the Billboard charts in the United States and inaugurated a long-term collaboration between the ‘First Lady of Song' and the fabled record producer Milt Gabler. A century before this musical milestone, the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid I founded the Hereke Imperial Carpet Manufacture to supply elaborate silk rugs for his Dolmabahçe Palace on the Bosphorus. These extravagant carpets, among the finest ever woven, featured between three and four thousand knots per square inch. Six decades earlier, on October 19, 1781, Brigadier General Charles O'Hara of His Britannic Majesty's Coldstream Guards donned his distinctive scarlet officer's coat, strode onto the battlefield at Yorktown, Virginia, and surrendered the sword of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis to Major General Benjamin Lincoln of the American Continental Army. A trio of more incongruous events, spanning three centuries, is difficult to imagine, yet these episodes share an astonishing feature. They depended on the tremendous productive capacity of domesticated insects.” This week on the podcast, Melillo and Lewis H. Lapham discuss events like these across human history, which show how, despite any annoyance we might feel at the prospect, the world as we know it would cease to function without insects. Lewis H. Lapham speaks with Edward D. Melillo, author of The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World. Thanks to our generous donors. Lead support for this podcast has been provided by Elizabeth “Lisette” Prince. Additional support was provided by James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.

This week, Liberty and Patricia discuss Winter Counts, Spellbound, The Great Offshore Grounds, and more great books. This episode is sponsored by TBR, Book Riot’s subscription service offering reading recommendations personalized to your reading life, MIRA Books and Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks, and Impersonation by Heidi Pitlor, now available from Algonquin Books. Pick up an All the Books! 200th episode commemorative item here. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, iTunes, or Spotify and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. BOOKS DISCUSSED ON THE SHOW: Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden  Spellbound by Bishakh Som The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veselka Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig The Comeback by Ella Berman Don’t Tell Me to Relax: Emotional Resilience in the Age of Rage, Feels, and Freak-Outs by Ralph De La Rosa The New Wilderness by Diane Cook His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham WHAT WE’RE READING: Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax MORE BOOKS OUT THIS WEEK: Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne  Letters from Cuba by Ruth Behar Slum Virgin by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, Frances Riddle Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald Aria: A Novel by Nazanine Hozar Squeeze Me: A novel by Carl Hiaasen  The Book of Unconformities: Speculations on Lost Time by Hugh Raffles At Times: New and Selected Poems by Brooke Horvath Pluses and Minuses: How Math Solves Our Problems by Stefan Buijsman Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera Entwined by A.J. Rosen The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World by Edward D. Melillo Summer: A Novel (Seasonal Quartet) by Ali Smith The Sprawl: Reconsidering the Weird American Suburbs by Jason Diamond The Frightened Ones: A novel by Dima Wannous, Elisabeth Jaquette (translator) Tales from the Ant World by Edward O. Wilson Count Luna by Alexander Lernet-Holenia, Jane B. Greene (translator) Death of a Telenovela Star by Teresa Dovalpage You Lucky Dog by Julia London The Erratics: A Memoir by Vicki Laveau-Harvie Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse by Nina Schick They Called Us Enemy: Expanded Edition by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schlansky, Jackie Smith (translator) Farewell, Ghosts by Nadia Terranova, Ann Goldstein (translator) Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can by Varshini Prakash and Guido Girgenti The Companion by Katie Alender  The Exiles: A Novel by Christina Baker Kline Song of the Court by Katy Farina Hidden (The Texas Murder Files Book 1) by Laura Griffin The Hierarchies: A Novel by Ros Anderson The Butcher’s Daughter: A Foundlings Novel (The Foundlings) by Wendy Corsi Staub  Superman’s Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It by Erin Brockovich The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo, Yumiko Yamakazi (translator) Ghost Flames: Life and Death in a Hidden War, Korea 1950-1953 by Charles J. Hanley  The Mother Code by Carole Stivers American Dreams: Portraits & Stories of a Country by Ian Brown Where Dreams Descend: A Novel (Kingdom of Cards) by Janella Angeles The Habsburgs: To Rule the World by Martyn Rady Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price Murder Most Puzzling: 20 Mysterious Cases to Solve (Murder Mystery Game, Adult Board Games, Mystery Games for Adults) by Stephanie von Reiswitz  The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media–from the Founding Fathers to Fake News by Harold Holzer The Last Great Road Bum: A Novel by Héctor Tobar Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest The Growing Season: How I Saved an American Farm–and Built a New Life by Sarah Frey  The Wrong Mr. Darcy by Evelyn Lozada The Family Clause: A Novel by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Alice Menzies (translator) El Jefe: The Stalking of Chapo Guzmán by Alan Feuer The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves) by Sally Green Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, Rovina Cai (Illustrator) Kodi by Jared Cullum Midnight at the Barclay Hotel by Fleur Bradley, Xavier Bonet The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War by Michael Gorra The Woods by Vanessa Savage  When I Was You by Amber Garza Vision by Julia Gfrörer Final Cut: A Novel by S. J. Watson Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain by David Eagleman The Vegucated Family Table: Irresistible Vegan Recipes and Proven Tips for Feeding Plant-Powered Babies, Toddlers, and Kids by Marisa Miller Wolfson, Laura Delhauer Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry by Joy Harjo Love Sold Separately by Ellen Meister  Bright Raven Skies by Kristina Perez White Hot Light: Twenty-Five Years in Emergency Medicine by Frank Huyler The Artifact Hunters by Janet Fox You Ought to Do a Story About Me: Addiction, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Endless Quest for Redemption by Ted Jackson Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare The Royal Governess: A Novel of Queen Elizabeth II’s Childhood by Wendy Holden Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley The Con Code by Shana Silver Twin Daggers by MarcyKate Connolly The Memory of Souls (A Chorus of Dragons) by Jenn Lyons Traitor by Amanda McCrina Frankie Comics by Rachel Dukes Ironspark by C. M. McGuire Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram The Whitsun Daughters by Carrie Mesrobian The Seduction by Joanna Briscoe City Under the Stars by Gardner Dozois, Michael Swanwick Moss by Klaus Modick, David Herman (translator) The Truth about Baked Beans: An Edible New England History by Meg Muckenhoupt Beyond Repair: Encounters in a Fractured World by Sebastian Matthews The Assignment by Liza M. Wiemer Thread and Dead: The Apron Shop Series by Elizabeth Penney   Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gómez Against the Loveless World: A Novel by Susan Abulhawa Best Debut Short Stories 2020: The Pen/Dau Prize  I Can Sell You A Body by Ryan Ferrier, George Kambadais Sisters by Daisy Johnson Killer Kung Pao: A Noodle Shop Mystery by Vivien Chien Spring: A Novel by Leila Rafei Amboy: Recipes from the Filipino-American Dream by Alvin Cailan, Alexandra Cuerdo In the Shadows of Men by Robert Jackson Bennett  Dispersion by Greg Egan See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.