For those who aren’t following along, I run a small book subscription service called Curious Reading Club. It’s focused on sharing non-fiction books that I’ve enjoyed, often about science, technology, history and society—mostly new (but not always) and with a curveball memoir or handbook thrown in for fun now and then. 

The books I choose are generally written from a journalistic point of view, and I particularly try to find titles and authors that deserve a little more time in the spotlight… after all, the reality is that it’s really hard to promote new works, and most authors don’t get a ton of publicity and support from their publishers. 

We are closing in on 60 members who get a book each month, without any real promotion.

One of the added benefits for me is that the chance to interview the author of that month’s book. This happens often but not every time. We don’t actually have an interview this month—I was unable to make contact with Tim Clare, despite several attempts. But it did make me think about all the fun conversations I’ve had since starting this up. So I thought I’d share the interview archive here. 

Here they all are: I’ve grouped them by broad subject to help you see some common threads, although subject matter inevitably goes much further than these one liners can capture, and there are many more overlaps between the various interviews once you start digging in.

Our planet, past, present and future

Ferris Jabr on a holistic approach to earth science; Laura Poppick on the benefits of thinking about deep time; Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on maintaining hope in the face of environmental crisis.

The art of writing about history

Bonnie Tsui on mixing reporting and memoir; Carvell Wallace on the joys and difficulties of writing memoir; Adam Higginbotham on bringing history to life (part I, part II); Rebecca Nagle on digging up complicated stories. 

Technology and society

Alexis Madrigal on how the world has changed and what we can do about it; Karen Hao on what’s wrong with AI; Nicola Twilley on the way refrigeration has utterly changed our food and our lives; Henry Grabar on society’s terrible incentives around parking and cars.

Politics, policy and ethics

Annalee Newitz on propaganda and the culture wars; Nora Krug on illustrating a guide to resisting tyranny; Carl Elliott on whistleblowers; Lauren Markham on who benefits from the current migration system; Carly Anne York on the importance of engaging people about the value of scientific research.

Talking with these fantastic authors has been a real highlight of the last 18 months for me; I hope you get something out of these conversations too.