New Books in Psychology
1,038 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★ - 44 ratingsInterviews with Psychologists about their New Books
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett, "Curious Minds: The Power of Connection" (MIT Press, 2022)
December 09, 2022 09:00 - 51 minutesCurious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-bending book, what's left out of the conventional understanding of curiosity are the wandering tracks, the weaving concepts, the knitting of ideas, and the thatching of knowledge systems--the networks, the relations between ideas and between people. Curiosity, say Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett, is a practice of connection: it connects ideas into netw...
Mary-Frances O'Connor, "The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss" (HarperOne, 2022)
December 05, 2022 09:00 - 52 minutesFor as long as humans have existed, we have struggled when a loved one dies. Poets and playwrights have written about the dark cloak of grief, the deep yearning, how devastating heartache feels. But until now, we have had little scientific perspective on this universal experience. In The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss (HarperOne, 2022), neuroscientist and psychologist Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, gives us a fascinating new window into one of the hallm...
Yochai Ataria, "Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik: The Map and the Territory" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
December 05, 2022 09:00 - 53 minutesPrimo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik: The Map and the Territory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) is about Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik, both Auschwitz survivors and central figures in the shaping of Holocaust memory, who dedicated their lives to bearing witness and writing about the concentration camps, seeking, in particular, to give voice to those who did not return. The two writers are generally treated as complete opposites: Levi level-headed and self-aware, Ka-Tzetnik caught up in repeating the traumatic pa...
Beverley Clough, "The Spaces of Mental Capacity Law: Moving Beyond Binaries" (Routledge, 2021)
December 03, 2022 09:00 - 53 minutesThis book cuts new ground, challenging the assumption of law as an objective concept. It draws out the way that binary frameworks situate and create the notion of the individual in law, delininating responsibilities and rights between concepts such as the state / individual, public / private, care / disability and capacity / incapacity. In The Spaces of Mental Capacity Law: Moving Beyond Binaries (Routledge, 2022) Dr. Beverley Clough draws into question spatial dynamics of law and disability....
Jennifer Smith, "Women, Mysticism, and Hysteria in Fin-De-Siècle Spain" (Vanderbilt UP, 2021)
December 03, 2022 09:00 - 30 minutesWomen, Mysticism, and Hysteria in Fin-De-Siècle Spain (Vanderbilt UP, 2021) argues that the reinterpretation of female mysticism as hysteria and nymphomania in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Spain was part of a larger project to suppress the growing female emancipation movement by sexualizing the female subject. This archival-historical work highlights the phenomenon in medical, social, and literary texts of the time, illustrating that despite many liberals' hostility toward the ...
Gregory Shushan, "The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife" (White Crow Books, 2022)
December 02, 2022 09:00 - 50 minutesIn The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife (White Crow Books, 2022), historian of religions Gregory Shushan explores the relationships between extraordinary experiences and beliefs in life after death. He first shows how throughout history and around the world, near-death experiences have influenced ideas about the afterlife. Shushan also takes a deep dive into the problem of similarities and differences between NDE accounts. Not only do they vary widely, but so does a cult...
Wendy Hollway et al., "Climate Psychology: A Matter of Life and Death" (Phoenix Publishing House, 2022)
November 29, 2022 09:00 - 54 minutesClimate Psychology: A Matter of Life and Death (Phoenix Publishing House, 2022) offers ways to work with the unthinkable and emotionally unendurable current predicament of humanity. The style and writing interweave passion and reflection, animation and containment, radical hope, and tragedy to reflect the dilemmas of our collective crisis. The authors model a relational approach in their styles of writing and in the book's structure. Four chapters, each with a strikingly original voice and in...
Ann-Christine Duhaime, "Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis" (Harvard UP, 2022)
November 22, 2022 09:00 - 59 minutesWhy is it so difficult to adopt a more sustainable way of life, even when convinced of the urgency of the environmental crisis? If adopting new behaviors beneficial for the environment is so challenging at the individual level, no wonder it is even harder at the community or governmental levels. Seeing individual and collective behaviors not changing, or not rapidly enough, eventually leads to the belief that nothing can be done and that human beings are just “hard-wired” that way. This is wh...
Elissa Bassist, "Hysterical: A Memoir" (Hachette, 2022)
November 22, 2022 09:00 - 29 minutesToday I talked to Elissa Bassist about her memoir Hysterical: A Memoir (Hachette, 2022) For two years author Elissa Bassist saw over twenty medical specialists for pain that none of them managed to diagnose or resolve. Some of their treatments led to other medical problems but never relief. Then an acupuncturist suggested that she simply needed to take control of her voice, and Bassist was shocked when it worked. How, as far as we think we’ve come, is it still the case that a girl born in 198...
On Sigmund Freud's "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality"
November 18, 2022 09:00 - 32 minutesSigmund Freud is probably best known as the founder of psychoanalysis. In his clinical practice, he established theories on how the human psyche develops and behaves, and his 1905 text Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality is an analysis of humans’ relationship to sex. At the time, doctors and researchers were curious how “non-normative” sexualities and genders developed. Instead of looking for biological or hereditary traits, Freud looked at the development of the human psyche, eventually ...
Samuel J. Levine, "Was Yosef on the Spectrum?: Understanding Joseph Through Torah, Midrash, and Classical Jewish Sources" (Urim Publications, 2018)
November 18, 2022 09:00 - 1 hourSamuel J. Levine's Was Yosef on the Spectrum?: Understanding Joseph Through Torah, Midrash, and Classical Jewish Sources (Urim Publications, 2018) offers a coherent and cohesive reading of the well-known Biblical story of Joseph, presenting a portrait of him as an individual on the autism spectrum. Viewed through this lens, he emerges as a more familiar and less enigmatic individual, exhibiting both strengths and weaknesses commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder. Matthew Miller is ...
Victoria Grady and Patrick McCreesh, "Stuck: How to WIN at Work by Understanding LOSS" (Productivity Press, 2022)
November 17, 2022 09:00 - 29 minutesToday I talked to Victoria Grady about her book (co-authored with Patrick McCreesh) Stuck: How to WIN at Work by Understanding LOSS (Productivity Press, 2022) The attachment styles we form by eight months of age can endure our entire lives, with an appreciable impact on how we relate to both our boss and the physical environment at work. A case in point is the famous Peanuts character Linus Van Pelt, as he lugs around his “security blanket.” Grady has made the importance of connection her mis...
Therí Alyce Pickens, "Black Madness :: Mad Blackness" (Duke UP, 2019)
November 14, 2022 09:00 - 1 hourIn Black Madness :: Mad Blackness (Duke UP, 2019), Therí Alyce Pickens rethinks the relationship between Blackness and disability, unsettling the common theorization that they are mutually constitutive. Pickens shows how Black speculative and science fiction authors such as Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, and Tananarive Due craft new worlds that reimagine the intersection of Blackness and madness. These creative writer-theorists formulate new parameters for thinking through Blackness and madn...
Mental Health In Academia 7: Bullying in Academia
November 08, 2022 09:00 - 1 hourWe are delighted to welcome you at All for One and One for All: Public Seminar Series on Mental Health in Academia and Society. All for One and One for All talks shine the light on and discuss mental health issues in academia across all levels – from students to faculty, as well as in wider society. Speakers include academics, organisations, and health professionals whose work focuses on mental health. Live Q and A sessions will be held after each talk. For live webinar schedule please visit ...
Željka Matijasević, "The Borderline Culture: Intensity, Jouissance, and Death" (Lexington, 2021)
November 07, 2022 09:00 - 40 minutesBorderline personality disorder is no longer a secret. Many people who are not therapists know what it is and see it as a fitting description for their personal experience. But what does it mean for someone to be “borderline”? Is it something one is or that one has? Perhaps most importantly, where does it come from? The prevailing view in psychological circles has long been that it stems from traumatic experiences and problematic internal psychological patterns. But is it possible that societ...
Ayan S. Mandal, "A Stethoscope for the Brain: Preventive Approaches to Protect the Mind" (New Degree Press, 2022)
November 04, 2022 08:00 - 53 minutesA taken-for-granted miracle occurs in doctors’ offices across the world every single day. With only a stethoscope and an inflatable cuff, a physician can check your blood pressure to predict your risk of future heart problems. These tools give you the chance to take proactive steps to reduce this risk if needed. Why don’t we have similar tools for the brain? A Stethoscope for the Brain: Preventive Approaches to Protect the Mind (New Degree Press, 2022) is a book about proactive strategies to ...
Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett, "Curious Minds: The Power of Connection" (MIT Press, 2022)
November 03, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourCurious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-bending book, what's left out of the conventional understanding of curiosity are the wandering tracks, the weaving concepts, the knitting of ideas, and the thatching of knowledge systems--the networks, the relations between ideas and between people. Curiosity, say Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett, is a practice of connection: it connects ideas into netw...
Gerd Gigerenzer, "How to Stay Smart in a Smart World: Why Human Intelligence Still Beats Algorithms" (MIT Press, 2022)
November 03, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourDoomsday prophets of technology predict that robots will take over the world, leaving humans behind in the dust. Tech industry boosters think replacing people with software might make the world a better place--while tech industry critics warn darkly about surveillance capitalism. Despite their differing views of the future, they all agree: machines will soon do everything better than humans. In How to Stay Smart in a Smart World: Why Human Intelligence Still Beats Algorithms (MIT Press, 2022)...
Max H. Bazerman, "Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop" (Princeton UP, 2022)
November 01, 2022 08:00 - 27 minutesIt is easy to condemn obvious wrongdoers such as Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neumann, Harvey Weinstein, and the Sackler family. But we rarely think about the many people who supported their unethical or criminal behavior. In each case there was a supporting cast of complicitors: business partners, employees, investors, news organizations, and others. And, whether we're aware of it or not, almost all of us have been complicit in the unethical behavior of others. In Complicit: How We Enable the Unet...
Elizabeth Drame et al., "The Resistance, Persistence and Resilience of Black Families Raising Children with Autism" (Peter Lang, 2020)
November 01, 2022 08:00 - 56 minutesThe Resistance, Persistence and Resilience of Black Families Raising Children with Autism (Peter Lang, 2020) presents nuanced perspectives in the form of counternarratives of what Black families who have children with autism experience at the intersection of race, class, disability and gender. It intentionally centers the expertise of Black parents, challenging what is considered knowledge, whose knowledge counts, and how knowledge can be co-generated for learning, sharing and advocacy. The b...
Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, "Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adults Are Missing)" (MIT Press, 2022)
October 31, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourWhat are teens actually doing on their smartphones? Contrary to many adults' assumptions, they are not simply "addicted" to their screens, oblivious to the afterlife of what they post, or missing out on personal connection. They are just trying to navigate a networked world. In Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adults Are Missing) (MIT Press, 2022), Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, Harvard researchers who are experts on teens and technology, explore the complexities that teens...
Nirmalangshu Mukherji, "The Human Mind Through the Lens of Language: Generative Explorations" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
October 27, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourSome time, millenia ago, people began using sounds: to coordinate, to solve problems, to think. Explaining this leap—from non-linguistic beings to language-users—Nirmalangshu Mukherji argues that we shouldn’t focus only on language. In The Human Mind through the Lens of Language: Generative Explorations (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), Mukherji draws on resources like René Descartes’ conception of mind, proposing that the human mind is fundamentally different than animal cognitive systems. He gro...
Elizabeth F. Schwartz, "Before I Do: A Legal Guide to Marriage, Gay and Otherwise" (New Press, 2016)
October 27, 2022 08:00 - 44 minutesNot long ago, same-sex couples had to jump through endless hoops to make their relationships even close to legal. Happily, those days are over. But here's the rub: many gay and lesbian couples, accustomed to living off-grid, are so thrilled to have the benefits of marriage that they jump into it without fully considering the consequences. In Before I Do: A Legal Guide to Marriage, Gay and Otherwise (New Press, 2016), leading gay rights attorney Elizabeth F. Schwartz spells out the range of pr...
Lisa Feldman Barrett, "Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain" (Mariner Books, 2020)
October 19, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourHave you ever wondered why you have a brain? Let renowned neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett demystify that big gray blob between your ears. In Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain (Mariner Books, 2020), Feldman reveals mind-expanding lessons from the front lines of neuroscience research. You’ll learn where brains came from, how they’re structured (and why it matters), and how yours works in tandem with other brains to create everything you experience. Along the way, you’ll also learn to...
Michael Alcée, "Therapeutic Improvisation: How to Stop Winging It and Own It as a Therapist" (Norton, 2022)
October 19, 2022 08:00 - 49 minutesAs a new or seasoned therapist, it's so hard to make transformational moments out of all that's being thrown at you in sessions. You're just winging it, but deep down you know there's a way to make your sessions more dynamic and intentionally responsive. Therapeutic Improvisation: How to Stop Winging It and Own It as a Therapist (Norton, 2022) shows how to develop a keen ear and sharp eye for the many changes coming your way. Examples from music, movies, and literature will illustrate how the...
Anita Wohlmann, "Metaphor in Illness Writing: Fight and Battle Reused" (Edinburgh UP, 2022)
October 18, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourMetaphor in Illness Writing: Fight and Battle Reused (Edinburgh UP, 2022) argues that even when a metaphor appears problematic and limiting, it need not be dropped or dismissed. Metaphors are not inherently harmful or beneficial; instead, they can be used in unexpected and creative ways. This book analyses the illness writing of contemporary North American writers who reimagine and reappropriate the supposedly harmful metaphor 'illness is a fight' and shows how Susan Sontag, Audre Lorde, Anat...
Robin McCoy Brooks, "Psychoanalysis, Catastrophe, and Social Action" (Routledge, 2021)
October 17, 2022 08:00 - 59 minutesRobin McCoy Brooks' book Psychoanalysis, Catastrophe, and Social Action (Routledge, 2021) uses psychoanalytic theory to explore how political subjectivity comes about within the context of global catastrophe, via the emergence of collective individuations through trans-subjectivity. Serving as a jumping-off point to address the structural linkage between collective catastrophe, subject, group, and political transformation, trans-subjectivity is the central tenet of the book, conceptualized as...
Jamieson Webster, "Disorganisation & Sex" (Divided Publishing, 2022)
October 14, 2022 08:00 - 44 minutesDo we always know our own desire? How does it elude us? In her new book, Disorganisation & Sex (Divided Publishing, 2022), Jamieson Webster makes us think about the ways in which our deepest, truest desires can be unknown to us and offers thoughts about how we might get closer to knowing them. In our interview, we discuss her ideas on unconscious desire as well as the painful complexities of dealing with sexual abuse and the role of the body as an avenue towards greater self-knowledge. Eugen...
Nadine Weidman, "Killer Instinct: The Popular Science of Human Nature in Twentieth-Century America" (Harvard UP, 2021)
October 11, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourA historian of science examines key public debates about the fundamental nature of humans to ask why a polarized discourse about nature versus nurture became so entrenched in the popular sciences of animal and human behavior. Are humans innately aggressive or innately cooperative? In the 1960s, bestselling books enthralled American readers with the startling claim that humans possessed an instinct for violence inherited from primate ancestors. Critics responded that humans were inherently lo...
Gabriel Levy, "Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion" (MIT Press, 2022)
October 10, 2022 08:00 - 55 minutesIn Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion (MIT Press, 2022), Gabriel Levy argues that collective religious narratives and beliefs are part of nature; they are the basis for the formation of the narratives and beliefs of individuals. Religion grows out of the universe, but to make sense of it, we have to recognize the paradox that the universe is both mental and material (or neither). Levy contends that we need both humanities and natural science approaches to study religion a...
Neil Levy, "Bad Beliefs: Why They Happen to Good People" (Oxford UP, 2021)
October 10, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourMisinformation, disinformation, fake news, alternative facts: we are awash in a vast sea of epistemically questionable, not to mention false, testimony. How can we discern what is epistemically good to believe from what is not? Why are so many of us vulnerable to believing in ways that are unresponsive to widely available evidence – in other words, to holding bad beliefs? In Bad Beliefs: Why They Happen to Good People (Oxford UP, 2021), Neil Levy argues that we are in fact acting rationally,...
Henry Markman, "Creative Engagement in Psychoanalytic Practice" (Routledge, 2021)
October 07, 2022 08:00 - 56 minutesCreative Engagement in Psychoanalytic Practice (Routledge, 2021) fills the gaps in current clinical training and theory by highlighting the importance of the analyst's unique voice, creativity, and embodied awareness in authentically being with and relating to patients. In this original and personal account, Henry Markman provides an integrated approach toward analytic work that focuses on engaged embodied dialogue between analyst and patient, where emotional states are shared in an open circ...
Adam Adatto Sandel, "Happiness in Action: A Philosopher's Guide to the Good Life" (Harvard UP, 2022)
October 06, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourA young philosopher and Guinness World Record holder in pull-ups argues that the key to happiness is not goal-driven striving but forging a life that integrates self-possession, friendship, and engagement with nature. What is the meaning of the good life? In Happiness in Action: A Philosopher's Guide to the Good Life (Harvard UP, 2022), Adam Adatto Sandel draws on ancient and modern thinkers and on two seemingly disparate pursuits of his own, philosophy and fitness, to offer a surprising answ...
David Livermore, "Digital, Diverse & Divided: How to Talk to Racists, Compete with Robots, and Overcome Polarization" (Berrett-Koehler, 2022)
October 06, 2022 08:00 - 30 minutesToday I talked to David Livermore about his book Digital, Diverse & Divided: How to Talk to Racists, Compete with Robots, and Overcome Polarization (Berrett-Koehler, 2022). While the author argues that cultural intelligence (CQ) begins where EQ leaves off, in truth key attributes of EQ like understanding another person’s motivations and figuring out how to address them matter in both cases. Nowadays the challenge of connecting well only becomes harder, of course, given how social media means ...
Suicide Prevention: Grassroots Intervention for High-Risk Groups
October 04, 2022 08:00 - 39 minutesSuicide has been on the rise in recent years, most frighteningly among young people. Suicide is second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 25-34. Gay, lesbian, and transgender youth are at particular risk. Every year in the U.S., more people die by suicide than in car accidents, and more suicide deaths occur than homicide and AIDS deaths combined. In this episode Renee Garfinkel and Hannah Rothstein discuss the myths and facts about suicide, its warning signs, and how friends and...
The Psychedelic World of Hollywood Hospital
October 03, 2022 08:00 - 34 minutesIn this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Erika Dyck on the book she co-authored with Jesse Donaldson on an unusual chapter in Canada’s medical history. Entitled The Acid Room: The Psychedelic Trials and Tribulations of Hollywood Hospital, this book was published by Vancouver’s Anvil Press in 2021. This is a history of a private hospital in greater Vancouver which specialized in treatments for alcoholism, trauma and other conditions using LSD, mescalin and other psychotropic substan...
Merrick Daniel Pilling, "Queer and Trans Madness: Struggles for Social Justice" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
September 29, 2022 08:00 - 40 minutesIn Queer and Trans Madness: Struggles for Social Justice (Palgrave Macmillan), Merrick D. Pilling urges those invested in social justice for 2SLGBTQ people to interrogate the biomedical model of mental illness beyond the diagnoses that specifically target gender and sexual dissidence. In this first comprehensive application of Mad Studies to queer and trans experiences of mental distress, Pilling advances a broad critique of the biomedical model of mental illness as it pertains to 2SLGBTQ peo...
Digital Lethargy
September 27, 2022 08:00 - 15 minutesIn this episode of High Theory, Tung-Hui Hu talks with Júlia Irion Martins about Digital Lethargy, as part of our High Theory in STEM series. As a modern ailment, digital lethargy is a societal pathology, like earlier forms of acedia, otium, and neurasthenia, but also a disease of performing selfhood within the disposable identities of contemporary, digital service work. In this episode, Tung-Hui Hu makes the argument that digital lethargy helps us turn away from the demand to constantly “be ...
The Future of Brainwashing: A Discussion with Daniel Pick
September 27, 2022 08:00 - 45 minutesIn this podcast Owen Bennett-Jones and psychoanalyst Daniel Pick discuss brainwashing, thought control and group think. In the case of totalitarian political systems, do dissidents prove that brainwashing cannot be guaranteed to work? Or do the techniques used by advertisers and political leaders in fact mean people are being manipulated and can do nothing about it? Pick is the author of Brainwashed: A New History of Thought Control (Wellcome Collection, 2020). Owen Bennett-Jones is a freela...
J. Weinberger and V. Stoycheva, "The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications" (Guilford Press, 2019)
September 22, 2022 20:36 - 47 minutesThe concept of the unconscious has a complicated place in the history of psychology. Many areas of study ignored or outright denied it for a long time, while psychoanalysis claimed it as one of its central tenets. More recently, many non-psychoanalytic researchers have addressed the unconscious, but under different names—automaticity, implicit memory and learning, and heuristics, among others. The result is a lack of consensus in psychology on what the unconscious is and how it bears on psych...
Tamara McClintock Greenberg, "The Complex PTSD Coping Skills Workbook" (New Harbinger, 2022)
September 20, 2022 08:00 - 42 minutesIf you've experienced long-term or repeated trauma--such as childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, betrayal, or prolonged emotional abuse--you may struggle with intense feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety, shame, and distrust toward others. You should know that you aren't alone, your pain is real, and there are ways to improve your mental health and begin to heal. This compassionate and evidence-based workbook can help you get started. Tamara McClintock Greenberg's The Complex PTSD Co...
Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi, "Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine" (Routledge, 2021)
September 19, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourOn this episode, J.J. Mull interviews co-authors Lara and Stephen Sheehi about their book, Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2021). As they discuss in the interview, the book represents years of research, engagement, and relationship-building with and alongside psychoanalytically oriented Palestinian clinicians working throughout historic Palestine. These relationships and solidarities form the base from which the authors start to think about the ...
Rick Strassman, "The Psychedelic Handbook: A Practical Guide to Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, and DMT/Ayahuasca" (Ulysses Press, 2022)
September 16, 2022 08:00 - 56 minutesEntering the world of psychedelic drugs can be challenging, and many aren't sure where to start. As research continues to expand and legalization looms on the horizon for psychedelics like psilocybin, you may need a guide to navigate what psychedelics are, how they work, and their potential benefits and risks. The Psychedelic Handbook: A Practical Guide to Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, and DMT/Ayahuasca (Ulysses Press, 2022) is a complete manual that is accessible to anyone with an interes...
Eldritch Priest, "Earworm and Event: Music, Daydreams, and Other Imaginary Refrains" (Duke UP, 2022)
September 15, 2022 08:00 - 1 hourIn Earworm and Event: Music, Daydreams, and Other Imaginary Refrains (Duke UP, 2022) Eldritch Priest questions the nature of the imagination in contemporary culture through the phenomenon of the earworm: those reveries that hijack our attention, the shivers that run down our spines, and the songs that stick in our heads. Through a series of meditations on music, animal mentality, abstraction, and metaphor, Priest uses the earworm and the states of daydreaming, mind-wandering, and delusion it ...
On Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning"
September 14, 2022 08:00 - 26 minutesVictor Frankl was a leader in 20th century psychiatry. In 1942, Frankl was sent to a concentration camp in the Czech Republic. Frankl was already influential in the field of psychiatry by the time World War II started, but his experiences in the camps would come to define his work. When the war ended, he returned back to Vienna, where he wrote his best-selling book, Man’s Search for Meaning, a reflection on his time in the concentration camps. Arthur Kleinman is an anthropologist and a psychi...
Amber M. Trotter, "Psychoanalysis as a Subversive Phenomenon: Social Change, Virtue Ethics, and Analytic Theory" (Lexington Books, 2020)
September 14, 2022 08:00 - 1 hour“Perhaps psychoanalysis survives because it obstinately carries a torch of wild freedom and reverence for the unknowable in a world of rational epistemology and increasingly rigid sociopolitical control. Psychoanalysis does not scream its sociopolitical agenda, waving signs and shouting slogans, but may be a fundamentally political project nonetheless, and one of a subversive nature.” In her book Psychoanalysis as a Subversive Phenomenon: Social Change, Virtue Ethics, and Analytic Theory (Lex...
Survival of the Leftest: Should We Embrace Behavioural Genetics?
September 07, 2022 08:00 - 51 minutesCan genetics play a role in crafting left social policy? Or should we not touch those ideas ever again–even with a 10 foot pole? Paige Harden’s book, “The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality” makes a forceful case for an egalitarian politics informed by DNA. However, geneticist Joseph Graves critiqued the book, arguing that we do not need sophisticated genetic knowledge to make a more socially just world. On this episode managing producer Marc Apollonio guest hosts, talking t...
On Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents"
September 06, 2022 08:00 - 21 minutesIn 1930, Sigmund Freud wrote Civilization and its Discontents and laid out his theory of civilization: civilization’s a problem, and it makes us unhappy. Freud felt humans were aggressive creatures by nature, that we delight in exercising our aggression and hurting one another. He claimed that civilization, with its laws and mores, prevents us from gratifying that aggressiveness. Elizabeth Lunbeck is a professor in the History of Science Department and Director of Graduate Studies at Harvard ...
Jillian Peterson and James Densley, "The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic" (Harry N. Abrams, 2021)
August 31, 2022 08:00 - 32 minutesUsing data from the writers' groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic (Harry N. Abrams, 2021) charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence. Frustrated by reactionary policy conversations that never seemed to convert into meaningful action, special investigator and psychologist Jill Peterson and sociologist James Densley...
Carl Waitz and Theresa Clement Tisdale, "Lacanian Psychoanalysis and Eastern Orthodox Christian Anthropology in Dialogue" (Routledge, 2022)
August 29, 2022 08:00 - 59 minutesCarl Waitz and Theresa Clement Tisdale offer to us a complex and scholarly text in their new book: Lacanian Psychoanalysis and Eastern Orthodox Christian Anthropology in Dialogue (Routledge, 2021). Psychoanalyst Marilyn Charles says of this text, in today’s world, we need faith, but one that is grounded in the essential mysteries that mark the human journey. In this volume, Waitz and Tisdale make a plea for the place of the inexplicable in both psychoanalysis and religion, inviting a reading ...