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The Thoughtful Bro

Oct 21, 2022

With Maggie O’Farrell, whose heartfelt, lyrical exploration about genius and grief, Hamnet, vacuumed up awards and made, it seems, every last reader weep. If you’re looking for sensual prose, a startling theory on why Shakespeare wrote his most famous play, or a rollicking sex scene in an apple-storage-shed, look no...


Oct 14, 2022

With Pulitzer Prize-winner Erin Kelly and Patsy Rembert, wife of the late Winfred Rembert, whose improbable life story and stunning art are featured in the miraculous, American-classic-to-be Chasing Me To My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South.

We discussed how Winfred found beauty in his life’s terror...


Oct 7, 2022

With Harley Rustad, discussing his fascinating new true crime/travelogue Lost In The Valley Of Death. We covered: “India Syndrome”; the paradoxes of authenticity on social media; the intrepid 1800s explorer Richard Burton; and the potentially deadly perils of mythologizing your own life on Instagram. This book really...


Sep 30, 2022

With Emily St. John Mandel, discussing her new novel Sea of Tranquility. Topics: how she got to know her "Station Eleven" HBO showrunner at a super creepy gun show; the cathartic role of art and sports in any functioning society; and her deep ambivalence regarding our utterly convenient, utterly tech-enabled modern...


Sep 23, 2022

A mind-altering convo with anthropologist and public conversationalist Christopher Ryan about his book Civilized to Death. We discussed civilization's sneakily bad deal, as well as how cavemen knew better than we do how to laugh, live & love. Anecdote from the show: after reading his book Sex at Dawn, an elderly widow...