The TLS Podcast

The TLS’s philosophy editor Tim Crane guides us through a selection of reviews and essays from this week’s issue, including on the future of AI and what Thomas Hobbes, Susan Sontag, Montaigne and the trolley problem can tell us about our present predicament; the novelist Will Eaves re-reads Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, “a caravan of episodes, made up of people going through the same horror in different ways”, and ponders a big-screen adaptation…  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Buruma on the twentieth-century Italian writer Curzio Malaparte, a fascist and a fabulist with a hunger for war and a remarkable way of capturing it; Sue Stuart-Smith on gardening in the trenches of the First World War and the concept of horticultural therapy; to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the TLS's history editor David Horspool talks us through a range of books, articles and essays covering the Second World WarSelected booksDiary of a Foreigner in Paris, by Curzio Malaparte, translated from the Italian and the French by Stephen TwilleyThe Well-Gardened Mind: The restorative power of nature, by Sue Stuart-SmithDresden: The fire and the darkness, by Sinclair McKayThe Volunteer: The true story of the resistance hero who infiltrated Auschwitz, by Jack Fairweather Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Waddell on the disorderly history of alphabetic order; Beejay Silcox, who fled Cairo for Western Australia as the coronavirus spread, tells a tale of star-crossed lovers; Jordan Sand gives a short cultural history of mask-wearingA Place for Everything: The curious history of alphabetical order by Judith Flanders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lawrence Douglas, in Massachusetts, on the presidential past, present and future of Donald Trump; Irina Dumitrescu, in Germany, on books as escape (attempt) and reading the plague into plague-free books; Lucy Dallas presents this month’s round-up of audio / visual offerings A Very Stable Genius: Donald Trump’s testing of America, by Philip Rucker and Carol LeonnigUnmaking The Presidency: Donald Trump’s war on the world’s most powerful office, by Susan Hennessey and Benjamin WittesAmerican Carnage: On the front lines of the Republican civil war and the rise of President Trump, by Tim Alberta Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

William Shakespeare, the writer who – above all others, perhaps – keeps giving and giving. Michael Caines takes us through the latest research, theories and discoveries (or not, as the case may be); Why do women read more fiction than men? Lucy Scholes returns to the age-old conundrumDeath by Shakespeare: Snakebites, stabbings and broken hearts by Kathryn HarkupUntimely Death in Renaissance Drama by Andrew GriffinShakespeare in a Divided America by James ShapiroShakespeare and Trump by Jeffrey R. Wilson‘Infecting the teller – The failure of a mathematical approach to Shakespeare’s authorship’ by Brian Vickers, in this week’s TLSWhy Women Read Fiction: The stories of our lives by Helen Taylor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today an edition of our new daily podcast - Stories of our times. Our new free daily news podcast takes you to the heart of the stories that matter, with exclusive access and reporting. Published for the start of your day, it is hosted by Manveen Rana and David Aaronovitch.If you want to hear more please search for Stories of our times and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.With reading on the rise under the lockdown, TLS editor Stig Abell suggests three books for a little escapism during these uncertain times. Stories of our times is the new daily podcast from The Times. Listen to more episodes here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ellen Crowell investigates an early-twentieth-century tale of doomed lesbian romance, decadent cryptography, morphine-induced suicide and more; Richard Smyth on the joys of bird-watching during lockdown; Michael Caines reads his poem “Decadence” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recovering Alexander van Tulleken shares some thoughts on the British response to Covid-19; What cultural things are people doing to pass the time in isolation? We asked a selection of our writers, and Lucy Dallas joins us (from what sounds like a small tin box) to pluck at the results Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samuel Graydon reviews two new albums, by the folk troubadour Sam Lee and indie rock band Cornershop, both of which offer innovative and intelligent musical perspectives on modern England; the TLS’s arts editor Lucy Dallas presents this month’s ‘Audio/Visual’, a monthly round-up of listening and watching; Josephine Livingstone grapples with the 'omnivore paradox' in the arts sector: why broader tastes in art have not led to wider participationFeatured works Old Wow by Sam LeeEngland is a Garden by CornershopAudio: ‘Reply All’, the podcastVisual: ‘Five Guys a Week’, Channel 4Entitled: Discriminating tastes and the expansion of the arts by Jennifer C. LenaSteal as Much as You Can: How to win the culture wars in an age of austerity by Nathalie OlahSmashing It: Working class artists on life, art and making it happen, edited by Sabrina Mahfouz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Parks talks us through the lockdown from Milan; A. N. Wilson explains the Prayer Book Controversy of the 1920s, and why it's a bit like Brexit; and Anna Girling looks back on the - failed - poetic and critical career of Richard AldingtonRichard Aldington, Two volumes, by Vivien Whelpton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.