Keen On America

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the best-selling master of suspense Dean Koontz about the limits of literary fiction, the value of human agency, the problem with AI and why dogs remain our best friends.

ABOUT DEAN KOONTZ: When he was a senior in college, Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and has been writing ever since. His books are published in 38 languages and he has sold over 500 million copies to date.

Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden.

The New York Times has called his writing “psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Koontz is, “at times lyrical without ever being naive or romantic. [He creates] a grotesque world, much like that of Flannery O’Conner or Walker Percy … scary, worthwhile reading.” Rolling Stone has hailed him as “America’s most popular suspense novelist.”

Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), and his first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. His first day on the job, he discovered that the previous occupier of his position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and Koontz was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. He wrote nights and weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: “I’ll support you for five years,” she said, “and if you can’t make it as a writer in that time, you’ll never make it.” By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of her husband’s writing career.

Dean Koontz lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this Keen On episode, Andrew talks to THE TERRAFORMERS author Annalee Newitz about the nature of things in 60,000 years - a world simultaneously all-too-familiar and unimaginably different from our own.

ANNALEE NEWITZ is an American journalist, editor, and author of fiction and nonfiction. They are the recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship from MIT, and have written for Popular Science, The New Yorker, and the Washington Post. They founded the science fiction website io9 and served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008–2015, and then became Editor-in-Chief at Gizmodo and Tech Culture Editor at Ars Technica. Their book Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize in science. Their first novel, Autonomous, won a Lambda award. Their latest book is THE TERRAFORMERS (2023)

Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, ANDREW KEEN is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this regular KEEN ON Friday episode, Andrew talks to SignalRank CEO Keith Teare about the death of unicorns, the birth of AI, the irrelevance of social media and the other developments in tech for That Was the Week in Tech. 

ABOUT KEITH TEARE: Keith is the CEO and Founder at SignalRank Corp (https://signalrank.co) - previously Accelerated Digital Ventures, Archimedes Labs, TechCrunch, RealNames, EasyNet.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to WORLD CITIZEN author Jane Olson about Eleanor Roosevelt, Nicaragua and Uganda, Greta Thunberg and why she remains optimistic about young people making the world a better place.

ABOUT JANE OLSEN: Jane Olson has worked as a volunteer for many decades to promote peace and justice through international human rights and humanitarian organizations. She chaired the International Board of Trustees of Human Rights Watch from 2004 to 2010 and served as co-chair of the Women’s Refugee Commission. As founding board chair of Landmine Survivors Network/Survivor Corps, she gave leadership to LSN for 12 years. 

Extensive travels with those and other humanitarian organizations took Jane to Nicaragua and El Salvador during the Contra Wars and to the former Soviet Union beginning with trips to Ukraine in 1989 and 1990, a time of revolution. As the former USSR fell apart and wars broke out, she participated in investigative trips to the former Yugoslavia during “ethnic cleansing” of Bosnia, and to the Caucasus countries of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Jane is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a board member of both the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and Direct Relief, based in Santa Barbara, CA. She is a board member of The Trusteeship, the Southern California chapter of the International Women’s Forum, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. 

Jane grew up in rural western Iowa and graduated from the University of Nebraska. She lives with her husband, attorney Ronald L. Olson, in Pasadena, California. They have three children and eight grandsons. Her latest book is "WORLD CITIZEN: Journeys of a Humanitarian" (2023)

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to IN THE NATION'S SERVICE author Philip Taubman about George Schultz's role in end the Cold War and his historical legacy sas an UnTrumpian centrist in the Republican Party.

ABOUT PHILIP TAUBMAN: Philip Taubman worked for The New York Times for thirty years as a reporter and editor, including stints as chief of both the Washington and Moscow bureaus. He has also worked at Esquire and Time magazines. He was twice awarded the George Polk Award—for National Reporting in 1981 and for Foreign Affairs Reporting in 1983. Since retiring from the Times in 2008, he has been a consulting professor at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. His latest book is "In the Nation's Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz".

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to BLK ART author Zaria Ware about the audacious legacy of black artists and models in both European and North American art.

ABOUT ZARIA WARE. Zaria Ware is a writer and the author of “BLK ART: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art” (2023). She lives just outside Detroit, MI. BLK ART is her first book.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to BREAKING THE TWO-PARTY DOOM LOOP author Lee Drutman about the compelling case for multiparty democracy in America.

ABOUT LEE DRUTMAN: Lee Drutman is a senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America. He is the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America (Oxford University Press, 2020) and The Business of America is Lobbying (Oxford University Press, 2015), winner of the 2016 American Political Science Association's Robert A. Dahl Award, given for "scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy." He is also the co-host of the podcast Politics in Question, a lecturer at The Johns Hopkins University Center for Advanced Governmental Studies, and writes regularly for FiveThirtyEight. He has also published numerous pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vox, NBC Think, and Foreign Policy, among many other outlets. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from Brown University.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to Gallup CEO and BLIND SPOT author Jon Clifton about the anger, stress, sadness , physical pain and worry behind the the global rise of unhappiness.

ABOUT JON CLIFTON: JON CLIFTON IS CEO OF GALLUP, the global analytics and advice firm. Mr. Clifton's mission is to help organizations create thriving workplaces; put 1 billion people in touch with their strengths; and help 8 billion citizens be heard on their most pressing issues through the Gallup World Poll, a 100-year initiative spanning over 150 countries. Clifton has been with Gallup since 2008. He previously served as Global Managing Partner of the company's worldwide consulting group -- advising global leaders on how their organizations and countries can thrive using behavioral economics and analytics-based insights. Clifton's 2022 book, Blind Spot: The Global Rise of Unhappiness and How Leaders Missed It, is a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Clifton serves on the boards of directors for Gallup and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. He has also served on the boards of Meridian International, Streetwise Partners and the International Business Advisory Board at the University of Nebraska.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE author Zachary Shore about America's struggle between vengeance and virtue during World War Two with a particular focus on the decision to drop two atomic weapons on Japan and to rebuild Germany.

ABOUT ZACHARY SHORE: Zachary Shore is a historian of international conflict. He focuses on understanding the enemy. Zach is Professor of History at the Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He earned his doctorate in modern history at Oxford, performed postdoctoral research at Harvard, and held a fellowship at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He is the author of six books, including three on enemy assessments shown below. He has also written on decision making, Blunder, and he recently published a practical guide to success in graduate school, Grad School Essentials. His latest book is THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE: America’s Struggle Between Vengeance and Virtue.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to COURTIERS author Valentine Low about how the British Royal family is no longer pale, male or stale and how it is reinventing itself for the democratized, multicultural 21st century.

ABOUT VALENTINE LOW: Valentine Low has covered the royal family — and other stories — for The Times since 2008. He has been to Russia with the Queen, the Galapagos Islands with the Prince of Wales and Bhutan with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. He is also the author of the allotment classic, One Man and His Dig.

ABOUT ANDREW KEEN: Name as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.