This hour, philosopher Agnes Callard joins us to talk about her latest book, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life.

GUEST: 

• Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago and author of Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 22, 2025.

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Randy Newman has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards (he’s won twice), for 23 Grammy Awards (seven wins), and for three Primetime Emmy Awards (and he won all three).

Bruce Springsteen has called him “our great master of American song and storytelling.” Jackson Browne says Randy Newman is “the foremost satirist of our times.” And the composer John Williams has called him “a kind of musical Will Rogers or Mark Twain.”

Critic Robert Hilburn has published what may well be the definitive biography of Newman, A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.

This hour, Hilburn joins us to talk Randy Newman.

GUEST:

• Robert Hilburn: Author of A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired January 24, 2025.

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When you think of the Vikings, you probably picture a bearded man wearing a horned hat, pillaging on a Viking ship. But that's far from the whole story.

This hour is all about the everyday lives of the Vikings with historian Eleanor Barraclough, from their homes and hair to their myths and music.

GUEST: 

• Eleanor Barraclough: Historian, writer, and broadcaster based at Bath Spa University; her new book is Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of The Viking Age 

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 7, 2025.

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This hour is all about the importance of rest, and how to rest well. Plus, we'll talk about the role of rest in religion, and look at the history of "the rest cure" in medicine.

GUESTS: 

• Alex Soojung-Kim Pang: Author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, and Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less—Here's How among other books
• Kristen Lucken: Program chair of religious studies, and lecturer in religion, sociology, and global studies at Brandeis University 
• Alicia Puglionesi: Writer, historian, lecturer at Johns Hopkins, and author of In Whose Ruins: Power, Possession, and the Landscapes of American Empire, among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 26, 2024. 

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This hour: the art of the epigraph.

We talk with writers about how they pick the quotes that open their books, what epigraphs can do well, how the business of epigraphs works, and what epigraphs mean for readers.

Plus, a look at how some movies use epigraphs.

GUESTS:

• David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
• Tajja Isen: A contributing writer for The Walrus and the author of Some of My Best Friends
• Courtney Maum: The author of five books including Before and After the Book Deal and the memoir The Year of the Horses; she also writes the Before and After the Book Deal Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired December 17, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the U.S. bombing Iran and Iran’s retaliation in Qatar, the Democratic primary in New York City, the possible decline of “you’re welcome,” a possible July 17 protest, the “great question” tic in interviews … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Brian Wilson was a singer, songwriter, record producer, and a founding member of The Beach Boys. He’s thought of as one of the great geniuses of pop music, and he’s been called the poet laureate of summer. Wilson died June 11 at 82.

On February 1, 2017, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford and put on a show, on stage in front of a live audience, on Brian Wilson’s music and legacy. We’ve never reaired that show.

This hour, to celebrate and remember Wilson and his work, a brand new edit — from the original, full-length, 75-minute live show — of our hour on Brian Wilson.

GUEST:

• Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School
• Jordan Quisno: A singer and actor
• Matt Sargent: A composer, guitarist, recording engineer, and assistant professor of music at Bard College
• Teri Schrader: Head of school at Watkinson School in Hartford, Connecticut

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired February 17, 2017, in a different form.

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Humans have always been interested in the sky, and astrology has been used as a tool for people in power for a long time.

During times of stress, interest in astrology increases.

But why are we so interested in something that is not considered a science?

This hour, a look at the history of astrology, its relationship with astronomy, and the reasons why people love it so much.

GUESTS:

• Julie Beck: Senior editor at The Atlantic, where she wrote “The New Age of Astrology”

• Darin Hayton: Associate professor of the history of science at Haverford College and the author of The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I

• Emily Levesque: Professor in the University of Washington’s Astronomy Department and the author of The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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This episode was produced by Sara Gasparatto.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 21, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.

We talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish.

This hour, a look at disgust — and, specifically, how our reflexive disgust response may get in the way of things we probably need to think about doing.

During the next century, the human race probably needs to eat more insects. And we’ll almost definitely need to convert sewage water into drinking water. A lot of people are not going to want to do that. Around the world, there are people eating things like eggs cooked in the urine of virginal boys. One of our guests made cheese from bacteria taken from human toes, noses, and armpits.

That may sicken you, but it won’t make you sick.

GUESTS:

• Christina Agapakis: Microbiologist, writer, artist, founding editor of Method Quarterly, and creative director at Ginkgo Bioworks
• Bun Lai: James Beard Award-nominated chef
• Paul Rozin: Professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Chion Wolf, and Alan Yu contributed to this show, which originally aired January 7, 2016.

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Perfectionism is on the rise among young people.

This hour, we look at the impact of perfectionism on mental health and how to deal with perfectionist tendencies.

Plus: what the self-help industry can tell us about our interest in perfection.

GUESTS:

• Thomas Curran: Assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough
• Tamar Gendler: Professor of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale University
• Kristen Meinzer: Co-host of the How to Be Fine and By the Book podcasts, among others, and author of How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 13, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.