New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
Episodes
Gareth Doherty, "Landscape Fieldwork: How Engaging the World Can Change Design" (U Virginia Press, 2025)
21 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Landscape architecture is at a crossroads. The ability to draw upon interdisciplinary perspectives and generate insights from the combined vantage p...
Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age
20 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In her recent publication, Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age, scholar Ayala Fader tells the fascinating, often heart-wrenching stories...
Emily Doucet, "Inventing Nadar: A History of Photographic Firsts" (Duke UP, 2026)
16 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Félix Nadar took the first aerial photograph in 1858, so the story goes. The evidence, Emily Doucet notes, is mixed. In Inventing Nadar: A History o...
John Longhurst, "Can Robots Love God and Be Saved? A Journalist Reports on Faith" (CMU Press, 2024)
14 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
One of the things that stood out in my conversation with John Longhurst about his book Can Robots Love God and Be Saved? A Journalist Reports on Fai...
AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead with Andrew Sorota
12 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Like many people, I've been following the developments of AI, testing out new models and following the deluge of news stories about the fight for supr...
Aditya Deshbandhu, "The 21st Century in 100 Games" (Routledge, 2024)
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The 21st Century in 100 Games (Routledge India, 2024) is an interactive public history of the contemporary world. It creates a ludological retelling...
Shikha Jhingan, "The Female Playback in Bombay Cinema: Voice, Body, Technology" (Wayne State UP, 2025)
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How the sound of the female playback voice impacts Bollywood's cultural, musical, and cinematic environment. Drawing on sound studies and performance...
Dating Apps, Queer Stigma, and Digital Intimacy in Kazakhstan
08 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How queer men in Kazakhstan navigate dating apps in a context of stigma, surveillance, and limited legal protections. It shows how platforms like Grin...
Margaret O’Mara on the Clintons, Tech, and Memory
08 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We were joined by Professor Margaret O’Mara of the University of Washington, who had a front row seat to the Clinton campaign and went on to become ...
Ashok Malhotra, "Imperial Science, the Organic Movement and the Path to Shangri La, 1900-1969" (UCL Press, 2026)
06 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Imperial Science, the Organic Movement and the Path to Shangri La, 1900-1969 (UCL Press, 2026) is a global history project that examines the diffus...
Ann Carlson, "Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air" (U California Press, 2026)
06 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Los Angeles and smog have been synonymous for decades. From the 1940s through the 1980s, children breathed air so heavy with lead that their blood w...
Ralph Jones, "Microphone" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
05 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since its invention more than 150 years ago, the microphone transformed the world in an instant. Yet its evolution and integration into our daily liv...
Rahul Mukherjee, "Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution" (MIT Press, 2026)
02 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the f...
Pedro Domingos, "The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World" (Basic Books, 2018)
30 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the world's top research labs and universities, the race is on to invent the ultimate learning algorithm: one capable of discovering any knowledge ...
Christos Lynteris, "How Plague Got Rats: Mastering a Zoonotic Pandemic" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)
30 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today, rats are nearly synonymous with plague, but this association is surprisingly recent. For centuries, plague devastated populations without be...
Amy Thomas, "Copyright, Contract, and Video Games: Terms of Play" (Hart Publishing, 2026)
29 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Copyright, Contract, and Video Games: Terms of Play (Hart Publishing, 2026) uncovers how video game contracts act as monologues of power, mouldin...
What AI Means for Fiction: A Discussion with Literary Critic Mark McGurl
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How is the tool of Artificial Intelligence shaping the writing of fiction? Is AI emerging as more than just a potentially handy aid to an author—and...
Learning Languages on Social Media
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Brynn Quick speaks with Dr. Yeong Ju Lee about her new book Social Media and Language Lear...
Jeffrey Whyte, "The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War" (Oxford UP, 2023)
25 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Jeffrey Whyte's book The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War (Oxford UP, 2023) exp...
Yosef Grodzinsky, "How Deeply Human Is Language?: Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy" (MIT Press, 2026)
24 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How Deeply Human Is Language? Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy (MIT Press, 2026) is Yosef Grodzinsky’s exploration of the criticality of t...
Kate Brown, "Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning City" (W. W. Norton, 2026)
19 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Brown, Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at MIT joins Michael Stauch to discuss her new book Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, ...
Robert Rouphail, "Cyclonic Lives in an Indian Ocean World: Environment, Disaster, and Identity in Modern Mauritius" (Ohio UP, 2026)
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In a world marked by increasingly destructive ecological and meteorological upheavals, Cyclonic Lives in an Indian Ocean World: Environment, Disaster...
Paul Stob, "Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind" (Counterpoint Publishing, 2026)
16 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind (Counterpoint Publishing, 2026), Dr. ...
Silvia Danielak, "Peace Infrastructures: How UN Peace Operations Build Roads, Bridges, and Solar Farms in the Pursuit of Sustainability" (MIT Press, 2026)
16 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Roads, bridges, a renewable power plant, and an electricity grid: UN peacekeepers might be unusual infrastructure builders, but they’re certainly no...
Aymar Jèan Escoffery, "Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal Our Culture" (MIT Press, 2025)
15 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Can producing stories and developing platforms to support people who have been harmed by multiple, intersecting systems heal those systems? In Repara...
Angela I. Fritz, "AI and Digital Leadership: Transforming Libraries, Archives, and Museums for the Future" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
15 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI and Digital Leadership: Transforming Libraries, Archives, and Museums for the Future (Bloomsbury, 2026) explores how galleries, libraries, archive...
Rina Bliss, "What's Real About Race: Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society" (W.W. Norton, 2025)
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Rina Bliss teaches in the sociology department at Rutgers University, and has written on the social significance of genetic studies on intel...
Angus Burgin on the Rise of the Internet
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We were joined by Angus Burgin, Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and talked about how the arrival of the Internet remade li...
Peter S. Soppelsa, "Paris After Haussmann: Living with Infrastructure in the City of Light, 1870–1914" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2026)
10 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Modern Paris is often hailed as a capital of urban infrastructure. Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s rebuilding of Paris in 1853–1870, branded “...
Olivier Sylvain, "Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back" (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)
09 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloak...
Are We Entering An Arms Race in Outer Space?
08 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week on International Horizons, RBI interim director Eli Karetny interviewed Mallory Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Strategi...
Angela Dimitrakaki, "Feminism. Art. Capitalism" (Pluto Press, 2026)
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Can art change the contemporary world? In Feminism, Art, Capitalism Angela Dimitrakaki, a Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at th...
Max Morris, "Not Sex Work: Queer Intimacy, Post-identity, and Incidental Encounters in the Digital Era" (Routledge, 2025)
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Max Morris's Not Sex Work: Queer Intimacy, Post-identity, and Incidental Encounters in the Digital Era (Routledge, 2025) brings together feminist th...
Patrick Brodie and Darin Barney eds., "Media Rurality" (Duke UP, 2026)
03 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Media Rurality (Duke UP, 2026), edited by Darin Barney and Patrick Brodie, investigates the centrality of rural places and people within the media ...
Scott Solomon, "Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds" (MIT Press, 2026)
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How living in space will affect future generations—and what the potential unintended consequences of space settlements are.We are on the cusp of a g...
Deirdre Loughridge & Thomas Patteson, "The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments" (Reaktion, 2026)
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments (Reaktion, 2026) by Dr. Deirdre Loughridge & Dr. Thomas Patteson is a guided tour through centuries of in...
Vindhya Buthpitiya, "A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka" (U Washington Press, 2026)
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka (U Washington Press, 2026) by Dr. Vindhya Buthpitiya is a groundbreaking ...
Raffaele Danna, "The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals: How Practical Arithmetic Shaped Commerce and Mathematics in Western Europe, 1200–1600" (Harvard UP, 2026)
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the thirteenth-century Mediterranean, commerce transformed as merchants shifted from Roman to Indo-Arabic numerals—an alternative that better fac...
Karen Hao, "Empire of AI: Inside the Race for Total Domination" (Allan Lane, 2025)
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hello! Thanks for reaching out. I'm glad you're here! Do you have any questions or thoughts about the recent discussion with Karen Hao on AI and its s...
A Shakeup Is Coming for the Nation-State: A Conversation with Stephen Sims
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Sims’ New Atlantis essay examines how emerging technologies are reshaping the structure and authority of the modern nation-state. He argue...
Roland Betancourt, "Disneyland and the Rise of Automation: How Technology Created the Happiest Place on Earth" (Princeton UP, 2026)
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When Disneyland opened to the public in 1955, it demystified the hidden world of factory automation through its extraordinary new attractions. In Dis...
Sarah Murray, "Powered by Smart: A Prehistory of Everyday AI" (NYU Press, 2026)
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Powered by Smart traces the techno-cultural evolutions that made artificial intelligence feel more familiar than futuristic. From wearables and strea...
The Information State: How is the State Surveilling and Manipulating us These Days?
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of International Horizons, RBI Acting Director Eli Karetny interviews Jacob Siegel, writer, Army veteran, and author of The Informat...
David Blumenthal and James A. Morone, "Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science" (Yale UP, 2026)
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For nearly a century, every Democratic president—and many Republicans—entered office promising to restructure America’s health care system. Bara...
Generic
20 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of High Theory, Kim talks to Ben Mangrum about Generic. A curious term that denotes both the conventions and rules of genre, and the i...
Adrian Woolfson, "On the Future of Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence" (MIT Press, 2026)
20 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a future where we grow houses rather than build them. Where smartphones are alive, clothing has opinions and all human knowledge fits into a s...
Kristan Stoddart, "Russia's Hybrid Warfare Offensive Against the West" (de Gruyter, 2025)
19 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Kristan Stoddart's Russia's Hybrid Warfare Offensive Against the West (de Gruyter, 2025) is a timely and systematic analysis of Russian hybrid warfa...
Ibrahim J. Gedeon and Kyle Murray, "Automata: The Power of AI Integrated with Advanced Robotics" (U Toronto Press, 2026)
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Automata examines how AI and advanced robotics are rapidly surpassing human abilities in fields once thought uniquely ours – from playing chess to d...
Keith Cooper, "Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact" (Reaktion, 2025)
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a double sunset on Tatooine, stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis or gaze at the gas-giant plan...
Nabil Ali, "Gold from Newton's Apple Tree: Historical Recipes for Natural Inks, Paints, and Dyes" (Princeton UP, 2026)
14 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Flowering currant, ivy, Portuguese laurel, and woad might all have grown in a medieval garden, but it would have taken special expertise to extract an...
David Kirsch on the Dot Com Bubble and Bust
13 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We chat with historian David Kirsch, Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School, about ...
Alberto Galasso, "The Management of Innovation: Managing and Creating Technology Capital" (Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2024)
12 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the importance of innovation for the growth of firms, industries, and the national economy, the strategic tools available to effectively manag...
Flower Darby, "The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes" (U Oklahoma Press, 2026)
12 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The happier the teacher, the better the learning experience--for instructor and student alike. With this equation at its core, The Joyful Online Teac...
Peter D. McDonald, "The Impossible Reversal: A History of How We Play" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)
11 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tracing the cultural history of play--from Fluxus to SimCity Games and gamified activities have become ubiquitous in many adults' lives, and play is w...
The Green Transition and the Politics of Lithium Extraction
10 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Lithium is necessary for the green transition but its mining comes with significant environmental and social harms. This is the conundrum at the core ...
David Arditi, "Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok" (Anthem Press, 2026)
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Who makes a living from the music industry? In Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok (Anthem Press, 2...
Douglas H. Erwin, "The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology" (Princeton UP, 2026)
06 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Origins of the New (Princeton University Press, 2026) presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this g...
Tim Altenhof, "Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings" (Zone Books, 2026)
05 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings (Zone Books, 2026) is a compelling and wide-ranging analysis of pneumatic phenomena in modern c...
Eivind Røssaak, "The Cory Arcangel Hack: Digital Culture and Aesthetic Practice" (MIT Press, 2025)
04 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The first in-depth exploration of the work of artist Cory Arcangel, a pioneer of DIY-new media art whose influential “hacks” subvert the confines ...
Wout Saelens, "Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries" (Leuven UP, 2026)
04 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries (Leuven UP, 2026) by Dr. Wout Saelens explores how the homes ...
Isabelle Held, "Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies" (Duke UP, 2026)
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bullet bras, bazookas, bombshells, bikinis. In Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies (Duke UP, 2026), Dr. Isabelle Held challenges t...
Ben Collier on Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Ben Co...
Vojta Hybl, "Rocks: A Guide to the Stones Around Us and the Stories They Tell" (Frances Lincoln, 2026)
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What is that rock you’ve just picked up? Which minerals is it made of, what’s unique about it and what can it reveal about Earth’s deeper story?...
Caste and Tech with Murali Shanmugavelan and Sareeta Amrute
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode features a conversation with Murali Shanmugavelan and Sareeta Amrute about how caste structures IT workspaces and communication infrastru...
Steffan Blayney, "Health and Efficiency: Fatigue, the Science of Work, and the Making of the Working-Class Body" (Activist Studies of Science, 2022)
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest today is Steffan Blayney, the author of Health & Efficiency: Fatigue, the Science of Work, and the Making of the Working-Class Body. In H...
Sidra Hamidi, "After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomic Age" (Cambridge UP, 2026)
21 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Nuclear status is typically treated as a stable feature of a state's capacity to possess, use, or build nuclear weapons. Challenging this view, After...
Karima Moyer-Nocchi, "The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America" (Columbia UP, 2026)
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today, macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, a staple of weeknight dinners, family gatherings, and Soul Food restaurants. Humble though th...
Charles G. Curtin, "Place-Based Solutions: The Power of Regenerative Thinking in the Face of Crisis" (JHU Press, 2026)
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Place-Based Solutions (JHU Press, 2026) offers a bold and practical response, charting a path toward what Charles G. Curtin calls "prosilience"—th...
Lisa Nakamura, "The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the...
P. Thirumal and K. A. Nuaiman eds., "Inhabiting Technologies/Modernities: Media and Cultural Practices in South Asia" (Orient BlackSwan, 2025)
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Studies of forms of media have focused on either political or cultural histories of media. Political histories study media growth and literacy, and th...
Sam Illingworth and Rachel Forsyth, "GenAI in Higher Education: Redefining Teaching and Learning" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
GenAI in Higher Education: Redefining Teaching and Learning (Bloomsbury, 2026) provides practical guidance for higher education professionals lookin...
Courtney Humphries, "Climate Change and the Future of Boston" (Anthem Press, 2026)
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Like many of the world’s iconic coastal cities, Boston faces potentially severe impacts from climate change. Depending on global emissions, Boston c...
César A. Hidalgo, "The Infinite Alphabet: And the Laws of Knowledge" (Allen Lane, 2026)
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We all understand that knowledge shapes the fate of business and the growth of nations, but few of us are aware of the principles that govern its moti...
Susannah B. Mintz, "Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story" (Reaktion, 2026)
15 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story (Reaktion, 2026) proposes a bold reimagining of a frequently dismissed condition. Dr. Susannah B. Mintz refram...
Marianna Dudley, "Electric Wind: An Energy History of Modern Britain by Marianna Dudley" (Manchester UP, 2025)
14 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Electric Wind: An Energy History of Modern Britain by Marianna Dudley (Manchester University Press, 2025) is a cutting-edge history of wind power in...
Michael Bycroft, "Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution" (U Chicago Press, 2026)
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution (U Chicago Press, 2026), Dr. Michael Bycroft argues that gems were connec...
Britt Paris, "Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up" (U California Press, 2025)
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We are glad to talk to Britt Paris about her book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up (U California Press, 2025). ...
Christiane Tristl, "Turning Water into Commodity: Digital Innovation and the Private Sector as Development Agent" (Bristol UP, 2025)
08 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I am in conversation with Dr Christiane Tristl, an economic geographer interested in heterodox economic geography. Their scholarship...
Rebecca Sharpless, "People of the Wheat: Culture and Cultivation in North Texas" (U Texas Press, 2026)
07 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever wondered where your wheat flour is coming from, who is milling it (and how), or how it came to be such an important staple, then this...
Patrick Chung, "Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026) by Dr. Patrick Chung tr...
Amelia Acker, "Archiving Machines: From Punch Cards to Platforms" (MIT Press, 2025)
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We're so pleased to welcome Dr. Amelia Acker, author of Archiving Machines: From Punch Cards to Platforms (MIT Press, 2025) to the New Books Netw...
Miguel Sicart, "Playing Software: Homo Ludens in Computational Culture" (MIT Press, 2023)
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age. Whe...
Jieun Kiaer, "Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media" (Bloomsbury, 2023)
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Dr. Jieun Kiaer provides an in-depth discussion of emoji use in a glo...
Honghong Tinn, "Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry" (MIT Press, 2024)
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world's leading chip manufacturer. How did Taiwan, a for...
Fred Turner on Countercultures, Cybercultures, and Californian and Texan Ideologies
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Fred T...
Subodhana Wijeyeratne, "The Islands and the Stars: A History of Japan's Space Programs" (Stanford UP, 2026)
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is among the six largest national space agencies in the world, along with China's CNSA, US's NASA, and R...
Marc Masters, "High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape" (UNC Press, 2023)
22 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The cassette tape was revolutionary. Cheap, portable, and reusable, this small plastic rectangle changed music history. Make your own tapes! Trade the...
Joe Williams, "Inequality in the Digital Economy: The Case for a Universal Basic Income" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)
21 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Joe Williams speaks with Andrew White about how the digital economy is reshaping inequality, work, and the social contract. Drawing o...
W. Patrick McCray, "README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines" (MIT Press, 2025)
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines (MIT Press, 2025), historian Dr. Patrick McCray argues that ...
David King Dunaway, "A Four-Eyed World: How Glasses Changed the Way We See" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Eyeglasses have become so commonplace we hardly think about them—unless we can’t find them. Yet glasses have been controversial throughout history...
Ted Striphas, "Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet" (Columbia UP, 2023)
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ted Striphas, Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera and Alex Rivera Cartagena discuss Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet (Columbia University Pr...
Vanessa Rampton, "Making Medical Progress: History of a Contested Idea" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Answers to the question 'what is medical progress?' have always been contested, and any one response is always bound up with contextual ideas of perso...
Javiera Barandiaran, "Living Minerals: Nature, Trade, and Power in the Race for Lithium" (MIT Press, 2026)
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A sobering investigation of the rush for lithium for electric vehicles, the problematic history of lithium mining, and the consequences for sustainabi...
Howard Alan Israel, "Nazi Anatomy Lessons: A Dissection of Evil" (Vallentine Mitchell, 2026)
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if the tools that shaped your life’s work were rooted in unimaginable evil? In this haunting episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with Dr. Howar...
Yi-Ling Liu, "The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet" (Knopf, 2026)
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As P...
Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo, "Governing Digital China" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China (Camb...
Tom Bolton, "Atomic Albion: Journeys Around Britain’s Nuclear Power Stations" (Strange Attractor, 2025)
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The United Kingdom has sixteen nuclear power stations. Most go under the radar, but their presence is enormous, both physically and culturally. They d...
Jacob Mchangama, "Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media" (Basic Books, 2022)
08 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob Mchangama, founder and director of the think tank Justitia, has written a one-volume history of freedom of thought, which ranges from the lon...
Jon R. Lindsay "Age of Deception: Cybersecurity as Secret Statecraft" (Cornell UP, 2025)
07 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At the heart of cybersecurity lies a paradox: Cooperation makes conflict possible. In Age of Deception (Cornell University Press 2025), Jon R. Lind...
Rob Gallagher, "Artgames after GamerGate" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Videogame culture is obsessed with development. But gaming is still widely associated with wasted time, squandered potential and backwards attitudes. ...