How To Academy Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Alan Moore and B. Catling - The Power of Imagination Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

Few figures make such a seismic impact on their artistic medium that they transform its reputation from childish pulp entertainment to a vital and exhilarating creative form, capable of exploring the great mysteries of metaphysics, science, and the human spirit – but Alan Moore is one.

A modern-day alchemist who transmuted comic books into literary gold, his works not only inspired a later generation of authors who are now household names, from Neil Gaiman to Susanna Clarke, but filmmakers, artists, and storytellers in every medium. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez quotes him online; the Occupy and Anonymous movements adopt the mask of his hero V; and Time magazine honours Watchmen as one of the 20th century’s greatest works of literature.

A sculptor, poet, performance artist and professor at Oxford’s Ruskin School, Brian Catling’s creativity transcends any given form. Late in his career he turned his attention to the novel, reimagining its possibilities from the ground up to produce one of the most startling rich and strange works of fantasy ever produced: The Vorrh.

Now he returns to the literary world with Hollow: the mesmerising tale of a band of mercenaries journeying through the grotesque, monstrous landscapes of Hieronymus Bosch to deliver an oracle to the monastery at the foot of the Tower of Babel.

Coming together to celebrate the magic of human creativity, this unmissable conversation will restore your faith in the power of art to transform life.

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Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina - #CookForUkraine Mar 25, 2022

Show notes

Food writers Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina have been friends since university and together they have come together to launch #CookForUkraine - a campaign whichaims to raise awareness and funds through a shared appreciation of the rich tradition of Ukrainian cooking with supper clubs, events and encouraging people to share recipes, along with the stories behind the dishes. In its first weeks they have whipped up an extraordinary amount of support from everyone from Jamie Oliver to Nigella Lawson as well as numerous restaurants and institutions.

Here they talk to Hannah MacInnes about the campaign, about the war and the tragic impact it is having on both the people of Ukraine and of Russia, on their families and friends, the strong cultural ties between the two countries, their rich culinary traditions and much more.

Please head to their website and justgiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cookforukraine to find out more and to donate.

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Yanis Varoufakis Meets David Wengrow - The Dawn of Everything Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

What if everything we thought we knew about the origins of human civilisation is a myth?

In their book The Dawn of Everything, the late David Graeber and his collaborator David Wengrow tell an ambitious and revelatory new history of the world – one that overturns the notion of Rosseau’s innocent Noble Savage and the ‘nasty, brutish and short’ lives of Thomas Hobbes alike.

In this episode of the podcast, Wengrow joins former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to transform your understanding of our past and offer a powerful, playful, and extraordinarily original vision of our future.

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Paul Craddock - The Surprising History of Organ Transplants Mar 18, 2022

Show notes

Medical historian Dr Paul Craddock joins the How To Academy Podcast to takes us on a journey from sixteenth-century skin grafting to contemporary stem cell transplants, uncovering stories of operations performed by unexpected people in unexpected places. Bringing together philosophy, science and cultural history, this podcast explores how transplant surgery constantly tested the boundaries between human, animal and machine, and continues to do so today.

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Suzanne Simard - Finding the Mother Tree Mar 15, 2022

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Raised in the hardy forest communities of British Columbia, scientist Suzanne Simard overturned conventional beliefs in proving that trees and plants are connected underground by an immense web of fungal mycelia, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that sustain the forest.

She joins author and traveller Sophy Roberts to tell the story of a lifetime spent uncovering startling truths about trees: their perceptions, behaviours, healing capacities, language, memory and wisdom. Simard's landmark work has been immensely influential, revealing the complex cycle of forest life - on which we rely for our existence - and offering profound lessons about resilience and kinship.

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Jon Ronson and Brian Klaas - On Psychopaths and Power Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of the How To Academy Podcast, author and documentarian Jon Ronson and political scientist Brian Klaas investigate the relationship between power, psychopathy, and corruption. Drawing on the insights from Jon's widely acclaimed book The Psychopath Test and Brian's new book Corruptible, for which he met some of the world's most reviled and dangerous leaders, this is a provocative and revelatory journey into what power is and who gets to wield to it.

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Salena Godden Meets Yrsa Daley-Ward - How to Know Yourself Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Yrsa Daley-Ward’s work explores all parts of the human condition, but especially those we don’t tend to speak of: mental health, sexuality, love, grief and addiction. Her words have resonated with hundreds of thousands of readers around the world: through her acclaimed books of poetry and memoir, bone and The Terrible and through her powerful writing for Beyoncé’s cultural touchstone Black Is King.

In conversation with acclaimed novelist and poet Salena Godden, Yrsa joins the How To Academy Podcast to offer a compelling invitation for self-renewal. How can we remove our filters, and see and feel more of who we really are behind the preconceived notions of property and manners we've accumulated with age? Find out from one of the most celebrated young voices in contemporary culture.

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Jameela Jamil and Michael Schur - How to be Perfect Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

How can we live a more ethical life? This question has plagued people for thousands of years, but it's never been tougher to answer than it is now, thanks to challenges great and small that flood our day-to-day lives and threaten to overwhelm us with impossible decisions and complicated results with unintended consequences.

The Good Place was the smash hit Netflix comedy that made moral philosophy fun. Now the series creator, Michael Schur and its star Jameela Jamil join us with a foolproof guide to making the correct moral decision in every situation you ever encounter, anywhere on earth, forever.

This episode includes some unfiltered swearing. If you would prefer a bleeped version, you can find it on our website.

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Adam Rutherford - The Troubling History of Eugenics Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

In the Victorian era, in the shadow of Darwin's ideas about evolution, a new full-blooded attempt to impose control over our unruly biology began to grow in the clubs, salons and offices of the powerful. It was enshrined in a political movement that bastardised science, and for sixty years enjoyed bipartisan and huge popular support. Eugenics was vigorously embraced in dozens of countries. It was also a cornerstone of Nazi ideology, and forged a path that led directly to the gates of Auschwitz. In this episode of the How To Academy Podcast, bestselling author, geneticist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford tells the story of this dangerous pseudoscience, and investigates its modern day legacy: the prospect of tinkering with the DNA of our unborn children to make them smarter, fitter, stronger.

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William Dalrymple and Sathnam Sanghera - British Imperialism in India Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

How did the Mughal empire – which then generated just under half the world’s wealth – come to be replaced by the first global corporate power - the East India Company? And how does the legacy of British imperialism continue to shape life and culture in Britain today? Bringing together Empireland author and Times columnist Sathnam Sanghera and bestselling award-winning historian William Dalrymple, this episode of the How To Academy Podcast will tell a story that is barely taught in schools or mentioned in museums but is critically important to who we are as a nation in the 21st century.

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