Thecuriousmanspodcast

Matt Crawford speaks with author Andres Schabelman about his book, Captains Wanted: A Novel.

Inspired by personal anecdotes with indigenous ceremonial and Western therapeutic modalities that author Andres Schabelman sought after working at some of Silicon Valley's largest tech companies, this captivating story combines elements of magical realism and literary fiction to offer an experimental take on success and self-growth.

Captains Wanted! tells the story of what happens when people are willing to follow a new path, especially one they don't logically understand. Through a collection of ceremonial anecdotes that touch upon each of the senses, readers are invited to not merely observe but actively participate in the quest for self-discovery. In the end, they are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about what has occurred and embark on a personal odyssey, where the meaning and significance unfold uniquely for each individual.

Matt Crawford speaks with author Marilyn Raichle about her book, Don't Walk Away: A Caregiver's Journey. Don’t Walk Away is a powerful and uplifting exploration of living with dementia, told from two perspectives in two different ways. One is the written account and insights of the author, Marilyn Raichle, founder of The Art of Alzheimer’s and Executive Director of Maude’s Awards for Innovation in Alzheimer’s Care. Marilyn's mother, Jean McFee Raichle, like many people in her family, lived with Alzheimer’s in her 80’s. The other perspective is that of Jean herself, who, through her vibrant and intriguing paintings, tells a story of creativity and community, one that has already touched and inspired thousands of families facing similar challenges. Indeed, a TV news report about Jean and Marilyn’s life together won an Emmy Award in 2013, illustrated by Jean’s fascinating artwork. The insights gained from Marilyn and Jean's journey together are part of a revolution in how those with dementia are supported and nurtured during this phase of life. I encourage anyone who has a loved one to read this book, whether or not you know someone touched by Dementia. A true read about humanity and understanding that humbled me while I read.

Matt Crawford speaks with food journalist, artist, cartoonist and author L. John Harris about his book, Portrait in Red: A Paris Obsession. 

While wandering the streets of Paris in 2015, L. John Harris finds an abandoned, unfinished, and strangely compelling painting. The subject: a girl wearing a bright-red head covering, fixing her viewer with a foreboding gaze. The painting bears no signature, only the date: January 12, 1935. Harris, a journalist and illustrator, embarks on a multi-year quest to uncover the story behind this painting. His sleuthing has given birth to Portrait in Red, a wide-ranging exploration of art and its enduring mysteries.

With wit and a contagious enthusiasm, Harris traces unexpected connections between Paris on the eve of World War II, his bohemian life in the San Francisco Bay Area, the aura of original paintings, the magic of found objects, and the aesthetics of a perfect croque monsieur. Part memoir, travel, food and mystery this book has something to sate ever readers appetite. 

Matt Crawford speaks with journalist and author Mike Colias about his book, Inevitable: Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles. 

The question is no longer if electric vehicles will happen, or even when they'll happen, but how. Veteran automotive reporter Mike Colias takes you inside the transformation in this thoroughly reported profile of the hard pivot in the car business, a $2 trillion industry undergoing the biggest change in its 120-year history—a change that is already sending ripples across the entire global economy.

Colias documents the inevitable shift from pistons to electrons from every angle, taking you inside the boardrooms where executives battle over their EV strategies to take on Tesla and, more recently, emerging Chinese powerhouses such as BYD. He brings you to family-run car dealerships deciding if they'll sell EVs—or sell their businesses. He follows entrepreneurs along lonely stretches of road that will soon need charging stations. He talks to power-train engineers whose skills were once the beating heart of the automotive industry but who now find themselves being replaced by coders.

This is an epic exploration that stretches from Detroit to Japan to Germany to China, and from factories in Normal, Illinois, and Haywood County, Tennessee, to a burgeoning mining operation along the shores of California's briny, lithium-rich Salton Sea.

Inevitable is a deeply enjoyable and smart book that uses masterful storytelling to capture the expanse and dynamism of the transition to electric vehicles in profound detail, bringing to life its seismic effects on everything and everyone.

Matt Crawford speaks with photographer and author Benjamin Dimmitt about his book, An Unflinching Look: Elegy for Wetlands. An Unflinching Look is an examination of a unique North American ecosystem in decline, investigated through eighty-five duotone photographs, scientific analysis, and critical interpretation. The project’s focus is the area of the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s Gulf Coast and the history and fate of its wetlands. Dimmitt began photographing in the salt-damaged sawgrass savannas and spring creeks there as a way of examining and reckoning with the ecosystem loss and of understanding what was becoming of his native Florida. He narrowed his focus to a small, remote area that he knows well and loves. Dimmitt’s intention in bearing witness to this loss has been to portray the ruined landscape with respect and beauty. To document the progress of the saltwater intrusion, Dimmitt has rephotographed landscapes that he first photographed more than forty years ago. His photographs reveal the impact of several factors that are causing the loss of an entire ecosystem: rising sea levels caused by global warming, excessive pumping from the underground aquifer, and the contamination of limited natural resources.

Matt Crawford speaks with author Peter Philips about his book, Titans of Capital: How Concentrated Wealth Threatens Humanity. In Titans of Capital, Peter Phillips, a political sociologist, poses three key research questions: To what extent do the wealthy influence—or even dominate—decision making that affects all of us in society? Who are the most powerful people? And how does the accumulation of capital work? 117 people are in charge of asset management companies that control 50 trillion dollars. Those investments shape the world, and when that capital shores up practices detrimental to society and the health of the planet we should all have something to say about it.

Matt Crawford speaks with author Nancy Reddy about her book, The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom. When Reddy had her first child, she found herself suddenly confronted with the ideal of a being a perfect mother, but what is that and who defines it? For answers, Reddy turned to the mid-20th century social scientists and psychologists whose work still forms the basis of so much of what we believe about parenting. It seems ludicrous to imagine modern moms taking advice from midcentury researchers. Yet, their bad ideas about so-called “good” motherhood have seeped so pervasively into our cultural norms. In The Good Mother Myth, Reddy debunks the flawed lab studies, sloppy research, and straightforward misogyny of researchers from Harry Harlow, who claimed to have discovered love by observing monkeys in his lab, to the famous Dr. Spock, whose bestselling parenting guide included just one (1!) illustration of a father interacting with his child. This timely and thought-provoking book will make you laugh, cry, and want to scream (sometimes all at once). Blending history of science, cultural criticism, and memoir, The Good Mother Myth pulls back the curtain on the flawed social science behind our contemporary understanding of what makes a good mom.

Matt Crawford speaks with author Marcia Peck about her debut novel, Water Music: A Cape Cod Story. This is the story of twelve-year-old Lily Grainger, and the summer of 1956 spent with her family on Cape Cod. That was the summer the Andrea Doria sank, pilot whales stranded, and Lily’s father built a house he couldn't afford. Target practice on a nearby decommissioned Liberty Ship echoed not only the rancor in her parents' marriage, a rancor stoked by Lily’s competitive uncle, but also Lily’s troubles with her sister, her cousins, and especially with her mother. Lily dives deep into her cello lessons and her love of Cape Cod to try and navigate the stormy waters of her familial relationships. 

While this is a story of a 12-year-old girl coming of age, anyone can pull something from this story and see themselves as an adolescent trying to figure things out or as a parent doing the same, or both. A lovely deep and rich read that will envelope you.

Matt Crawford speaks with educator, mathematician and author Frank Lad about his book, Just Plain Wrong: The Dalliance of Quantum Theory with the Defiance of Bell's Inequality. The educated public have long been regaled with "the mysteries of quantum physics", which enshroud far-flung claims about the fundamental nature of matter. These rely on a stunning proposition of quantum theory arising in the 1960s and contested through the subsequent sixty years: that the probabilities deriving from it defy a mathematical inequality known as Bell's inequality. John Bell himself, who formulated the problem, was puzzled by the result, and surmised that in time we would discover what is wrong with its characterisation of the matter. In this book, Frank Lad claims to have identified the mathematical error that gives rise to the misunderstanding. Addressed as a challenge to the physics community, its content is accessible to any generally educated reader who is familiar with university-level concepts of linear algebra and functions of several variables. Understanding of complete mathematical detail is not required for appreciation. Largely ignored and dismissed by the scientific community of professional physicists, here is the background to the result, and the resolution to the controversy.

Matt Crawford speaks with polar geographer, explorer and author Dr. John Shears about his expedition to find the Endurance as well as his book, Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton's Legendary Ship. John and I discuss the herculean effort it took him and his team to find the Endurance, Shackleton's ship that has been beneath the Weddell Sea for 108 years. This book and the accompanying documentary on National Geographic is sure to ignite the innate wanderlust in us all. Give us a listen, give the book a read and then watch the movie, you will not be disappointed on any front.