Mar 8, 2024
Is March Fourth a "declarative sentence"? No, Sam, it's an
imperative sentence. But it's Hannah's birthday and at least he
remembered that, if not his grammar lessons. Not to worry, though,
this episode is chock full of weighty discussion, starting with
"Women
and Children First," the biography of the pioneering Dr. Susan
Dimock (with a side bar on the enshittification of Google), and the
subject of our first Sunday Salon on March 10 in Beverly Farms.
From there, we head into discussion of a cool little collection of
Jonathan Lethem essays, interviews, and short stories from PM
Press, which got Sam buzzing, and not just because Lethem is living
in Maine right now. This leads to a solid discussion of what makes
for a good interview (or a bad one) — and that dovetails perfectly
into Hannah's read of "Supercommunicators,"
by Charles Duhigg, which leads into a discussion of ski instructors
who could really use the book and communication techniques that may
seem obvious, but also work.
Someone who doesn't need much advice about communication is Philip
Pullman, whose "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" is a
triumph and has Sam very excited, despite the fact it was released
13 years ago. He's not sure how he missed it. If you're interested
in mythmaking and Christianity's core stories, you have to read it.
And, speaking of mythmaking, Hannah has read the new Katherine
Arden, "The
Warm Hands of Ghosts," and it does seem to deliver on all of
her promise from the "Bear and the Nightingale" trilogy, which
makes Sam hyperbolic. It's dark and makes clear that war is,
indeed, very bad. The new Stephen King, though? Yeah, it's also
pretty bad. Sam's going to finish "Holly,"
but he's not sure why. The phrase "social commentary for
three-year-olds" may have been uttered. However, it does trigger a
pretty good discussion about whether you can write a good book
that's only for a certain subset of people or if truly good books
are "for everyone."
Like Paul Lynch's "Prophet
Song," which everyone really needs to read. As a
reminder.