Eamon Duffy - Ten Popes Who Shook the World

For part of its 2,000-year history the papacy was the world's most powerful institution. Since its inception there have been over 260 popes and in his new book Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge, chooses ten pontiffs who have had a great impact on history.

In our interview he discusses some of his choices, including Pius XII, a controversial Pope during World War II, and John Paul II, a man Eamon Duffy considers 'too big for the job almost'.

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Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Julian Baggini - Complaint

British philosopher Julian Baggini returns to our show for a second time, joining us today to talk about his new book, Complaint. The book carries the sub-title 'From Minor Moans to Principled Protests', and runs the full gamut of objections. From trivial grumbles about bad weather and public transport to the paradigm-shifting political protests of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Baggini gives philosophical answers to why we complain and how each case is perceived.

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Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Robert Rowland Smith - Breakfast with Socrates

Robert Rowland Smith is a former Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and a lecturer and writer on philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis. In his book Breakfast with Socrates, Robert provides philosophical musings on the happenings of everyday life providing an hour-by-hour commentary on everything we do. From getting ready in the morning, through our day at work, to evening social activities and back to bed again, Breakfast with Socrates tells us what history's greatest philosophers have said about the meaning behind everything we do.

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Matthew Crawford - The Case for Working with Your Hands

Matthew Crawford is a motorcycle mechanic and a philosopher. In The Case for Working with Your Hands, Matthew utilises his knowledge of both fields to argue that the skilled manual trades and much more fulfilling that your average office job. Drawing on the work of our greatest thinkers, from Aristotle to Heidegger, Karl Marx to Iris Murdoch, as well as on his own experiences as an electrician and motorcycle mechanic, Crawford delivers a radical, timely and extremely enjoyable re-evaluation of our attitudes to work.

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Eric Kaufmann - Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?

Eric Kaufmann's book Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth? draws on demographic research and questions of multiculturalism, nationalism and terrorism to ask whether, in time, the population will be primarily religious. With indications suggesting that the more religious people are, the more children they are likely to have, what does this will mean for the future of western modernity?

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Raymond Tallis - Michelangelo's Finger

Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic. His new book, Michelangelo's Finger, looks at a curious feature of the animal world, completely unique to human beings: the ability to point the index finger. The book shows how central this seemingly insignificant feature has been in human evolution and how it makes our species so unique from all others.

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Miri Rubin - Mother of God

Miri Rubin is medieval historian and Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. In Mother of God, Rubin presents a history of the Virgin Mary, arguably one of the most powerful, influential and complex of all religious figures, and asks whether the history of Western culture and religion could have been the same without her.

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

John Gray - Straw Dogs

John Gray's 2002 book Straw Dogs offers a profound assessment of what it means to be human, challenging our long-held assumptions about our place as humans in the hierarchy of life. The book was named among the top 100 Blackwell Books of the Decade so we invited John to come and discuss his bestselling book and the titles that he has most enjoyed from the last 10 years.

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John's Books of the Decade:

James Lovelock - The Revenge of Gaia | DOWNLOAD SEGMENT

J.G. Ballard - The Complete Short Stories | DOWNLOAD SEGMENT

Fernando Pessoa - A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe | DOWNLOAD SEGMENT

(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Mark Vernon - Plato's Podcasts

Writer, broadcaster and journalist Mark Vernon takes a sideways glance at modern living in his new book Plato's Podcasts, presenting the would-be thoughts of Ancient Philosophers on various topics central to our 21st century existence.

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Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Julian Baggini - Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover?

Listen to British philosopher and author Julian Baggini as he discusses his latest book Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover?. Baggini offers philosophical opinions to 100 familiar saying and quotations such as 'is the grass always greener on the other side?' 'Is there ever smoke without fire?' And 'is it better to be safe than sorry?'

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Mark Rowlands - The Philosopher and the Wolf

Mark Rowlands is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami and author of the critically acclaimed The Philosopher and the Wolf. In the book, Rowlands documents a decade of his life spent travelling with a wolf, an experience that forces him to change his attitude to love, happiness, nature and death.

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com

Alain de Botton - The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

Alain de Botton joins us to discuss his latest book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work which looks at the beauty, interest and sheer strangeness of the modern workplace.

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(To download a file for transferral to an audio device such as an MP3 player, right-click the download link and select 'Save Target As')
Audio recordings produced by George Miller of podularity.com