The Avid Reader Show

Lift a glass to the story of sake—from Japanese homebrew to global phenomenon.   Sake, Japan’s iconic rice-based alcoholic drink, has been central to Japanese culture for over 1,300 years. Traditionally made with rice, water, and koji mold, it was consumed in early brewpubs and was vital to samurai rituals and festival

A disarmingly personal account of the new science of memory manipulation by one of today's leading pioneers in the field As a graduate student at MIT, Steve Ramirez successfully created false memories in the lab. Now, as a neuroscientist working at the frontiers of brain science, he foresees a future where we can repla

The moving life and legacy of Rome’s great emperor philosopher.    This book guides us through the fascinating life and writings of Marcus Aurelius, Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor. Philosopher William O. Stephens explores Marcus’s reluctant rise to power, his marriage, and his efforts to mold his son into a just s

With the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, both existential fears and uncritical enthusiasm for AI systems have surged. In this era of unprecedented technological growth, understanding the profound impacts of AI — both positive and negative — is more crucial than ever. In The Intelligence Explosion, Jam

Mapping the acoustic onto the human soul, moving meditations on the power and meaning of sound.   Nature writers Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen set out in search of sounds beautiful and loathsome, melodious and disturbing, healing, strange, and intimate. The phenomena of sound may be fleeting and evanescent, but the me

From the New York Times best-selling author of Stiff and Fuzz, a rollicking exploration of the quest to re-create the impossible complexities of human anatomy. The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine h