Out of the Wild

ken@kenilgunas.com
  • 5.0 (2)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED MONTHLY
Out of the Wild

Out of the Wild is a podcast hosted by writer Ken Ilgunas. We discuss nature, adventure, simple living, culture, history, and politics.  https://kenilgunas.substack.com

Episodes

  1. APR 8

    Tim Kreider on writing, W. Bush v. Trump, and the future of the future

    Tim Kreider [https://substack.com/profile/4863114-tim-kreider] is a cartoonist and essayist. If you're not familiar with Tim's work, sign up for his Substack ("The Loaf [https://timkreider.substack.com/]"), and read his two books of essays, "We Learn Nothing [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Learn-Nothing/Tim-Kreider/9781439198711]" & "I Wrote this Book Because I Love You [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/I-Wrote-This-Book-Because-I-Love-You/Tim-Kreider/9781476739014]." Tim's writing is a deadly combination of elegant & original prose, wicked humor, and bare-it-all honesty. He's my favorite writer. We discuss… * With Cormac McCarthy gone, who's the best living writer of the English language? * How a young Tim enjoyed the works of YA / sci-fi writer John Christopher (real name: Christopher Samuel Youd). Books mentioned: The World in Winter and The Death of Grass and the Tripod Trilogy, plus… * Moby Dick is strange. The best standalone chapter: "The Line." * It's possible neither Tim nor I know what "postmodernism" is. Montaigne's "everyman" tower * Is "DEI" the new way of using the "N word?" * One of Tim's first big breaks—commentary on Eyes Wide Shut in Film Quarterly [https://timkreider.com/introducing-sociology/]. * James Salter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Salter], a writer's writer. Hedy Lamarr * Revisiting a few of Tim's essays and characters — Tim's peak-oil obsessed friend and the state of Tim's busyness. * Is writing a "nice thing to do?" * On how Tim is stylishly homeless. * Melville House's FUTURES Series [https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-futures-series]. * Tech utopians: "people who don't like being people." * Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias Trilogy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Californias_Trilogy]. * Tim's recommendations:

    1h 36m
  2. #7 Dan Flores on de-extinction, reintroduction, and the American West

    MAR 10

    #7 Dan Flores on de-extinction, reintroduction, and the American West

    Dan Flores is a historian and writer who writes about the natural and cultural history of North America. His books—including Coyote America, American Serengeti, and Wild New World, bring to life North America's most iconic species and landscapes, weaving together science, folklore, and history. Dan's work not only illuminates the past but also asks urgent questions about the future of conservation, rewilding, and our relationship with the land. Dan looking very calm during his Joe Rogan Appearances: * Dan mentions proof of human footprints [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7586] on North American soil from 23,000 years ago. * Giant beaver looking awfully giant. * Were North American dire wolves dominated by Eurasian gray wolves? * The debate about whether the massive die-off of North American megafauna was caused by climate change or human presence. * Should the Clovis people — for their mammoth genocides — be… cancelled? * Colossal Biosciences [https://colossal.com/]—an organization devoted to bringing back extinct animals, such as the wooly mammoth. * The Wooly Mouse [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jg4n776evo]. * Should we reintroduce animals originating in North America (cheetah, camel, etc.) and reintroduce them in places where there is habitat. * The Thylacine to be de-extinictified and reintroduced in New Zealand. * Will there ever be a huge Great Plains National Park? * Will Trump/Vance sell off any public lands? * American Prairie [https://americanprairie.org/] * Dan's next book's working title: Homestead: Building a Green Life in the Modern American Countryside. * Some of Dan's books: * Dan's recommendation: Lone Wolf by Adam Weymouth: Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/] and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].

    53 min

  3. FEB 5

    #6 Father Karine: 10 Movie Scenes All Men Love

    Sarah [http://fatherkarine.straw.page/], aka Father_Karine, is a very funny writer. On Substack [https://substack.com/@fatherkarine], she writes about her high maintenance dog [https://fatherkarine.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-my-dog-who-if-im?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2], about her young adulthood characterized by all manner of misadventure and disinhibition [https://fatherkarine.substack.com/p/waitress-shitty-rural-restaurant?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2], and about how she can't be trusted with excellent fruit [https://fatherkarine.substack.com/p/hedge-fund-cherries-one-finance-douches?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2]. She co-hosts the Brutal Film Girl Experiment Podcas [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2375019]t. Subscribed We talked about her post, "A SECOND manic list of 10 film scenes I believe all men love and why they love them, according to me (a woman who's been drinking) [https://substack.com/@fatherkarine/p-153617234]." Show notes… * Mike Schank's music—not bad! * Tulpas are on Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/Tulpas/]. Tulpas are My Little Ponies [https://mlpforums.com/topic/27625-would-anybody-like-to-explain-this-tulpa-thing/]? * Animated movies that Sarah likes: Perfect Blue & Akira * Best non-CGI battle scene ever: Braveheart or Ran? * The worst best film ever? * We talk Stephen King who's been responsible for movies including: Carrie, The Dead Zone, It, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Stand By Me, Pet Sematary, The Green Mile, Cujo, Children of the Corn. Four of those (emboldened) are all-time greats. Where is his lifetime achievement Oscar? * Is "Strangers with Candy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6epnDpt0Qg]" ready for a revival?Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/]and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].

    1h 7m

  4. JAN 15

    #5 Alastair McIntosh on Donald Trump's psychohistory, Calvinism in the Western soul, and Scotland reborn

    Alastair McIntosh [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/] is a human ecologist, theologian, activist, and writer known for his work on the interplay between community, ecology, and spirituality. Alastair is best known for his 2001, but still very timely book, Soil and Soul [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/soilandsoul.htm]—part autobiography, part theology, part history. Subscribed We talk about… * The concepts of psychohistory & cultural psychotherapy, and how our deep past, going back many generations, makes us who we are. * Alastair's travel/philosophy/theology book, Poacher's Pilgrimage [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/poacherspilgrimage/] * How the Scottish Clearances in the 1820s on the Isle of Lewis may be half-responsible for forming Donald Trump into who he is today. For more, read Alastair's compelling article on the subject [https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/11/06/donald-trump-and-the-second-sight/]. * Should Donald Trump pay an extended non-entrepreneurial (and non-golfing?) visit to the Hebrides? * Read Alastair's poem [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2012-O-Donald-Trump.pdf] calling Trump to "come home." * The concept of "indigenousness" and if the term can apply to white folks. * Ken tries out a big word: "ethnomasochism." * Are we all Calvinists without knowing it? Alastair defines Calvinism with "TULIP [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points_of_Calvinism#:~:text=They%20are%20occasionally%20known%20by,and%20perseverance%20of%20the%20saints.]." * The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg * The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber * A free PDF of Alastair's Island Spirituality [https://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2013-Island-Spirituality-by-Alastair-McIntosh.pdf] Alastair recommends: * Alice Walker's poetry—Horses Make A Landscape Look More Beautiful [https://alicewalkersgarden.com/2010/10/horses-make-a-landscape-look-more-beautiful/] * And Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael (get the volume that condenses the six volumes into one)

    50 min
  5. #4 Seth Kantner on sod igloos, slow writing, and arctic racism

    12/28/2024

    #4 Seth Kantner on sod igloos, slow writing, and arctic racism

    Seth Kantner [https://www.sethkantner.com/] is an Alaskan photographer, hunter, fisherman and author. He's written two of my favorite books: Ordinary Wolves [https://milkweed.org/author/seth-kantner], a fictional book about a boy growing up with the ways of his indigenous neighbors; and his latest book, A Thousand Trails Home [https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/a-thousand-trails-home-living-with-caribou], about Alaskan caribou and our relationship with them. Topics include… Upgrade to paid * Ken thinks that couples in arctic cabins should be highly qualified to write marriage advice books. Seth splashes cold water on that idea, saying all they're doing is avoiding conflict. * Knitting, the first videogame? * The drawbacks (face-blindness) of being homeschooled in a sod igloo. * Middle school, is there a point? * Kim Kardashian vs Seth Kantner. In the fight for cultural dominance, sadly Kim wins. * The merits/necessity of slow writing. * How it's good to have a phobia of wasting somebody's time. * Plus, the fascinating topic of race relations in arctic Alaska.

    1h 2m

  6. 12/04/2024

    #3 Jonathan Rauch on the 2024 election, 1960's Star Trek, and the magnetism of sociopaths

    Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at The Brookings Institute and the author of eight books, including Kindly Inquisitors: the New Attacks on Free Thought [https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo18140749.html] and my favorite mini memoir, Denial: My 25 Years without a Soul [https://www.amazon.com/Denial-My-Years-Without-Soul-ebook/dp/B07X6KJD3Q/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pHeR-qB7_9jYMjFL5eVYgQ.pRYwNrXb31P7aNdDmnzzfA3IuNTlU3B2UF3E5AH4aZY&dib_tag=se&keywords=Denial%3A+My+25+Years+without+a+Soul&qid=1733348623&sr=8-1]. Jonathan is a friend, the father of the introvert liberation movement [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/302696/], and one of the reasons our country has expanded marriage rights to the LGBTQ community. I brought Jonathan on to talk about the 2024 election, one month later. Subscribed * Why voting makes us stupid  [https://www.brookings.edu/articles/more-professionalism-less-populism-how-voting-makes-us-stupid-and-what-to-do-about-it/] * Walking the Transgender Movement Away from the Extremists [https://www.persuasion.community/p/walking-the-transgender-movement-away-from-the-extremists] * Star Trek and Sociopathy [https://reason.com/2018/11/26/how-star-trek-explains-donald-trump/] * The Happiness Curve [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/happiness-curve-9781472960979/] Jonathan's film recommendation: Network (1976) Ken's recommendation: Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode "The Inner Light [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inner_Light_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)]" Jonathan's list of good Star Trek (1966-69) episodes * Devil in the Dark. Second episode to air, revolutionary in its day; inverts the usual story about monsters and aliens being the bad guys * Balance of Terror. Two commanders struggle to out-psych each other and develop professional respect. (Based on a movie about WWII submarine battle * Amok Time. Ultra-logical Spock has a dark side…as does civiliation (a recurrent theme). Written by Theodore Sturgeon, one of the sci-fi Golden Age greats * The Doomsday Machine. Great performance by William Windom as Commodore Decker as the Enterprise confronts a planet-destroying robot * The Ultimate Computer. Computerized warfare gets out of hand. Imagine this on network TV in 1968! * The Enemy Within. Kirk can't command without his sociopathic side. * The Trouble with Tribbles. The lightest episode, a fan favorite. An alien species takes over the ship…but not the way you think * The City on the Edge of Forever. By critical consensus, probably the greatest episode. Grapples with the contingent and tragic nature of history. Ends on a deeply ambivalent note (and includes TV's first use of a cuss word, "hell"). Written by the sci-fi great Harlan Ellison. Again, amazing to imagine this on prime time in that era. (The guest star is young Joan Collins, no less.) Music by Duncan Barrett, who you can follow and listen to, here [https://duncanbarrett.bandcamp.com/] and here [https://www.instagram.com/duncan.e.barrett/].

    1h 8m

  7. 11/06/2024

    #2 Rob Twigger on zen slackerism, South Korean TV, and partner appraisal strategies

    Rob Twigger is a UK-based author of 16 books, many of which are travel. He and I discuss: A book Rob admires: The Colossus of Maroussi A travel book Ken admires: Big Dead Place * Rob's philosophical movements: Micromastery [https://www.roberttwigger.com/micromastery/] and Zenslackerism [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zenslacker-things-youre-doing-nothing-ebook/dp/B00G95YXOE] * The Refusal of Work [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/refusal-of-work-9781350354296/] by David Frayne * American listeners get a primer on what Guy Fawkes is. * We make 2024 US presidential election predictions. (One of us is wrong, the other feels too inept to predict.) * Rewilding Britain, yea or nay? * Banter about toilets (Ken thinks British toilets are terrible; Rob questions very existence of toilets). * Rob is addicted to South Korean TV dramas. * How neither of us like that noodle-slurping sound. * Yet more chatter on South Korean fertility rates. The lowest in the world! * Suits, the TV Show, may have things to teach us about humanity. * We discuss appraising prospective wives by watching how they get over a barbed-wire fence. * Relationship expert, Dr. John Gottman, and his theory of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/261/transcript] * Gear recommendations: Rob likes Rovince's [https://rovince.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOooF9DrESc2kns31YbwLZk7_fnNRt9EYtzZDes8UjE1sbD-fdVBf] anti-tick trousers. Ken likes super durable trash bags to keep backpacking gear dry inside backpack. For more on Rob: his website [https://www.roberttwigger.com/] and Substack [https://roberttwigger.substack.com/] page.

    1h 2m

  8. 10/20/2024

    1: Sarah Hepola on memoirs, vices, and depopulation

    Sarah was the personal essays editor at Salon, she's a staff writer at the Dallas Morning News, and she hosts, with Nancy Rommelman, the Smoke Em if You Got Em Podcast. She is the author of "Blackout: Remembing the things I drank to forget." Sarah and I talk about: - Living within a memoir - Vices (mine, videogames) (Sarah's, Lucky Strikes) - Guilty pleasures (Howard Stern, MILF Manor, Love is Blind) - Infertility -- crisis or opportunity(?) kenilgunas.substack.com [https://kenilgunas.substack.com/]

    1h 21m
  • 8 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Out of the Wild is a podcast hosted by writer Ken Ilgunas. We discuss nature, adventure, simple living, culture, history, and politics.  https://kenilgunas.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    ken@kenilgunas.com
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    8
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Out of the Wild

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