Book Shambles

This week Robin is joined by the author, journalist and activist Joan Smith, alongside guest co-host Bec Hill. They focus on Joan's new acclaimed book Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists as well as touch on some of her previous work of both fiction and non fiction. Due to the subject nature of her most recent book please be aware this episode contains open discussion about domestic violence, sexual violence and terrorism. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

In the first Book Shambles of 2020, Robin is joined by his Science Shambles co-host Helen Czerski to chat with comedian and author Russell Kane. They chat about Russell's new book Son of a Silverback, the reactions to it from other alpha-man silverbacks and children thereof, as well as Evelyn Waugh, personalising comedy, emotional equality, Michael Rosen and much more. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. 15 bonus minutes await pledgers this week including a discussion about why Brian Cox doesn't like jokes about octopuses...

It's our annual books of the year edition of Book Shambles recorded with various guests back stage at the Compendium and Nine Lessons shows. In this year's edition Robin chats to Josie Long, Michael Legge, Pete Etchells, Claudia Hammond, Gecko, Chris Lintott, Chris Hadfield, Jo Neary, Suzi Gage, Lucie Green, Ben Moor, Tim Peake, Lucy Rogers, Peter Buckley Hill, Melinda Burton and Trent Burton. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles

It’s Christmas Eve, so that means ghost stories surely? Robin is joined, for a Book Shambles Extra, by Johnny Mains. Book Shambles listeners may best know Jonny as the co-editor of Dead Funny and Dead Funny Encore, but he’s also a horror historian and author. They chat about his lost collections of old ghost stories written by women, including the new anthology, Remember the Dead at Christmas, Johnny’s work in progress book on Freaks and the thrill of finding rare books in second hand book stores. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions and other goodies.

Our comics experts, Nathaniel Metcalfe and Tom Oldham joined Robin for an update on what'd good in comics and offer some excellent Christmas gift ideas. They chat about new work from Lala Albert, Vic Pratt, Daniel Clowes, Martin Scorese's take on Marvel movies and also try to work out why people didn't like mother! when it's clearly an excellent film. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. 15 bonus minutes await pledgers this week.

Angela Saini's Superior: The Return of Race Science has featured in a lot of Books of the Year lists of late so we thought it high time we had Angela on the show to chat about it, and her other work. She chats with Robin about what she discovered in researching for the book, books that inspired her growing up and the advantages of having an engineer for a father. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions and other goodies.

Professor Jon Butterworth is a regular at many of our live shows and he's also written two top selling popular science books about physics, his latest, A Map of the Invisible, has recently come out in paperback. So he dropped by the studio to chat about it with Josie and Robin as well as climate change, where science meets politics, reading more fiction and Josie's update on Dark Matter. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Author Scarlett Thomas joins Robin and a returning Josie this week to chat about her new book Oligarchy. They look at the inspiration provided by boarding schools, the work of Elizabeth Taylor (not that one), Muriel Spark and Angela Carter. Also Robin and Josie both have a bit of a cold. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

Author John Higgs is in the studio this week with Robin and Bec to talk about all things William Blake, which makes sense being that John has just written a new essay on him for the Tate Exhibition and as a major new book coming out next year about Blake. They also talk about AI, climate and the future, the subject of John's latest book The Future Starts Here as well as Elizabeth Taylor, Matt Haig and discover The Beatles were quite good. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. In this week's extended edition find out why Tomorrowland wasn't as bad as Bec thought it would be...

Robin is joined by author Lisa Blower this week to talk about her latest book, It's All Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's. They chat about highlighting different voices in fiction, caravan holidays, Kit De Waal and the beauty of a novella. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode. 10 bonus minutes await pledgers this week.