Heads-up for 16 November 2010

Forgotten Classics
Episode 141: Genesis, chapters 3-4
In which Adam and Eve give in to temptation and suffer the consequences.
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
Sukanya and Cyavana
Episode 32 - Two more stories from the Book of the Forest. The first involves another Bhrgu Brahmin with a Kshatriya wife. The second story, about Mahdhatar, is short, but interesting in how it differs from all the other stories we've had so far from Lomasha.
(review, feed)

The China History Podcast
The Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty & the Sixteen Kingdoms
This week we are back with more Chinese history. We will look at a very confusing but exciting time when there was mostly a period of disunity and China was broken up into contending kingdoms. However this period of chaos brought us some of the richest tales of ancient China filled with amazing battles, events and larger than life characters. We'll look at the Three Kingdoms period that followed the demise of the Eastern Han. Then we will look at the Western Jin dynasty that briefly united China, followed by the Eastern Jin and then the period of the 16 Northern Kingdoms.
(review, feed)

Scientific American Podcast aka Science Talk
Physics Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg
Nobel physicist Steven Weinberg spoke to an audience of science journalists, and then to podcast host Steve Mirsky.
(review, feed)

Not your idea of World War II - New Books In History

I cannot recommend enough the podcast New Books In History (NBIH). Marshall Poe interviews authors of recently published books in history. Here you will earn some real insight in history topics that have your interest. Moreover, the interview format and the length of the show makes it extremely fit for podcast and accessible for all audiences. (feed)

NBIH is the podcast that frequently teaches me something radically new in history. Take for example the recent show with Joe Maiolo about the origins of World War II. Maiolo's book 'Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War 1931-1941' does away with a major consensus about WW2 which especially lives among the lay: Without Hitler no war. Maiolo attempts to show that the international politics of the interbellum and the ensuing arms race pushed Europe to a second version of the Great War. Hitler only facilitated and expedited it.

Then there was another consensus challenged, more implicitly though and apparently the challenge was not new, but again, for the lay public, that is, for me, this was also a radically different view: Germany was to lose the war, always. Germany lost the war already before it started. The victory over France in 1940 was a fluke. I always thought the attack on the Soviet Union (1941) did the Germans in, as they got overstretched, but the facts as Maiolo sees them (and apparently not just he) is that from the onset this was a war of industry and Germany never had a chance the meet the capacity of England and the US, even without France and Russia. It is a miracle they came as far as they did and the sheer industrial disparity only came out as late as 1942, 1943.

Eventually one thing nags me after the interview. In light of the second point the first actually loses some weight. If the objective power balance was such that Germany could never win, neither the arms race, nor the total war, why would you be so sure ANY other German ruler had let the whole things slide into war? It actually sort of suggests that it took a warmonger and megalomaniac such as Hitler to take on all German enemies in spite of the stack being against him. Yet, the interview makes it also clear that much of Maiolo's findings have the clarity of hindsight. Few of the leaders involved saw it as clear as all that. So maybe indeed, WW2 had to happen, although it was more likely to become a short repetition of WW1, not the huge disaster we know. So, how is that?

More NBIH:
When Akkadian was Lingua Franca,
The 1910 Paris flood,
Stasi agents and informants,
War in Human Civilization,
Always recommended: New Books in History.

Heads-up for 15 November 2010

Philosophy Bites
What is Philosophy?
What is Philosophy? We asked some of our contributors this question for this bonus episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy.
(review, feed)

Office Hours
Keith Hampton on Wireless Internet and Public Spaces
This episode, we talk with Keith Hampton about his research on wireless internet and public spaces. Does public wifi encourage a stronger public sphere or diminish public life by encouraging everyone to live inside their own private digital bubble? Hampton argues it’s more complicated than that, and public WiFi can, in fact, encourage many different kinds of social interaction, both online and offline.
(review, feed)

Wise Counsel Podcast
John Doe - Transformed in Prison
His first years in prison were a continuation of his earlier experience; he continued to use drugs, later giving them up for exercise as a means of self-protection. He met a woman visiting the prison and formed a platonic friendship with her. When she became pregnant (by another man) he formed a relationship with her child. This experience helped him to realize that the purpose of life is found in relationships. About ten years into his sentence, he shifted from a motivation to "do something crazy" so as to secure his "lifer" status within the prison (apparently something experienced as comforting by prisoners) to wanting a life outside the prison. Also about this time he was tricked into participating in a substance abuse treatment program involving a good deal of psychotherapy which he found very valuable. He dealt with chronic neck pain with intensive meditation which ultimately produced in him a feeling of great contentment and peace despite continuing pain. At this moment he realized that his purpose was to be helpful to others.
(review, feed)

Power struggle over Ireland - Irish History Podcast

In the tenth century Gaelic clans and Vikings struggled for dominance over Ireland and this history is in a very captivating manner told by Fin Dwyer at the Irish History Podcast (feed).

Changing Times in Ireland 902-930 is the fifth episode in this podcast that chronologically takes us through the history of Ireland. Dwyer kicks off in this episode on 902, when the Vikings for a short time had lost power in Ireland and the two major Irish power brokers the O'Neills and the Eoganacht battle it out for dominion over the whole island. As Dwyer frequently emphasizes during this chapter this internal war was to have many unexpected outcomes and would eventually see a deep change in the power balance.

Dwyer produces short episodes (around 30 minutes) with clear breaks within them to make sure the listener does not get distracted, making for a very accessible history. People who would want to learn more about Irish history should not just follow the audio of Irish History Podcast, but read the blog posts as well.

A thing that surprises me until this point in the chronology is how little connection there is between Ireland and the history outside, apart from that of the Vikings. I expected influences from England and Scotland especially, though in these ages, they were also under the Vikings. And while we talk Vikings, I would also recommend the latest issue of BBC's In Our Time, about Vikings, even if it were too short to my taste.

More Irish History:
Conspiracy Trials in Ireland,
Hidden Heritage,
Irish History in Podcasts,
Irish History Podcast.

Heads-up for 14 November 2010

The Writing Show
Writing Young Adult Fiction
With aspiring YA author Leigh T. Moore
(review, feed)

Tapestry (CBC)
Face Time
If the eyes are the window to the soul, what would you call the face? The philosopher Wittgenstein called it “the soul of the body.” You can put your best face forward, face the music, put your game-face on. Somehow or other, whatever version of you that you bring to the outside world, is revealed on your face. Mary Hynes speaks to Jonathan Goldstein, Robin Ghivan, Oliver Sacks and Judith Harris.
(review, feed)

Wanhoffs Wunderbare Welt der Wissenschaft
Sonnenbrand bei Walen und Hundebisse bei Kindern
Sonnenbrand bei Walen; Hunde beißen unbeaufsichtige Kinder, die sie “drangsalieren”; Was läßt Venusfliegenfalle zuklappen? Naturansatz bei Krebsmittel; Krebsmedikamnet aus Tabakpflanzen; Ultraschall schafft Genauigkeit bei Krebstherapie.
(review, feed)

Bernard Freyberg - Veertien Achttien

De biografie van deze week in Veertien Achttien is over de Nieuwzeelandse ijzervreter Bernard Freyberg. Dit is het verhaal van een officier die met doodsverachting menig front in 14-18 bezocht heeft. Hij is een klassieke militaire held waarvan je er niet zoveel in de podcast van Tom Tacken tegenkomt.

Het cliche van de Eerste Wereldoorlog is veelal een verhaal van de dom rechtlijnige officieren die hun soldaten de dood injagen, vasthoudend aan 19e eeuwse mores en achterhaalde strategie. Of anders gaat het over de gelaten en ontnuchterde frontsoldaten die op de een of andere manier de modderhel proberen te overleven. Freyberg is enerzijds die frontsoldaat, maar hij wil maar niet ontnuchterd raken.

Het brengt Tom Tacken ertoe om zijn verhaal te vertellen met een stevige vleug van meewarigheid. Hoe indrukwekkender de vermetele manhaftigheid van Freyberg wordt, hoe meer het tegelijk ook wat potsierlijk is. Zelfs al zou je de man zelf zijn glorie laten dan tenminste is de grenzeloze bewondering voor hem, van onder meer Winston Churchill, een triest mechanisme dat de oorlog in stand houdt, zo lijkt Tacken te denken terwijl hij zijn tekst leest.

Veertien Achttien blijft een adembenemende podcast die internationaal zijn weerga niet kent. De traditionele media zouden er meer erkenning voor kunnen opbrengen. Misschien dat een korte verschijning van Tacken in het Journaal wat extra's zou kunnen brengen. Zie onderstaande video.



Meer Veertien Achttien:
Richard Huelsenbeck,
Veertien Achttien nieuwsbrief (PTSD versus shellshock)
Sir Mark Sykes,
De Eerste Wereldoorlog in podcast,
Ford en anderen.