Our Collaborative Travel and Memory Map
When Stephanie and I were planning the book club, one idea we landed on early on was that of a collaborative travel and memory map. There is nothing like hearing first hand about someone’s adventures and discoveries and memories, and where it all went down. Together, as a book
Episode 3: ‘Seeing Is Knowing’
In Flights, we encounter human anatomy in a number of ways—wax figures, live dissection, body parts in jars, and the search for a secret preservation formula. Why did this kind of bodily preservation begin? How did it transform medical science and our understanding of where we come from? And
Live Discussion Week #1
Episode 2: What Is Travel Psychology?
Is “travel psychology” a real thing? How have our definitions of where we’re from changed over history? What do highways, our passports, and the lines and lounges in an airport reveal about travel and movement in the modern world? And what happens when we shift from viewing humans as
Episode 1: Where Did We Come From? Where Are We Going?
Why did we choose this strange, fragmented novel for the summer book club? What do we know about its author, Olga Tokarczuk? And what are some “reading maps” we can use to start finding our way in this very different kind of story? Find out in Episode 1:
Trailer: Behavioral Scientist Reads ‘Flights’
The podcast trailer is officially here! Introducing Behavioral Scientist Reads, the podcast that explores what it means to be human through conversations at the intersection of science and culture, and books that illuminate who we are and who we can become. You can find Behavioral Scientist Reads wherever you get
We Have Liftoff
“Whenever I set off on any sort of journey I fall off the radar. No one knows where I am. At the point I departed from? Or at the point I’m headed to” — Olga Tokarczuk, “Everywhere and Nowhere,” Flights * * * Welcome to this summer’s book and podcast featuring Flights
Get to Know Olga Tokarczuk and ‘Flights’ Through These Six Quotes
Who is the author we’ll be spending time with this summer, Olga Tokarczuk? And what do we know about this strange, fragmented novel Flights that we’re about to begin? I’ve selected six quotes from Tokarczuk to help us get to know her and Flights. They span her
Announcing Our 2026 Summer Book Club and Podcast
Each summer, we read a novel and explore its themes through conversations with leading thinkers at the intersection of science and culture...
George Orwell Past and Present: A Conversation with Biographer D.J. Taylor
George Orwell's Surprising Stance on Hypocrisy
George Orwell was deeply concerned about hypocrisy—but in the opposite way you might expect. That’s what struck me about halfway through writing my new book The Hypocrisy Trap. Orwell spent his career hacking away at humbug and falsehoods and famously warned how language gets corrupted by “a gap