Brian Dillon's "Ambivalence: An Education"

On this episode, Vince Francone (A Book No One Wants, Jabber) and Chad W. Post discuss Brian Dillon’s forthcoming book, Ambivalence: An Education (NYRB/Fitzcarraldo) as part of their ongoing series of podcasts on Irish literature. (You can find earlier episodes in this series here.) They discuss how Dillon’s book hovers between memoir and criticism, and how that passion for literature was fostered within academia, then turn to the realities of 2026 and a few pieces by The Atlantic writer Rose Horowitch, especially “The End of Reading Is Here.”Also mentioned in this podcast: Chad’s piece on an earlier article of Horowitch’s, “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books,” and the start of Vince’s serialized book, Compendium of Eccentrics.This episode’s music is “Libraries” by Yellow Ostrich. You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.And be sure to follow our sister podcast, the Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) for sustained, multi-week discussions centered around complicated, long books. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com