The Avid Reader Show

Samuel Hankin
  • 3.6 (43)
  • Books
  • Updated Daily

Good books keep you thinking long after you close the covers. On The Avid Reader, host and independent bookseller Sam Hankin talks with authors about their books, the ideas behind them, and the questions they leave us asking. From fiction and history to science, philosophy, culture, and current affairs, each conversation follows curiosity wherever it leads. Expect thoughtful questions, lively exchanges, humor, and reading recommendations from someone who has read the book. Brought to you by Wellington Square Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Exton, Pennsylvania. Explore the books and shop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com

  1. 5d ago

    Amy Westervelt: How Corporations Shape What We Believe | Brought to You By

    Who shapes the information you trust, and whose interests does it serve? Investigative journalist and Drilled podcast host Amy Westervelt joins Sam Hankin on The Avid Reader to discuss Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy. Westervelt explains what she calls “information pollution”: the ways corporate interests influence news, academic research, think tanks, and public debate. Tracing the history of public relations through figures such as Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, she argues that today’s struggles over misinformation and artificial intelligence have roots stretching back more than a century. Their conversation examines corporate influence on universities, campaigns that disguise themselves as grassroots movements, and the lasting divisions that propaganda can leave in communities. They also discuss media literacy, regulation, and the practical questions readers can ask about any source: Who created this? Who funded it? What are they trying to persuade me to believe? Get Brought to You By from Wellington Square Bookshop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781639736324

    Amy Westervelt: How Corporations Shape What We Believe | Brought to You By

  2. 5d ago

    Eli Burnstein: Famous Quotes We Get Wrong | Phrased & Confused

    Does “seize the day” really mean what we think it does? And was Robert Frost’s “road less traveled” actually less traveled at all? Eli Burnstein joins Sam Hankin on The Avid Reader to discuss Phrased & Confused: The Curious Meanings of Timeless Quotations and the context we lose when familiar words become slogans. They explore Burnstein’s reading of carpe diem, the irony behind Shakespeare’s “to thine own self be true,” and why “let them eat cake” became attached to Marie Antoinette. The conversation also ventures into Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am,” the philosophical origins of “the ghost in the machine,” and the enduring question of why there is something rather than nothing. Along the way, Burnstein discusses how humor and Liana Finck’s illustrations help make difficult ideas accessible without stripping away their depth. A conversation for anyone who has repeated a famous quotation and then wondered what it actually means. Get Phrased & Confused from Wellington Square Bookshop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781419785528

    Eli Burnstein: Famous Quotes We Get Wrong | Phrased & Confused

  3. 5d ago

    Lisa Crites: From Breast Cancer Survivor to Inventor | Beautifully Unbroken

    After a bilateral mastectomy, Lisa Crites found herself showering in a plastic trash bag. Her frustration became the starting point for an invention. The former television medical reporter joins Sam Hankin on The Avid Reader to discuss Beautifully Unbroken and the experiences that led her to create The Shower Shirt, a garment designed to protect surgical sites and drains while showering. Lisa shares how she sought guidance, challenged doubts, and brought her idea to market. She also speaks candidly about her mother’s sudden death, her own breast cancer diagnosis, and the Christian faith she leaned on through grief and uncertainty. Their conversation explores the emotional cost of revisiting those experiences for her memoir and the purpose connecting her work as an inventor and author: helping others feel less alone and find a way forward. Get Beautifully Unbroken from Wellington Square Bookshop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781997040293

    Lisa Crites: From Breast Cancer Survivor to Inventor | Beautifully Unbroken

  4. 5d ago

    Sam Roberts: Who Gets Remembered? | Are They Dead Yet?

    Who gets an obituary in The New York Times, and who gets overlooked? Obituary writer Sam Roberts joins Sam Hankin on The Avid Reader to discuss Are They Dead Yet? The Art of the Obit and the difficult, revealing, often funny work of capturing a life on the page. Starting with an AI-written obituary of Roberts himself, their conversation explores what facts alone can’t tell us about a person. Roberts describes his search for the “Rosebud moment” that changed someone’s life, the challenge of weighing achievements against misdeeds, and the delicate business of interviewing people for their own advance obituaries. They also discuss overlooked lives, questionable famous last words, and how the internet has transformed newsroom research and deadlines. Along the way, the two Sams share their love of New York and independent bookstores, including a story about giving a young reader a copy of War and Peace that says more than a résumé ever could. Get Are They Dead Yet? The Art of the Obit from Wellington Square Bookshop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781639733651

    Sam Roberts: Who Gets Remembered? | Are They Dead Yet?

  5. 5d ago

    Sam Kean: Lost Cities, Ancient Mysteries & The Museum of Lost Things

    What have we lost that could change everything we think we know about the past? Sam Kean returns to The Avid Reader to discuss The Museum of Lost Things, a journey through vanished treasures, forgotten knowledge, and the discoveries that bring history back into focus. Sam and Kean explore the lost writings of the ancient world, the rediscovery of Troy, the legends surrounding Genghis Khan’s hidden tomb, and the detective work behind deciphering ancient languages. They also examine the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek mechanical computer whose discovery challenged assumptions about the technology of its time. Along the way, Kean reflects on the human drama behind scientific discovery and a question that reaches beyond the ancient world: what might future generations forget about us? Get The Museum of Lost Things from Wellington Square Bookshop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781426223860

    Sam Kean: Lost Cities, Ancient Mysteries & The Museum of Lost Things

  6. 5d ago

    Antonio Damasio: Why We Feel, What Makes Us Conscious, and What AI Lacks

    What if understanding consciousness starts with hunger, thirst, and pain? Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio joins Sam on The Avid Reader to discuss his book, Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness. Damasio makes the case that consciousness grows out of the body's need to sustain life, with feelings helping us recognize when something is wrong and act to protect ourselves. Their conversation explores the difference between emotions and feelings, how the vagus nerve carries information from body to brain, what dreams reveal about consciousness, and why Damasio sees biology as essential to understanding the mind. They also examine artificial intelligence: why intelligence and consciousness are different, what today's AI lacks, and why powerful systems without feelings give Damasio cause for concern. Get Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness from Wellington Square Bookshop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9798217207497

    Antonio Damasio: Why We Feel, What Makes Us Conscious, and What AI Lacks

  7. Jun 24

    Keza MacDonald - Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play

    An exuberant, behind-the-scenes look at the designers and the company that brought us Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and so much more, illuminating Nintendo's singular ethos, its massive cultural impact, and the innovative solutions behind its creative triumphsWhat magical mushroom could have turned an unassuming playing card company into one of the dominant cultural forces of the twenty-first century?In Super Nintendo, lifelong gamer and a renowned video games journalist Keza MacDonald traces Nintendo back to its quirky beginnings in 1889. Leaping from game to game, she tells the remarkable story of the people who brought us Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and more—not to mention the SNES, N64, Game Boy, Wii, Switch, and a host of other wacky gizmos—and charts the delights they’ve offered over the decades. MacDonald draws on private interviews with icons like Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, who continues to leave his stamp on the company, and takes readers on a trip to the secretive Nintendo HQ—making her one of the few Western journalists to have set foot inside the building. Along the way, she provides a close-up look at the company's willingness to take risks and place long-term success over short-term profits.A carousel of wonders, Super Nintendo whisks you back to the couch in the den, a controller in your hands for the very first time, staring up at a screen of infinite possibilities.

    Keza MacDonald - Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play

  8. Apr 30

    Ancient Algorithms - Katrine ØGaard Jensen

    In Ancient Algorithms, Katrine gaard Jensen mistranslates, rewrites, and remixes her award-winning translations of Danish Ursula Andkj r Olsen's poetry based on a series of self-imposed rules and rituals in collaboration with poets Sawako Nakayasu, Aditi Machado, CAConrad, Baba Badji, Paul Cunningham, and Ursula Andkj r Olsen herself. Envisioned as a shared debut, this collection of collaborative poems is equal parts exercise and exorcism, a haunting of literary influences that repositions translation as the very act of writing--exploring what it means for something to be an original, a translation, a poem.Katrine Øgaard Jensen is a Danish poet and translator based in New York. She is a recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the National Translation Award in Poetry, the Kenyon Review's Peter Taylor Fellowship, and the Danish Arts Foundation's Young Artistic Elite Fellowship. Her translations include Third-Millennium Heart (Action Books 2017), Outgoing Vessel (Action Books 2021), and My Jewel Box (Action Books 2022) by Ursula Andkjær Olsen, as well as To The Most Beautiful by Mette Moestrup (co-im-press 2024). Since 2016, she has taught Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Columbia University, where she served as Acting Director of Literary Translation at Columbia (LTAC) from 2019-2020.Buy the book from Wellington Square Bookshop - ​https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781956046434

    Ancient Algorithms - Katrine ØGaard Jensen
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About

Good books keep you thinking long after you close the covers. On The Avid Reader, host and independent bookseller Sam Hankin talks with authors about their books, the ideas behind them, and the questions they leave us asking. From fiction and history to science, philosophy, culture, and current affairs, each conversation follows curiosity wherever it leads. Expect thoughtful questions, lively exchanges, humor, and reading recommendations from someone who has read the book. Brought to you by Wellington Square Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Exton, Pennsylvania. Explore the books and shop:https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com

Information

  • Creator
    Samuel Hankin
  • Years Active
    2010 - 2026
  • Episodes
    809
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Samuel Hankin
  • Show Website
    The Avid Reader Show

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