Morbidly Curious Book Club Podcast

Morbidly Curious Book Club®
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The Morbidly Curious Book Club® is an 18+ non-fiction book club diving into the darke,r macabre parts of your library, with a passion for learning more about what may be too niche for your family gatherings. What started in 2021 as a dream quickly became a reality, and as of mid-2024, we have over 17,000 global members worldwide with localized chapters sprouting up around the world. The podcast started in 2024 as a way to give the members a little bit more by chatting with the authors themselves about their books. There are also bonus episodes where I chat with the book's subjects or updates regarding the book's topics, and 'archive' episodes where I chat with authors from previous book club picks. Join the book club today at https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ Thank you for being a part of this weird, incredible book club. Enjoy the podcast!

  1. 7h ago ·  Bonus

    (Bonus) 99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them with the author Ashely Alker, MD

    Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode! Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ I sat down with the one and only Dr Ashely Alker to discuss her book 99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them. An illuminating, hilarious, and practical guide to 99 of the most terrifying ways to die and how to avoid them from an emergency medicine doctor. Dr. Ashely Alker is a self-described death escapologist—or, in more familiar terms, an emergency medicine doctor. She has seen it all, from flesh-eating bacteria to the work of a serial killer to the more mundane but no less deadly, and her work outwitting the end has uniquely prepared her to write this book. Dr. Alker manages to shock listeners while making them laugh, educating them on how to outsmart a wide range of deadly situations and conditions. Many of the chapters include stories from her experiences in life and medicine, at times heartwarming, others heartbreaking. Sections include explorations of sex, poison, drugs, biological warfare, disease, animals, crime, the elements, and much more. An Anthony Bourdain-style greatest hits tour of death, 99 Ways to Die is entertaining while it informs. Full of valuable advice and wild stories, this riveting listen might just save your life. Ashely Alker, M.D., M.Sc., is an emergency medicine physician on a mission to improve public health. While completing her master’s degree, Dr. Alker studied at Harvard School of Public Health’s multinational institute in Cyprus, where she lived near the United Nations Green Zone and worked in humanitarian affairs at the Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. After graduating from the George Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Alker served as a healthcare advisor for a member of the US Congress. During her residency in emergency medicine at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Alker became a technical consultant and medical screenwriter, improving medical accuracy on over twenty shows, including TV and film for Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Disney. Her nonprofit, Meaningful Media, connects writers, artists, and reporters with certified public health experts to develop scientifically accurate messaging. TW: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/cb65259b-b36c-4c43-af51-5fe0a22431d9 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    (Bonus) 99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them with the author Ashely Alker, MD

  2. 4d ago ·  Bonus

    (Bonus) How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words with the author Sophia Smith Galer

    Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode! Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ I sat down with the incredible Sophia Smith Galer to discuss her book How to Kill A Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words. Languages can be killed in many ways: war, the climate crisis, nationalism, and even quiet choices made at the dinner table. Around the world, an unprecedented shift is drawing speakers toward national and global lingua francas. For some, that means losing the language of parents or grandparents; for many, it is a permanent farewell to systems that carry knowledge, culture, and belonging. With half of our 7,000 languages due to disappear this century, linguicide is one of the most pressing cultural emergencies of our age. In How to Kill a Language, journalist Sophia Smith Galer travels across continents and generations to chart this phenomenon. In Ecuador, she sees firsthand how shame deters parents from passing Kichwa onto their children. In Oman, she learns about languages with roots older than Arabic but never officially recognized. And in Italy, she searches for her Nonna’s dialët, which is vanishing from diaspora communities and Italy itself. But languages can also be reclaimed: We meet the Karuk tribe of California, pioneering a grassroots language immersion program, and the storytellers challenging the criminalization of Kurdish. And in her discussion of Hebrew, Smith Galer reckons with the unintended consequences of raising a language seemingly from the grave. Part investigation, part travelogue from a disappearing world, How to Kill a Language exposes the true costs of this mass extinction event. Brought to life by vivid storytelling and Smith Galer’s own experience with language loss, it’s a fierce rallying cry for a multilingual future. Sophia Smith Galer is an award-winning journalist who has reported for the BBC and VICE News around the world. She studied Spanish and Arabic at Durham University, and in 2022 British Vogue selected her as one of the 25 most influential women in the UK. TW: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/cfbcfc43-253d-4b65-9b29-9f3969874fb8 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    (Bonus) How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words with the author Sophia Smith Galer

  3. Jul 28 ·  Bonus

    (Bonus) Ghosts & Grub with Amy Bruni

    Welcome to a very special episode! I got the opportunity to chat with Amy Bruni, author of Life with the Afterlife, which we read for the book club back in the day...Amy, though, has recently released cookbooks! And her new one, Cuisine to Kill For, is available TODAY, July 28th, 2026! Go pick it up wherever you get your books! Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ From bestselling author, paranormal investigator, and Kindred Spirits co-host Amy Bruni, Cuisine to Kill For intertwines the macabre with the culinary to uncover some of history’s most gruesome true crime stories and the ghosts they left behind. Whether set in a haunted castle, a mysterious hotel, an abandoned prison, or a popular pub, these paranormal tales span the entire globe—and their accompanying culinary treats are equally wide-ranging. Featuring nearly 60 locations, this book includes: Gruesome true crime tales paired with spine-tingling paranormal encounters59 recipes inspired by history, local flavors, or even eerie menu items served at these haunted spotsAuthentic vintage photographs from each haunted site, bringing these violent histories to lifeMysteriously mouthwatering food photography, styled to inspire a killer kitchen experienceSink your teeth into tempting dishes and devilish drinks, including: Sunday Roast with Gravy from Ten Bells Pub in England (Jack the Ripper, anyone?)Meat Stew with Polenta and Egg from Romania’s foreboding Bran CastleThe Elderflower Rose Gin Trifle from Canada’s stunning Empress HotelLouis XV’s Drinking Chocolate from the Palace of VersaillesThe Reindeer Fart from Alaska’s spirited Red Onion SaloonShrimp Wiggle from the Pennhurst Asylum in Pennsylvania (only if you dare)Whether you're drawn to the paranormal, obsessed with true crime, or simply hungry for a historic culinary escape, this cookbook is for: True crime aficionados who love a good (and gory) backstoryHistory buffs and travel enthusiasts fascinated by the darker side of iconic locationsHosts and entertainers craving unique ways to captivate guestsFoodies with guts to try centuries-old—and disturbingly “authentic”—recipes Amy Bruni effortlessly merges her love of the mysterious with jaw-droppingly delicious recipes, offering a cookbook that’s as deathly as it is delectable. Cuisine To Kill For isn’t just a collection of recipes; it’s a passport to haunted history with every chilling page. If you’ve got an appetite for eerie tales, blood-curdling history, and global flavors, this haunted cookbook is your ultimate culinary companion. Amy Bruni is a professional paranormal investigator, author, podcaster, and TV host. In 2007 she began appearing on Ghost Hunters, one of the longest-running and highest-rated paranormal television shows. Now, she’s the co-star and executive producer of The Travel Channel’s Kindred Spirits and host of the true crime podcast Haunted Road. Amy is the owner of Strange Escapes, a company offering paranormal excursions to some of America’s most notoriously haunted destinations. She is the author of Life with the Afterlife, and currently resides in Newport, Rhode Island. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    (Bonus) Ghosts & Grub with Amy Bruni

  4. Jul 24

    Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum with the author Antonia Hylton

    Season 3 Episode 6! Join the Book Club, subscribe to our book box, and support our small business here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ This episode is available ad-free for our Patreon members, and releases slightly early! Become a Patreon Pal today, and check out other episodes, along with bonus bits not included for the general public... https://patreon.com/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub? In July, the Morbidly Curious Book Club read "Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum" by Antonia Hylton! For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers through the ninety-three-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Antonia Hylton blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade’s worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity. Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations. As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable. Antonia Hylton is a Peabody and Emmy-award winning journalist at NBC News reporting on politics and civil rights, and the co-host of the hit podcast Southlake and Grapevine. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she received prizes for her investigative research on race, mass incarceration and the history of psychiatry. She lives in Brooklyn. https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/5fbd9700-bf4c-4bf3-aef2-75f840c8687c Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum with the author Antonia Hylton

  5. Jul 14 ·  Bonus

    (Bonus) The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America with the author Geoff Williams

    Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode! Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ I sat down with Geoff Williams to discuss his book The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America, 90 years after what was deemed "the worst day." A riveting historic narrative that tells the iconic story of the great heat wave that ravaged the continent in the last gasps of the Dust Bowl. In 1936, after one of the coldest winters on record, North America experienced a heat wave that remains unmatched today. Thanks to a combination of an unusually warm sea surface in the Atlantic and Pacific, stagnating high-pressure, drought, and poor farming techniques, temperatures soared across virtually every state (and the territory of Alaska) for months. This summer, the sun aimed its deadly rays at more than 11,000 Americans and 1,000 Canadians. Air conditioning was uncommon, workers’ rights were few, and in an age before high blood pressure medication, a lot of middle-aged adults, toiling in the sun, were literally working themselves to death. This was a summer in which there was almost no escape from the 100-plus temperatures, and woe to those who tried. Men, women, and children rushed into rivers to cool off, only to drown. Desperate people slept on roofs to catch a breeze, only to roll over and plummet to their deaths. Young and old, rich and poor, human and animal, it didn’t really matter. If the heat wanted you, it was going to get you. The heat wave of 1936 sparked massive social changes and technological advances, as well as improvements in health care, and it ignited an ongoing impassioned national dialogue about climate change that continues, to varying degrees, to this day. Filled with vivid detail and characters as intense as the oppressive heat itself, The Summer of Death is the definitive narrative history about this paradigm changing season. In the tradition of Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time and Edward P. Kohn’s Hot Time in the Old Town, The Summer of Death reveals a unique and vital chapter of American history, one that could portend dire consequences for our future. Geoff Williams is the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America and Washed Away: How the Great Flood of 1913, America's Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed It Forever, also available from Pegasus Books. He lives near Dayton, Ohio. Follow us (and Geoff) over on BlueSky! https://bsky.app/profile/morbidlycuriousbc.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/geoffwill.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    (Bonus) The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America with the author Geoff Williams

  6. Jul 2 ·  Bonus

    (Bonus) Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life with the author Rachel Hartigan

    Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode! Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ I sat down with Rachel Hartigan to discuss her book Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life on the anniversary of her disappearance. When Amelia Earhart’s plane disappeared in 1937, the clues poured in, attracting wild conspiracies about her tragic fate. In Lost, former National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan delves into Earhart’s disappearance, introducing a host of eccentric characters who have become obsessed with finding the truth. Did the great aviator crash land near the Marshall Islands, only to be captured by Japanese soldiers? Did she manage to land on Nikumaroro Island but die of injury or starvation? Or did she run out of fuel and crash into the ocean? Interspersed with the search for Earhart is the story of her extraordinary life: her unstable childhood, her itinerant early career, and how a PR-savvy publisher transformed her into an aviation icon and became her husband in an unconventional marriage. In the spirit of nonfiction blockbusters like The Lost City of Z, Hartigan draws us into the world of Earhart’s devotees and unspools a beguiling tale. The theories lead Hartigan from the pilot’s birthplace of Atchison, Kansas to an expedition on a remote Pacific Island, where forensic dogs attempt to recover a potential sample of Earhart’s DNA. As tantilizing new evidence mounts, Hartigan and her fellow investigators descend deeper into a world of conspiracy and obsession. Through its irresistible characters, prodigious research, and haunting images, Lost reveals not just why we remember Amelia Earhart as a trailblazer and adventurer, but why unsolved mysteries keep us forever searching for answers. Rachel Hartigan reported on science and history at National Geographic for more than a decade, twice voyaging to the uninhabited Pacific atoll where some people think Amelia Earhart died. A former editor of the Washington Post's Book World, she also covered education and culture for U.S. News & World Report. She lives near Washington, D.C. TW can be found here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/5893c9cd-a8c5-48dc-9cb0-7b134ee6d0a4 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    (Bonus) Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life with the author Rachel Hartigan

  7. Jun 26

    Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains with the author Alexa Hagerty

    Season 3 Episode 6! In June, the Morbidly Curious Book Club read "Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains" by Alexa Hagerty! About the book: Throughout Guatemala’s thirty-six-year armed conflict, state forces killed more than two hundred thousand people. Argentina’s military dictatorship disappeared up to thirty thousand people. In the wake of genocidal violence, families of the missing searched for the truth. Young scientists joined their fight against impunity. Gathering evidence in the face of intimidation and death threats, they pioneered the field of forensic exhumation for human rights. In Still Life with Bones, anthropologist Alexa Hagerty learns to see the dead body with a forensic eye. She examines bones for marks of torture and fatal wounds—hands bound by rope, machete cuts—and also for signs of identity: how life shapes us down to the bone. A weaver is recognized from the tiny bones of the toes, molded by kneeling before a loom; a girl is identified alongside her pet dog. In the tenderness of understanding these bones, forensics not only offers proof of mass atrocity but also tells the story of each life lost. Working with forensic teams at mass grave sites and in labs, Hagerty discovers how bones bear witness to crimes against humanity and how exhumation can bring families meaning after unimaginable loss. She also comes to see how cutting-edge science can act as ritual—a way of caring for the dead with symbolic force that can repair societies torn apart by violence. Weaving together powerful stories about investigative breakthroughs, histories of violence and resistance, and her own forensic coming-of-age, Hagerty crafts a moving portrait of the living and the dead. About the author: Alexa Hagerty is an anthropologist researching science, technology, and human rights. She holds a PhD from Stanford University and is an associate fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her research has received honors and funding from the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the American Ethnological Society, among other institutions. She has written for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Wired, Social Anthropology, and Palais de Tokyo. TW for the book can be found here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/758b940a-b9ca-4320-9395-ad45adf7c921 Alexa's website: https://www.alexahagerty.com/ Subscribe to her Substack here: https://alexahagerty.substack.com/ Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains with the author Alexa Hagerty

  8. Jun 17 ·  Bonus

    (Bonus) True Crime with the author Patricia Cornwell

    Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode! Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ Patricia's website here: https://www.patriciacornwell.com/ Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Every story comes from somewhere, and Scarpetta’s began when Patricia Cornwell embedded herself in a morgue. In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham’s wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalization and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner’s office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon. Cornwell leaves no stone unturned in this deeply candid account of her life, offering inspiring insight into what made her into the international sensation she is today. Patricia Cornwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and widely considered one of the world's top crime writers. In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventures—the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development. Today, Cornwell’s novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper’s identity, cookbooks, a children’s book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and three other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano, Andy Brazil, and Captain Calli Chase. Cornwell continues exploring the latest space-age technologies and threats relevant to contemporary life. Her interests range from the morgue to artificial intelligence and include visits to Interpol, the Pentagon, the U.S. Secret Service, and NASA. Cornwell was born in Miami. She grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston. Check out Patricia's website here! Check The Storygraph for the TW here! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    (Bonus) True Crime with the author Patricia Cornwell
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About

The Morbidly Curious Book Club® is an 18+ non-fiction book club diving into the darke,r macabre parts of your library, with a passion for learning more about what may be too niche for your family gatherings. What started in 2021 as a dream quickly became a reality, and as of mid-2024, we have over 17,000 global members worldwide with localized chapters sprouting up around the world. The podcast started in 2024 as a way to give the members a little bit more by chatting with the authors themselves about their books. There are also bonus episodes where I chat with the book's subjects or updates regarding the book's topics, and 'archive' episodes where I chat with authors from previous book club picks. Join the book club today at https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/ Thank you for being a part of this weird, incredible book club. Enjoy the podcast!

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