Books Podcast

26/07/2025

A new interview at www.bookspodcast.com
So Very Small - by Thomas Levenson. A fascinating and entertaining account of the development of germ theory. More than half of all the people who ever lived were killed by infection. But that's not your problem any more. Over 200 years a colourful cast of characters responded to epidemics and catastrophes and eventually found effective responses. It's actually a roller-coaster of a read.

Nitrous Oxide made “a picaresque journey from laboratory to lecture hall, variety palace to dentist’s chair.” A substance that does not exist in nature, it fairly blew the minds of the radical scientific community in the late 18th Century when it was isolated and synthesised. Some of them coul...

09/07/2025

We've been sanctioned by YouTube! We're rather proud, to be honest. A terrific interview about the history of pioneering chemists turns out to be controversial! It's a terrific interview, by the way - well worth a listen.

05/07/2025

We are really pleased with a terrific new interview at www.bookspodcast.com
We talk to Mike Jay about his fascinating new book, Free Radicals, which notionally tells the history of the discovery of nitrous oxide, but takes in a wonderful panorama of the scientific and political landscape of the late Eighteenth Century. I loved it.

When a book is turned into a film or, in this case, a comic into a television series, there are usually disagreements about which is better, ranging from polite opinions to open cultural warfare. Resident Alien seems to have bridged the gap, or survived the transformation, pretty well: now both a su...

18/06/2025

New interview at www.bookspodcast.com
Comics legend Peter Hogan talks about his Resident Alien series, which as you probably know was turned into a successful TV show with Alan Tudyk.

When a book is turned into a film or, in this case, a comic into a television series, there are usually disagreements about which is better, ranging from polite opinions to open cultural warfare. Resident Alien seems to have bridged the gap, or survived the transformation, pretty well: now both a su...

18/06/2025

29/05/2025

I know what you're thinking - Economic History. Not really my thing, Timbo. But trust me - it's a lot more lively than you think.
From Gilded Ages (we're in the second one right now) to the repeated syndrome of Too Big To Fail corporations requiring state bailouts, Capitalism really should, as Marx said, have created the seeds of its own destruction.
There have to be reasons why Capitalism rumbles on despite its tendency to immiserate whole populations and despoil the planet. This book is one way to explore them.

05/05/2025

Back to fiction for the new Books Podcast interview - A Beautiful Way To Die, by Eleni Kyriacou. Glamour and scandal and death in 1950's Hollywood. Big question - is it worse to be taken advantage of by Harvey Weinstein than by a good-looking movie star?

A Beautiful Way To Die is a romp of ambition and decadence in which everyone has an agenda and dark secrets. It weaves its magic through carefully-embedded real-life locations and oblique references to real-world Hollywood scandals, telling a lively tale of a dazzling movie star couple, a wannabe st...

27/03/2025

Just doing my research for the next subject of The Books Podcast, this riveting history of Dr Who, by John Higgs. Really looking forward to it.

20/03/2025

Fab new interview at www.bookspodcast.com
Ian Leslie has written an insightful book about the relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. You'd think there was nothing new to say, but Ian explores the 'love affair' between John and Paul through the lens of their songs. It works. One to enjoy.

31 October 2023. “Amongst today’s HR joys is the report from Emma that a departmental SpAd (Special Adviser) went to an o**y over the weekend and ended up taking a crap on another person’s head. To make matters worse, in a separate incident a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Sav...

20/03/2025

The marvelous https://BooksPodcast.com does it again! (I may be biased). We have Ian Leslie on the show - he has done a rare and unexpected thing: he's written a book that is interesting and brings new interpretations to ... the Beatles. Yes, I know: ANOTHER book about the Beatles?!? Well, this one is actually innovative and Tim and Ian have a great time talking about it.
Get a cup of tea (other beverages are available) and settle down with BooksPodcast.
(a.k.a. Listen Like and subscribe on your favourite podcast player).

31 October 2023. “Amongst today’s HR joys is the report from Emma that a departmental SpAd (Special Adviser) went to an o**y over the weekend and ended up taking a crap on another person’s head. To make matters worse, in a separate incident a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Sav...

14/03/2025

The next subject of Books Podcast. This will come as no surprise to anybody who knows me. I'm a Beatles anorak.

13/03/2025

Interviewing Simon Hart via zoom