Peculiar Book Club Podcast
Weird Science, Bizarre History, & Strange Medicine: we host authors of PECULIAR nonfiction! Want to know why animals evolved to suck blood? Or the secrets of sword-swallowers? Curious about Vagina Obscura? Or the astrophysics of a dying universe?
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 4
- Latest publication
- Sep 12, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 29, 2026
Latest episodes
We're doing mental exercises with Angus Fletcher and Primal Intelligence (opens the original)
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How are some people so much smarter than the rest of us? Where do visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Wayne Gretzky, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their extraordinary mental abilities? In 2021, researchers at Ohio State’s Project Narrative, renowned for collaborations with NASA, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, announced they had the answer. They named it Primal Int
Take two Tylenol before listening to Tom Zeller and The Headache (opens the original)
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Did you know that chronic head pain, from blinding migraines to severe headache disorders known as “clusters,” affects 40% of the population? And that science, largely, shrugs over the cause? Many suffer in silence, afraid of being chided as “merely” having a headache, when in fact this is a horrifically debilitating disorder. If you are one of them, or know someone who is, this is a book for you. In The Headache, science journalist Tom Zeller reveals the struggling science behind a group of dis
We're taking the cannolis with The Godfather (Peculiar Movie Club) (opens the original)
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Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Custodians of Wonder, we are reviewing the legendary mafia film The Godfather. Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into one of the greatest movies of all time. We'll discuss the themes of passing things down to your children, how Michael couldn't stay away from the family business, and making offers that people
We're going to get so high with Sam Kelly and Human History on Drugs (opens the original)
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Every so often, I find myself reading history and thinking ‘were they on DRUGS?’ Well, the probably answer is: Yes! Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner; Steve Jobs believed taking LSD helped him create the Apple computer, and Sigmund Freud loved cocaine so much he took it all the time and prescribed it to his patients. Hard to believe? Don’t worry, in Human History on Drugs, Sam Kelly gives us the receipts. Here’s more of that peculiar history your teacher
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