In this episode, George presents chapter one of the award-winning audiobook of his magical-realist coming-of-age novel An Almost Impossible Story.

For Paul-Henri Dietrich d’Holbach, human beings and all of Nature are essentially matter in motion.

For Julien Offray de La Mettrie, the human being is a clock-like organic machine, although there is no clock-maker.

For Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the human being is a metaphysical machine, mirroring God’s harmonious universe.

This episode is devoted to Thomas Hobbes, who considered human society ought to be like a well-regulated machine.

This episode is devoted to René Descartes, whose mechanistic philosophy likened the biology and intellect of humans to clockwork.

This episode is devoted to William Harvey, who discovered the mechanism of the heart, and the circulation of the blood.

This episode is devoted to Andreas Vesalius, the founder of Renaissance anatomy and a pioneer of the scientific revolution.

In this episode, George explores the history of the quest to locate Eden – that is, Earthly Paradise.

George takes a historical tour of myth and metaphor, both in science and in the public persona of scientists.