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Peculiar Book Club Podcast
by Peculiar Book Club Podcast
Weird Science, Bizarre History, & Strange Medicine: we host authors of PECULIAR nonfiction! Want to know why animals evolved to suck blood? Or the secrets of sword-swallowers? Curious about Vagina Obscura? Or the astrophysics of a dying universe? We've 3 shows to tempt you: the PBC podcast (from Mary Roach to Ed Yong), Peculiar at the Movies with Davey Berris (where factoids meet celluloid); and Peculiar in Mystery (thrillers + true crime!) Join host Brandy Schillace, as seen on THE UNBELIEVABLE with Dan Aykroyd, for oddities, oddballs, and the unexpected! If you're weird, you're family!
Episodes
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We're doing mental exercises with Angus Fletcher and Primal Intelligence
How are some people so much smarter than the rest of us? Where do visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Wayne Gretzky, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their...
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Take two Tylenol before listening to Tom Zeller and The Headache
Did you know that chronic head pain, from blinding migraines to severe headache disorders known as “clusters,” affects 40% of the population? And that science, largely, shrugs over the cause? Many suffer in silence, afraid of being chided as “merely” having a headache, when in fact this is a...
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We're taking the cannolis with The Godfather (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Custodians of Wonder, we are reviewing the legendary mafia film The Godfather. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep...
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We're going to get so high with Sam Kelly and Human History on Drugs
Every so often, I find myself reading history and thinking ‘were they on DRUGS?’ Well, the probably answer is: Yes! Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner; Steve Jobs believed taking LSD helped him create the Apple computer, and Sigmund Freud loved cocaine so...
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You might not recognize us with Sadie Dingfelder and Do I Know You?
Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she’s a little quirky. But while she’s made some strange mistakes over the years, it’s not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (whom she thinks is her husband) that she realizes something is amiss.With a mixture of curiosity and...
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We're getting quite animated with Princess Mononoke (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Nightfaring, we are reviewing the Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep…
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We'll let you in on the secret with Eliot Stein and Custodians of Wonder
Did you know there’s a man saving the secret ingredient in Japan's 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe? Or that the world’s rarest pasta is made in Italy, and only a few women alive still know the recipe? Or that in India, a family makes a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest...
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We'll break our silence on The Artist (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Nightfaring, we are reviewing the Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive...
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We'll journey into the dark with Megan Eaves and Nightfaring
People, plants and animals all depend on the natural night – both its darkness and its starlight – for everything from regulating our sleep cycles to providing the inspiration for myths and legends. But darkness is disappearing, and with it, our view of the stars. The constant glow of…
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We're pushing the limits with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and The Edge of Space-Time
In her highly acclaimed debut, distinguished cosmologist and particle physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein shared with her audience an abiding sense of wonder at the cosmos, while imagining a world without the entrenched injustice that plagues her field. Now, in The Edge of Space-Time, she...
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There will be plenty of finger pointing with Damon Young and Immortal Gestures
There is an old Buddhist adage: the teachings are like a finger pointing to the moon. To achieve enlightenment, you are not supposed to look at the finger. You are supposed to look to the celestial light. I am asking you to look at the finger. The finger is also the moon.These words, from Damon...
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Your curiosity will be peaked with Carly Anne York and The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog
Why would anyone research how elephants pee? Or study worms who tie themselves into a communal knot? Or quantify the squishability of a cockroach? It all sounds pointless, silly, or even disgusting. But NOT TO US! This is going to be a Peculiar fan favorite, I am certain. In The Salmon Cannon and...
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We've got the key to A Perfect Murder (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Story of a Murder, we are reviewing the crime thriller film A Perfect Murder. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep...
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You'll love the Kool-Aid with Jane Borden and Cults Like Us
Since the Mayflower sidled up to Plymouth Rock, cult ideology has been ingrained in the DNA of the United States. It turns out that Puritan doomsday belief never went away; it just went secular and became American culture. From our fascination with cowboys and superheroes to our allegiance to...
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Let's Party with Daniel Stables and Fiesta
A journey through human festivity, told through colorful travel narratives set at some of the world's most eye-catching festivals and interweaved with insights from the fields of anthropology, history, psychology, and folklore, examining why we celebrate festivals in the ways we do. Fiesta…
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We're staying alive with Ashely Alker and 99 Ways to Die
Dr. Ashely Alker is a self-described death-escapologist--or, in more familiar terms, an emergency medicine doctor. She has seen it all, from flesh-eating bacteria to the work of a serial killer to the more mundane but no less deadly, and her work keeping people from dying (or being unable to) has...
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We've been infected by The Faculty (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Rise of the Zombie Bugs, we are reviewing the high school horror film The Faculty. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a...
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It's a sinister tale with Hallie Rubenhold and Story of a Murder
On February 1, 1910, the vivacious, diamond-adorned music hall performer Belle Elmore suddenly vanished from her home, causing alarm among her friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild. Their demands for an investigation would lead to the unearthing of a gruesome secret and…
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We're puckering up for Eileen G'Sell and Lipstick
Lipstick today is as messy—and fascinating—as changing attitudes towards femininity. Mining the experience of women across culture, class, and generation, this book tosses out expired ideas about beauty and power like so many tubes of melted wax. From Max Factor to Glossier, from Marilyn to...
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You better hold your breath with Matthew Gavin Frank and Submersed
Have you ever wanted to build your own submarine? I admit, I was a little shocked to find out how many men and women—but mostly men—who feel almost obsessively compelled to sink into the deep sea. Despite the 2023 fatal implosion of Stockton Rush's much more highly funded submarine, Titan, these...
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We're getting extra Peculiar with Jessica McCann and Peculiar Savage Beauty
Jessica McCann is an award-winning historical novelist and has worked as a professional writer and journalist for more than 35 years. One of her earliest assignments as a freelance writer was covering a new surgical radiation technique for destroying brain tumors, during which she donned scrubs…
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We're bugging out to talk to Mindy Weisberger and Rise of the Zombie Bugs
You’ve seen the movies. But did you know that zombies are in fact all around us? Insect zombies, that is. In Rise of the Zombie Bugs, Mindy Weisberger explores the eerie yet fascinating phenomenon of real-life zombification. The truth is stranger than fiction: these parasites reproduce by…
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It's an Unchained conversation with Ghost (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book When We Spoke to the Dead, we are reviewing the romance film Ghost. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into...
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We're Inviting you to listen to Sarah Weinman and Without Consent
From Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, comes an eye-opening story about the first major spousal rape trial in America and urgent questions about women’s rights that would reverberate for decades. In December 1978, Greta Rideout bravely testified that her husband, John, whom...
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We'll Bring the Christmas Ghosts with the Lady Aye and WHEN WE SPOKE TO THE DEAD
Ghosts spoke. Women listened. Everything changed.It began with whispers in a dimly lit room. In the 1840s, the Fox Sisters―and the legions of mediums they inspired―ignited the Spiritualist movement that swept through Victorian parlors and presidential campaigns alike. Contacting the dead wasn't...
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We're having a smart conversation with Anika Burgess and Flashes of Brilliance
The story of the wildest experiments in early photography and the wild people who undertook them.Today it’s routine to take photos from an airplane window, use a camera underwater, watch a movie, or view an X-ray. But the photographic innovations more than a century ago that made such things...
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The conversation is simmering with Julie and Julia (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Holy Food, we are reviewing the cooking comedy Julie and Julia. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this...
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We're Cooking up Something GOOD with Christina Ward (just in time for the holidays)
Featured : CHRISTINA WARD, Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat — An American HistoryDoes God have a recipe? I know who to ask! Independent food historian Christina Ward’s highly anticipated Holy Food explores the influence of mainstream (and fringe)...
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We're feeling free to express ourselves with Andy Kirshner and SEX RADICAL
New laws limit access to abortion and threaten doctors with prison. Religious zealots and opportunistic politicians team up to ban books about sex and to “protect” children from their “corrupting” influence. Sound familiar? Welcome to America in the late 19th-century under the Comstock Act, a...
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We're howling about a An American Werewolf in London...Happy Halloween!!! (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of having some Halloween fun, we are reviewing the horror comedy An American Werewolf in London. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a...
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We are fighting back with A Vigilante (Peculiar Movie Club)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book The League of Lady Poisoners, we are reviewing the revenge drama A Vigilante. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep...
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Solve a New Mystery with Brandy Schillace and THE DEAD COME TO STAY
Featured : BRANDY SCHILLACE, The Dead Come to StayBrandy’s back with a sequel! Jo Jones can't catch a break. She'd hoped that trading her city life for the cozy, peaceful hills of North Yorkshire to inherit a crumbling family estate would finally be her chance for a "fresh start" and a new…
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We're bringing the big guns with Nicholas Wright and Warhead
From Dr Nicholas Wright, leading neuroscientist and adviser to the Pentagon, discover the new science behind warfare.Why did France lose to the Nazis, despite its defenders having more tanks, troops, and guns? How did we bring peace to Germany after World War Two? How do you know if you can trust...
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If you bring the cookies we'll bring the Milk (Peculiar Movie Club, Plus a short review of Wag the Dog)
Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of Brandy's book The Intermediaries, we are reviewing the biopic Milk. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this…
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Don't Get Irritated! Theresa MacPhail Reveals that Allergies are Nothing to Sneeze at
Featured : THERESA MACPHAIL, Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing WorldAllergies are a PROBLEM. Hay fever. Peanut allergies. Eczema. Most of us have an allergy to something, but what causes them and why do they seem to be getting worse? And why do some allergies kill? Meet medical...
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It's the time of the season for Al Ridenour and A Season of Madness
Al Ridenour, creator and host of the popular podcast Bone and Sickle and author of The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas extends his study of Winter folk celebrations to the Spring, exploring the Old-World Carnival in A Season of Madness.Sumptuously illustrated with over one hundred historical...
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MARY ROACH is Un-Replaceable!
Boy, do I have news for you! On September 11, Mary Roach has agreed to join us to talk about her brand new release: Replaceable You! It’s a fabulous book absolutely enthralling – I am presently reviewing it for the Wall Street Journal! I can’t wait for you to see the fascinating things she has...
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We're acquiring knew knowledge with Angus Fletcher and Primal Intelligence
Tap into your hidden intelligence and transform your lifeHow are some people so much smarter than the rest of us? Where do visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Wayne Gretzky,...
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Put on your Sunday best for John Fugelsang and Separation of Church and Hate
For more than two centuries the United States constitution has given Americans the right to live in a society where church and state exist independently and without conflict. So why is Christianity suddenly being co-opted by far-right groups, politicians, friends, and family members to justify...
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You're in the big LEAGUE with Lisa Perrin's LADY POISONERS
Featured : LISA PERRIN, The League of Lady Poisoners: Illustrated True Stories of Dangerous WomenDescribed as a feast for the senses, this sumptuously illustrated book will introduce you to some of the most infamous women throughout world history, united by their shared taste for poison. Welcome…
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You'll wonder what we're on when we talk to Sam Kelly and Human History on Drugs
A lively, hilarious, and entirely truthful look at the druggie side of history’s most famous figures, including Shakespeare, George Washington, the Beatles, and more Did you know that Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner? Or how about the fact that Steve…
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What Have We Got in our POCKETSES? Find out with Hannah Carlson!
Featured : HANNAH CARLSON, Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close Okay, million dollar question: Who gets pockets, and why? It is definitely peculiar and frankly, I have a lot of questions. Why do men’s clothes have so many pockets and women’s so few? And why are the pockets on...
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We're using our outer voice to tell you about Elizabeth Greenwood and Everyday Intuition
A captivating and insightful deep dive into the world of human intuition, exploring the power of this elusive phenomenon and how it can be harnessed to better know and trust ourselves.We rely on our intuition, even though we don’t fully understand what it is, how it works, or if we can even trust...
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It's the perfect Match with Aisha Saed and The Matchmaker (Peculiar Mystery Club)
A society matchmaker realizes she’s in danger when her clients' weddings are sabotaged in increasingly disturbing ways—an utterly original mystery from New York Times bestselling author Aisha Saeed.Nura Khan is a third-generation matchmaker in Atlanta and business has never been better. Her...
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We'll bring you some relief with Tom Zeller and The Headache
"Required reading for anyone with a head."—Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff and Fuzz"Absorbing, incisive. . . Zeller captures the profound human and scientific costs of medicine's neglect of these common conditions that affect millions of people—especially women—and points…
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We promise we've scripted nothing with Matthew Goldman and The Murder Show
The Murder Show is a pulse-racing novel about secrets, old friends, and how the past never leaves us by New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award winning author Matt Goldman!Showrunner Ethan Harris had a hit with The Murder Show, a television crime drama that features a private detective who…
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We have a sense you'll like this conversation with Sam Kean and Dinner with King Tut
From “one of America’s smartest and most charming writers” (NPR), an archaeological romp through the entire history of humankind—and through all five senses—from tropical Polynesian islands to forbidding arctic ice floes, and everywhere in between.Whether it’s the mighty pyramids of Egypt or the...
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We're Fighting Disinformation with Annalee Newitz and STORIES ARE WEAPONS
Featured : ANNALEE NEWITZ, Stories are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American MindJoining us for a second time, Annalee Newitz, best-selling author of Four Lost Cities, returns with a critical look at NOW—and the way Stories have become WEAPONS. How have disinformation, propaganda, and...
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You'll really dig our conversation with Elle Cosimano and Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave
From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave—the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.Finlay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet . . . but at least there's not a body in her backyard....
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Fight for Science and Transgender Rights with Brandy Schillace!
Featured : BRANDY SCHILLACE, The Intermediaries: A Weimar StoryIt’s me! Bringing you the fascinating history of a daring team of sexologists who built the first trans clinic in the shadow of the Third Reich. Set in interwar Germany, The Intermediaries tells the forgotten story of The Institute…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Weird Science, Bizarre History, & Strange Medicine: we host authors of PECULIAR nonfiction! Want to know why animals evolved to suck blood? Or the secrets of sword-swallowers? Curious about Vagina Obscura? Or the astrophysics of a dying universe? We've 3 shows to tempt you: the PBC podcast (from Mary Roach to Ed Yong), Peculiar at the Movies with Davey Berris (where factoids meet celluloid); and Peculiar in Mystery (thrillers + true crime!) Join host Brandy Schillace, as seen on THE UNBELIEVABLE with Dan Aykroyd, for oddities, oddballs, and the unexpected! If you're weird, you're family!
HOSTED BY
Peculiar Book Club Podcast
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Peculiar Book Club Podcast have?
Peculiar Book Club Podcast currently has 186 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Peculiar Book Club Podcast about?
Weird Science, Bizarre History, & Strange Medicine: we host authors of PECULIAR nonfiction! Want to know why animals evolved to suck blood? Or the secrets of sword-swallowers? Curious about Vagina Obscura? Or the astrophysics of a dying universe? We've 3 shows to tempt you: the PBC podcast (from...
How often does Peculiar Book Club Podcast release new episodes?
Peculiar Book Club Podcast publishes regularly with 186 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Peculiar Book Club Podcast?
You can listen to Peculiar Book Club Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Peculiar Book Club Podcast?
Peculiar Book Club Podcast is created and hosted by Peculiar Book Club Podcast.
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