03-02-14 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 151: Michio Kaku, 'The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the one-hundred fifty-first episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. Hitting the two-year mark, I'm going to make an effort to stay ahead, so that podcast listeners can get the same sort of "sneak preview" effect that radio listeners get each Friday morning. This week, I seem to be on top opf the game, but who knows what the hell might happen. I am hoping to stay back up and stumbling.
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.
"Hitler's top scientists became America's own."
—Annie Jacobsen
My interview with Annie Jacobsen about 'Operation Paperclip' proved to be something of an operation itself. Her stopover in Northern California was brief, and the schedule was pretty tight. We were supposed to talk on a holiday; but the flight was delayed.
After more back and forths on my part than an episode of Get Smart, we finally managed to meet at KQED, for great sound superb ambience and a great conversation. As ever, my goal in the conversation was to give readers a sense of how the book feels to reading without giving them the feeling that they have already read it. And while generally, I might have tried to keep the discussion a bit more abstract, I could not resist asking Jacobsen about putting together what were for me some of the key scenes that read like something out of a John LeCarré novel.
And for this I have to here thank Jacobsen for her ability to both convey the sense of the scenes and some of the specifics while also being able to circle back and offer readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of just how she managed to do what she did. What you can't help but hear is her passion for both the subject itself and the process as well.
I might note here that Jacobsen's other book is 'Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base,' and it's gone straight to the top of my TBB&R list. And I might direct readers to her Facebook page where she is giving away signed copies.
I came to this book as a member of Generation between the cracks, too young to be a "boomer" and too old to be part of any the specific waves that followed. But I was a kid who built all the Revell models of the space program as the rockets went up, and read the books by Willy Ley and Werner Von Braun. Chesley Bonestell's visions of space filled my mind. Jacobsen's book does not undermine those visions. But her passion and intensity inform them. You can hear our conversation 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
