10-10-13 UPDATE:Podcast Update:Time to Read Episode 126: Jonathan Lethem, 'Dissident Gardens'
Click image for audio link.
[Photo Credit: John Lucas]
Here's the one-hundred and twenty-sixth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format.
If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know by painting your hair bright purple and uploading the video to YouTube.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The one-hundred and twenty-sixth episode is a look at Jonathan Lethem, 'Dissident Gardens'.
Beyond reading 'The Autistic Brain,' I knew that there was some sort of preparation I should do before I talked to author Temple Grandin. Watch the HBO movie, I was told. I could have gone to YouTube and looked her up. I decided to meet her first in person, and let the conversation play out as it would.
Temple Grandin is an imposing and intense presence, who immediately asked me if I liked the book, and why. I told her I enjoyed both the science and the scientist-who-loves –science-enough-to-experiment-on-herself aspect – and she wanted to know more. Readers can quickly see why she and I got on so well. Her inquisitive mind on the page carries over into her life, with a passion.
When we sat down to start talking everything mattered. We were in a studio that had the window to her back, which proved fortunate, since she told me once we were talking that she might otherwise have been distracted. I do believe her, but it seems unlikely. Grandin is so focused on and knowledgeable about her subject that is was not easy for me to keep up.
Interviews often take a certain pace. Some are leisurely walks, some are power walks, and sometimes you move at an easy jogging half-run. Frankly, Temple Grandin ran at a flat out sprint that required the sort of concentration those in the spectrum find natural. I'm in the spectrum, I would presume, though I would not go so far as to diagnose myself. Beyond lightly self-deluded, that is. It's deliberate! I'd argue, thus proving the point.
Readers and listeners might almost be able to hear my gears turning as fast as they can when I speak with Temple Grandin by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
