Are you feeling flummoxed, bamboozled, and stupefied by communication and language online? And how exactly did LOLcats irreversibly change the course of the English language? Gretchen McCulloch is a Canadian linguist who studies the language of the internet, for the people of the internet. She is currently the Resident Linguist at WIRED.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51828723-because-internet

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: "Sneaky Snitch" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Eternity Martis is an award-winning Toronto-based journalist and editor whose work has been featured in The Huffington Post, VICE, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Flare, Salon, CBC, Hazlitt, The Walrus, Refinery29, The Fader, Complex and many more. This is a fantastic listen if you’re interested in learning more about racialized experiences in a Canadian University and how racism complicates the existing challenges faced by most students, especially women.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52701581-they-said-this-would-be-fun

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

Laura Spinney is a British science journalist, novelist, and non-fiction writer, and she’s been reporting on the Coronavirus pandemic for the last few months in the Guardian, but this audiobook was published in 2017, which makes her writing seem all the more prescient. Pale Rider covers relevant and fascinating content that includes Alaska, Brazil, India, Persia, Spain, South Africa and the port city of Odessa in Ukraine.

“Both a saga of tragedies and a detective story...Pale Rider is not just an excavation but a reimagining of the past." – The Guardian

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341712

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

When was the last time you listened to an audiobook that shattered all of your expectations – from the format and narrative performance, to the genre-defying content? Split Tooth is part memoir, part manifesto, and it’s infused with myth, poetry, and song. Tanya Tagaq is a multi-talented Inuk artist, author, and an internationally acclaimed Juno and Polaris prize-winning throat singer, and she segments her reading of Split Tooth with throat singing.

Scotiabank Giller Prize Nominee (2018)

Indigenous Voices Award for Published Prose in English (2019)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40044460-split-tooth

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

Do you believe that racism isn’t a problem in Canada, or that it’s a relatively benign issue compared to racism in the United States, or other countries? If so, Desmond Cole may change your mind. Cole’s stories about his personal experience of anti-Black racism made me uncomfortable at times, but that's a good thing. I felt compelled to reflect much more critically on my previous assumptions about where I live, Toronto, and its supposed multi-cultural, post-racial ideals. I highly recommend you buy Cole’s book or audiobook, and support Cole’s ongoing activism, and his influence on the public conversation about racism in Canada.

Report: An Online Environmental Scan of Right-wing Extremism in Canada: https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/canada-online/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50640342-the-skin-we-re-in

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

“For Kendi, the founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, there are no non-racists; there are only racists — people who allow racist ideas to proliferate without opposition — and antiracists, those who expose and eradicate such ideas wherever they encounter them… What emerges from these insights is the most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind, a confessional of self-examination that may, in fact, be our best chance to free ourselves from our national nightmare.” –  Jeffrey C. Stewart, The New York Times

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45435835-how-to-be-an-antiracist

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

Dr. Robin DiAngelo is an antiracist educator and University of Washington professor. She defines white fragility as the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially. White fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviours including argumentation and silence. These behaviours, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. The key insight DiAngelo illustrates magnificently throughout this book is that racism is a systemic problem, rather than individual acts of cruelty. Audiobook narrated by Amy Landon.

Watch DiAngelo’s powerful, illuminating and engaging presentation about her book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ey4jgoxeU

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40894695-white-fragility

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

This might be the most fascinating memoir ever published by someone under 40; you can’t beat the combination of storytelling, historic context, and current relevance.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51801760-permanent-record

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Flashing Runner by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

If you’re a fan of audiobooks like I am, you’ve likely found yourself drawn to readers with a talent for capturing and keeping your attention! The very best readers have a talent for drawing you in and keeping you up well past your bedtime. The truly great ones are SO good, that you’ll listen to books you might never have read. This extended episode highlights a few of my favourites.

Audiobook samples include:

· The Bluest Eye: written and read by Toni Morrison

· Mythos: written and read by Stephen Fry

· How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, written by Jenny Odell and read by Rebecca Gibel

· Frank Muller: A Montage (available from Audible)

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

Every now and then, I come across an audiobook that’s so entertaining and so deliciously enjoyable, that I limit myself to listening to just an hour or less each day – allowing me to savour it longer. Mythos is that kind of audiobook. Fry’s drollery and British brand of humour endlessly amuse me. The narration and witty commentary sprinkled throughout this audiobook will not disappoint fans, so even if you’re not particularly interested in mythology, you’ll probably still enjoy this listen!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36368065-mythos

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).