Undercurrent Stories Podcast: History, Music, Science & much more.

What if getting older isn’t really about having fewer things to look forward to, but about learning to appreciate what’s already here?

In this episode, I sit down with Irish author, teacher, poet, and former musician Kevin McManus to talk about his novel The Light of the Evening and some of the bigger questions that come with getting older. How do we make sense of grief and loss? What happens when illness changes the way we look at life and how do we learn to appreciate the ordinary days that we might once have taken for granted?

Kevin’s novel grew out of some deeply personal experiences, including his wife’s illness and the death of his father. But rather than being a story about despair, The Light of the Evening is ultimately a hopeful book about finding meaning in the everyday.

We talk about why the small things such as a cup of tea, a conversation, a laugh, a good day, can become more meaningful as we get older, and why we might be better off paying attention to the life we’re actually living rather than constantly waiting for the next weekend, holiday, birthday, or big event.

Kevin also shares the unusual path that brought him to writing. He started playing music and writing lyrics as a teenager, spent years playing in bands, moved into poetry, and eventually became a crime novelist before taking a much more personal direction with his latest book.

Along the way, we discuss creativity, self-doubt, marriage, ageing, rural Ireland, and the importance of simply putting your work out into the world.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why the ordinary moments of life can become more valuable as we get older
• What illness and loss can teach us about appreciating the present
• The meaning behind the title The Light of the Evening
• Why getting older doesn't necessarily mean the end of hope, ambition, or possibility
• How grief can become a source of creativity
• Kevin's journey from playing bass in bands to becoming a novelist and poet
• His years writing crime fiction and why he eventually wanted to move in a different direction
• The role of humour and companionship in a long marriage
• Why we shouldn't overlook the small victories and good days
• How rural Ireland and writers like John McGahern and Seamus Heaney influenced Kevin's work
• Why a "page of rubbish is better than a page of nothing"
• How to overcome self-doubt and actually get started on the work you've been thinking about
• Why you eventually have to stop tinkering and let your work go
• The danger of always waiting for the next thing instead of enjoying the day you're living
• What it means to look back at the life you've lived and realise that perhaps you did more than you thought

At its heart, this is a conversation about making peace with the life you've got, finding beauty in ordinary days, and recognising that there is still light ahead, even when you're entering the later chapters of life.

LInks:

https://kevinmcmanusbooks.com/

Book: The Light at Evening

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Want to become a more confident and compelling public speaker?

Most of us at some point in our lives have to make a speech. Perhaps a wedding speech, a family celebration or you might be regularly making presentations at work. Whether you’re facing your first presentation or you’ve been speaking for years, this episode is packed with practical ideas to help you communicate with greater impact.

 Paul Sloane, keynote speaker and author of 160 Top Tips for Public Speakers, joins us and talks about what separates an ordinary speech from a memorable one.

Paul reveals how to:

• Build a talk around what your audience actually wants
• Structure your speech so it has a clear beginning, middle and end
• Use stories, humour and pauses to keep people listening
• Rehearse without becoming dependent on a script
• Use the “virtual journey” technique to remember your talk
• Avoid common PowerPoint and presentation mistakes
• Handle nerves, mistakes and unexpected problems on stage
• Keep people engaged when speaking on Zoom
• Get useful feedback and continually improve your speaking

There’s also advice on one of the biggest secrets of becoming a better speaker: speak more, learn from every performance, and keep refining what works.

If you want to feel more natural, confident and engaging when you stand up to speak, this episode is for you.

Links:

Paul's website:  https://www.destination-innovation.com/

Book: 160 Top Tips for Public Speakers: How to Create and Deliver a Terrific Talk

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If you’re going to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, or you’ve already seen it, there’s a much bigger story behind the film.

In this conversation I talk to Dr. Joel Christensen, Professor of Classics at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and author of the book ' Why Odysseus?Survivor, Scoundrel, (Anti) Hero.'  We talk about the ancient Odysseus,  the brilliant strategist, liar, trickster, survivor and deeply complicated hero at the centre of Homer’s Odyssey.

Nolan’s film brings this ancient story to a modern audience, but Homer’s Odysseus is very different from a straightforward Hollywood hero. He is courageous and resourceful, but he is also manipulative, deceptive and capable of making disastrous choices. His greatest weapon isn't strength, it’s his ability to adapt, persuade and think his way out of impossible situations.

Joel explains what the film can and can’t tell us about Homer’s original story, why the Odyssey is much more than an adventure about getting home, and why Odysseus remains such a compelling character more than 2,500 years later.

In this episode

• Who was the real Odysseus? And why was he so different from heroes like Achilles?
• Why the ancient idea of a “hero” is very different from our modern understanding of one.
• The Odyssey as a story of survival, and the price that survival can carry.
• Odysseus, the Trojan Horse and his extraordinary gift for deception and adaptability.
• Whether Odysseus is responsible for the deaths of his men mand how Homer explores blame, responsibility and human agency.
• Why simply reaching Ithaca isn't enough: what does it actually mean to come home?
• The Odyssey's fascination with family, community and the damage heroic behaviour can leave behind.
• Why Odysseus can be seen as an ancient version of the modern antihero.
• What Walter White from Breaking Bad can tell us about Odysseus and our fascination with complicated characters.
• How Christopher Nolan's interpretation changes our understanding of Odysseus.
• Why Nolan's Odysseus appears more traumatised and guilt-ridden than Homer's.
• The fascinating difference between Homer's Odysseus and the hero modern audiences may want him to be.
• What polytropos, “the man of many ways," reveals about Odysseus.
• The meaning of nostos, the ancient idea of homecoming from which our word “nostalgia” ultimately derives.
• Why the Odyssey was originally a performed song rather than a modern-style book.
• How Joel's own experiences of fatherhood, loss and family changed the way he understood Homer's story.

Beyond the film

One of the most interesting questions in the conversation is whether we actually like Odysseus.

Joel's answer is complicated. For him, Odysseus is less a hero to admire than a face in the mirror: a character who forces us to confront compromise, bad decisions, persistence and the things people do to survive. 

The ancient poem isn't simply about monsters, gods and an extraordinary journey across the sea. It's about what happens to a person after war, what survival costs, whether returning home can make someone whole again, and how much of ourselves we are willing to compromise along the way.

About Dr. Joel Christensen

Dr. Joel Christensen is Professor of Classics at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is a scholar of Homer and Greek epic and the author of Odysseus: Survivor, Scoundrel, and Antihero.

If you haven't read The Odyssey, Joel recommends getting familiar with the main characters first, then exploring different versions of the story rather than assuming there is one single “correct” Odyssey. He also recommends Gareth Hinds' graphic novel adaptation as an accessible introduction to the story.

This version deliberately doesn't give away Nolan's film plot, so it can work both as a companion for people who have seen it and as an introduction for people planning to see it.

Links

Book: ' Why Odysseus?Survivor, Scoundrel, (Anti) Hero.'  

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Professor Edzard Ernst discusses 'The Leopard Lily Project ' and tells the disturbing story of a largely forgotten Nazi scheme to use a poisonous South American plant to carry out mass sterilisation.

After taking power in 1933, the Nazis introduced compulsory sterilisation for people they deemed “unworthy” of reproduction, particularly those with hereditary illnesses. Seeking a less invasive method, an Austrian dermatologist proposed to Heinrich Himmler that the plant Leopard Lily (Dieffenbachia seguine), also known as dumb cane, could potentially be used to sterilise millions of people.

Himmler took an interest in the idea, leading to further research into the plant and its potential use.

We discuss this largely untold story through the wider history of Nazi ideology, the regime’s fascination with alternative and herbal medicine, Himmler’s interest in pseudoscience, and the doctors and scientists involved.

If you are interested in the history of medicine, medical ethics, pseudoscience, or the Nazi regime, I can recommend Edzard's book, 'The Leopard Lily Project : A Story of Nazi Pseudoscience' which goes into more detail about this disturbing and previously little-known story.

Links:

Professor Edzard Ernst 

Book: The Leopard Lily Project: A Story of Nazi Pseudoscience

Undercurrent Stories Links:

Web: https://www.undercurrentstories.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undercurrentstories/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/undercurrent-stories-podcast/

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In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Max McKeown, author of Super Adaptability, to understand the difference between adapting just to survive a hard situation and adapting in a way that actually moves your life forward. Max explains the three-part "loop" at the heart of his book,  a simple, repeatable process for noticing when you're stuck, understanding why, and taking deliberate action instead of falling back into old habits.

Along the way, we cover:

• Why some people get trapped repeating the same problem for years, and how to spot it in your own life
• The difference between "adapting to cope" and "adapting to win"
• Max's concept of metaplasticity — literally coaching your own brain like a personal therapist
• Real stories from the book, including a plane crash survivor, a father-son physics duo escaping the Nazis, and a man who single-handedly regrew a forest
• Why the loop applies just as well to business, sports, activism, and science as it does to everyday personal struggles
• What Max has learned from readers who found the book mid-crisis  and why he thinks the ideas outlast the author

Whether you're navigating a career pivot, a stubborn personal habit, or just feel like you keep ending up in the same frustrating place, this conversation offers a practical framework you can start using immediately.

Guest: Dr. Max McKeown, author of Super Adaptability

Find Max: LinkedIn, Instagram

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“Only Girls Bleed:  The Human Cost of Post-Roe America" -  Dr. Elaine Lawless

Overview

Ethnographer and folklorist Dr. Elaine Lawless talks about her debut novel Only Girls Bleed, a gripping story inspired by real accounts of women navigating pregnancy, trauma, and the fractured abortion laws across the United States. Elaine explains why she turned to fiction after decades of academic work, how her field research shaped the book, and what she hopes readers, both men and women, take from it.

Key Themes

• Post–Roe v. Wade America: Elaine breaks down how the 2022 Supreme Court decision reshaped abortion access and inspired the book’s central conflict.
• Real stories behind the narrative: The novel draws on years of conversations with women in shelters, churches, and rural communities.
• Writing trauma responsibly: Elaine discusses avoiding graphic detail and choosing to tell the story through the mother’s perspective.
• From scholarship to fiction: Elaine describes the freedom she found in writing a novel after years of academic publishing.
• Why men should read this book: The conversation explores misogyny, silence around menstruation, and the importance of involving boys and fathers in discussions about reproductive health.

Content note: this episode touches on sensitive themes including a family facing a difficult reproductive decision, and a young person's experience of assault.

About the Guest

Dr. Elaine J. Lawless Ethnographer, folklorist, professor emerita, and novelist. Her work has focused on women’s lived experiences in religious communities and domestic violence shelters.

Website: elainelawless.com

About the Book

Only Girls Bleed - A haunting story of a mother who will do anything to protect her daughter, including break the law, if she must.

Question or comment? Send us a text message.

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What happens when an independent music promoter takes on one of the biggest companies in the live entertainment industry?

Tommy Dorfman, CEO of Juice Entertainment,  discusses his extraordinary journey through the US music and nightlife scene, from throwing house parties as a teenager to running major EDM, (Electronic Dance Music), events and working with some of the biggest names in entertainment.

Tommy shares his account of building a successful promotion business, securing a 10-year deal connected to the Meadowlands State Fair, and what happened when he says Live Nation became involved and his planned EDM festival was ultimately cancelled.

The conversation then turns to Tommy's long-running legal battle with Live Nation, the challenges faced by independent promoters, the rising cost of concert tickets, dynamic pricing, and what greater regulatory scrutiny could mean for artists, venues and fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tommy's allegations and characterisations of Live Nation are contested and should not be taken as established facts. The episode explores his personal experience and perspective alongside the wider debate about competition and concentration in the live music industry.

In this episode

• Tommy's childhood introduction to live music through concerts by artists including Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen
• How throwing house parties as a teenager led him into the club and events business
• Running large-scale events and the importance of professional security
• Tommy's rise as an EDM and nightlife promoter across New York, New Jersey, Miami and the US East Coast
• His plans for a major EDM festival at the Meadowlands
• Tommy's account of his dealings with Live Nation and the cancellation of the festival
• The impact he says the dispute had on his career and personal life
• How he went from successful promoter to working door-to-door sales while funding his legal fight
• His long-running lawsuit against Live Nation
• The experiences of other independent promoters he says he has encountered
• Live Nation, Ticketmaster and concerns about market concentration
• Dynamic ticket pricing and the rising cost of live music
• The pressure on grassroots venues, clubs and pubs
• Why independent promoters matter to the development of new artists
• Regulatory scrutiny in the UK and US
• What a potential restructuring of the live entertainment industry could mean for fans, artists and promoters
• Tommy's hopes for the future of live music

About Tommy Dorfman

Tommy Dorfman is the CEO of Juice Entertainment and has spent decades working in the US nightlife, club and live entertainment industries. In the episode, he discusses his career as a promoter, his involvement in EDM and his long-running legal dispute with Live Nation.

Listen and follow

If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave a rating or review. It helps other listeners discover the show.

Note: This episode contains discussion of alleged misconduct, competition concerns and ongoing or historical legal disputes. Statements concerning alleged conduct are presented as the guest's account and are not presented as findings of fact unless expressly stated otherwise.
Undercurrent Stories contacted Live Nation for comment but to date have not received a response.

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What can the Tree of Life tell us about where we came from and how life became so diverse?

Professor Max Telford, author of the book 'The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle' takes us on a journey through four billion years of evolution, from the earliest life on Earth to humans, worms and the extraordinary coelacanth.

Max explains how scientists reconstruct the Tree of Life using fossils, anatomy, embryology and DNA and why evolution doesn't always mean becoming more complex. We explore convergent evolution, extinction, genetic evidence, the origins of animals, human evolution, and the surprising ways evolution can simplify organisms.

We also discover why most of the fundamental groups of animals are worms, how DNA has transformed our understanding of life's history, and whether AI could help scientists finally untangle some of the Tree of Life's biggest mysteries.

A thought-provoking conversation about where life came from, how it changed, and just how much of its extraordinary story remains to be discovered.

Links: 

Book - The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle

Professor Max Telford 

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We tend to think of genius as something you’re born with. A rare quality possessed by people with extraordinary memories, mathematical abilities, or problem-solving skills.

But what if many of the abilities we associate with genius can actually be trained?

In this episode, I'm joined by Nelson Dellis, a six-time USA Memory Champion, Guinness World Record holder, and author of Everyday Genius, about the practical skills we can all develop to make better use of our minds.

Nelson explains how he went from having what he describes as a fairly ordinary memory to becoming one of the world's top memory athletes. He shares the techniques he uses to memorise enormous amounts of information, including numbers, names and lists, and explains why the ability to remember information still matters in an age when we can ask our phones or AI to retrieve almost anything for us.

We also get into mental maths, problem-solving, curiosity, intuition and the fascinating question of whether our minds may be capable of more than we currently understand.

Show Highlights

• How Nelson became interested in memory after watching his grandmother struggle with Alzheimer's
• What it actually takes to become a competitive memory athlete
• Why Nelson believes memory is a skill that can be trained rather than a fixed ability
• The SEE, LINK, GO framework for remembering almost anything
• How to build and use a memory palace
• How to remember people's names — and why most of us forget them in the first place
• Why making information vivid, unusual and even ridiculous helps it stick
• How to remember lists, speeches, numbers and everyday tasks
• Why reviewing and practising memory techniques eventually makes them feel almost automatic
• How to develop better number sense and perform calculations in your head
• Why mental arithmetic is worth practising when we have calculators in our pockets
• How curiosity can play a role in developing intelligence
• Whether technology and AI are making us mentally weaker or simply changing the way we think
• Nelson's thoughts on intuition, dreams and remote viewing
• Why exercising your brain can be approached much like exercising your body

The Big Idea

One of the most interesting ideas in this conversation is that genius may be less about having an extraordinary brain and more about learning how to use an ordinary brain extraordinarily well.

Nelson's own story is a good example. He didn't grow up believing he had a remarkable memory. He discovered techniques that worked, practised them, and gradually transformed his abilities.

The lesson is encouraging: there may be considerably more room for improvement in our mental abilities than we assume.

Try This Memory Technique

Nelson's SEE, LINK, GO system provides a simple starting point.

SEE: Turn the information you want to remember into a vivid mental image.

LINK: Connect that image to something else you already know or to a specific location.

GO: Retrieve the information by mentally returning to that image or location.

The stranger, more vivid, emotional or humorous you can make the mental image, the better.

Try it the next time someone gives you a short list of things to remember. Instead of repeating the list over and over, turn each item into an exaggerated mental picture and link the pictures together.

You may be surprised by how much easier they are to recall.

Resources Mentioned

• Everyday Genius by Nelson Dellis
• Nelson Dellis's work on memory and mental performance
• Memory palaces
• Memory competitions
• Mental mathematics and number sense
• Intuition, dreams and remote viewing

Connect With Nelson Dellis

https://www.nelsondellis.com/

Find out more about Nelson, his memory techniques and his work through his website and social channels.

And if you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who would enjoy learning how to get more out of their own mind.

Final Thought

You don't have to be born a genius.

You can train your memory. You can improve your focus. You can become better at solving problems. You can develop your curiosity.

The question isn't simply “How smart am I?”

It's “What could I become better at if I actually trained it?”

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Prof. Jamie Woodward (University of Manchester) on how microplastics get from your washing machine to local rivers  and how his research on Manchester's waterways ended up shaping UK water policy. We cover the sewage scandal, water company spin, and what actually needs to change.

In this episode:

• What actually counts as a "microplastic" (and why the name is misleading)
• How microplastics get from your washing machine to the river
• The science of sampling and identifying plastics in riverbeds
• Why Jamie's research on Manchester's rivers ended up shaping UK policy
• The sewage scandal: water companies, regulators, and public anger
• What one country is getting right  and what needs to change here
• Simple things you can do to help protect your local river

Guest: Professor Jamie Woodward, physical geographer and geomorphologist, University of Manchester. Author, and twice named on the ENDS Power List of the UK's most influential environmental academics.

🔗 Catch Jamie's previous episode on the history of the Earth — Spotify link 

Question or comment? Send us a text message.

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