Sean Carroll

Okay, we're going to digress about rust.

And if you're into that thing, if you go along to the spirit of the discovery in real time, it's a wonderful read.

So let's go.

Stuart Brand, welcome to the Mindscape Podcast.

So we're going to be talking about your new book, which is about maintenance.

I mean, feel free, by the way, to chip in with any stories you have over a very colorful career thinking about big ideas and doing fun things.

But I wanted to start just by thinking, rather than about maintenance, about the book.

Because, you know, you've written a book in quite a compelling but somewhat quirky style, I would say.

As someone who's written books, you know, you have your own way of doing it.

And I just want to know, like, is that a conscious choice or is this just like that's the only way you know how to write a book and that's the way you're going to do it?

It's a very effective way, I think, with the digressions.

Like as long as the reader goes along with you in the spirit in which it's attended, life is full of digressions, right?

Life is just not a simple process from A to B. And so learning things in that way, I think, kind of works.

So with that in mind, the topic is maintenance.

Now, the implication of the title of the book is that this is part one.

There'll be a part two at some point.

But I just wanted to ask about that part.

subject matter?

I mean, maintenance is something that seems a little bit prosaic for, you know, having a whole book about it.

What is it that really focused you in on that as the theme?