Best Penguin Press Podcasts (2024)

1
Odds and Ends: Ig Nobel Prizes, fridge-raiding bear 5:43

2h ago5:43

5:43

The UPI Odd News Minute presents Weekend Odds and Ends, our weekly round-up of the missed odd-portunities that didn't quite make it into this week's podcasts. This week's stories include the winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes, a bear that broke into a California cabin to raid the fridge, the world's largest plum and a literal traffic jam.…

1
Kansas City mystery goats, Guinness World Records 2025 3:12

13h ago3:12

3:12

A herd of mystery goats are wrangled after more than a month on the loose in Kansas City, Mo., and Guinness World Records announces multiple new titles for the release of its "Guinness World Records 2025" book on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Isaac Nakhimovsky, "The Holy Alliance: Liberalism and the Politics of Federation" (Princeton UP, 2024) 1:12:25

2d ago1:12:25

1:12:25

The Holy Alliance is now most familiar as a label for conspiratorial reaction. In The Holy Alliance: Liberalism and the Politics of Federation (Princeton University Press, 2024), Dr. Isaac Nakhimovsky reveals the Enlightenment origins of this post-Napoleonic initiative, explaining why it was embraced at first by many contemporary liberals as the bi…

1
Peter Rose, "The Good War of Consul Reeves" (Blacksmith Books, 2024) 50:15

24h ago50:15

50:15

Macau was supposed to be a sleepy post for John Reeves, the British consul for the Portuguese colony on China’s southern coast. He arrived, alone, in June 1941, his wife and daughter left behind in China. Seven months later, Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, invaded Hong Kong, and made Reeves the last remaining British diplomat for hundreds of miles, …

1
Indiana monkey rescue, escaped penguin's great adventure 2:59

1d ago2:59

2:59

Firefighters rescue a pet monkey from the top of an Indiana building, an escaped penguin in Japan is found two weeks later after a journey of more than 18 miles and a lifeboat crew in England responds to a report of a person in the water and finds another crew's lost training dummy on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit U…

1
Escaped tiger captured, unusual lost and found 3:06

3d ago3:06

3:06

A tiger that escaped from a Mexican zoo near the Texas border is captured after nearly a week on the loose, Hotels.com reveals some of the most unusual lost and found items at its parner hotels and an Arizona man sinks a record-breaking basketball trick shot on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Message in a bottle birthday wish, firefighters swarmed by bees 3:00

4d ago3:00

3:00

A Georgia visitor's birthday wish comes true when she finds a message in a bottle, California firefighters battling a vegetation fire get swarmed by bees and a Nisaan is dropped from a crane to set a world record for the highest car bungee jump on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Odds and Ends: Impromptu rodeo, string cheese ball 3:41

7d ago3:41

3:41

The UPI Odd News Minute presents Weekend Odds and Ends, our weekly round-up of the missed odd-portunities that didn't quite make it into this week's podcasts. This week's stories include a loose bull wrangled by a team of Illinois ranchers, the world's largest ball of string cheese, a pair of Wisconsin mystery chickens and a kitten that took a 15-m…

1
Lost cat's 2,000-mile journey, ping-pong spitting world record 2:55

8d ago2:55

2:55

A Texas woman's missing cat turns up in Massachsuetts after nearly 3 years, David Rush spits a ping pong ball at a wall to break his own world record and a cow leads police on a 2-1/2-hour hoof chase on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
David Chaffetz, "Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires" (Norton, 2024) 47:25

8d ago47:25

47:25

After reading David Chaffetz’s newest book, you’d think that the horse–not oil–has been humanity’s most important strategic commodity. As David writes in his book Raiders, Rulers and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires (Norton, 2024), societies in Central Asia grew powerful on the backs of strong herds of horses, giving them a military and a…

1
Dan Stone, "Fate Unknown: Tracing the Missing after World War II and the Holocaust" (Oxford UP, 2023) 1:09:27

8d ago1:09:27

1:09:27

In Fate Unknown: Tracing the Missing after World War II and the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2023), Dan Stone tells the story of the last great unknown archive of Nazism, the International Tracing Service. Set up by the Allies at the end of World War II, the ITS has worked until today to find missing persons and to aid survivors with restitu…

1
Rattlesnake in the house, world's smallest vacuum cleaner 2:57

9d ago2:57

2:57

A rattlesnake is captured after wandering into a California family's house, a dog named Buckethead is rescued after wandering for more than a week with a plastic container stuck over his head and a college student in India builds the world's smallest vacuum cleaner on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Not just a stunt: The ingredients for great non-fiction marketing campaigns with Akua Boateng, Senior Marketing Manager, Bloomsbury 37:16

9d ago37:16

37:16

Remember those memorable campaigns for non-fiction books that took to the streets to gain maximum impact? Akua Boateng, Senior Marketing Manager for non-fiction at Bloomsbury, does. She has worked on a range of events, marketing stunts and other “out-of-home” promotions to make a splash, build awareness, entertain and capture the imagination and at…

1
Pig in the city, bowlers strike a new world record 3:10

10d ago3:10

3:10

A pig on the loose in a Texas city is captured after two days, a quartet of Kentucky bowlers set the Guinness World Record for the most strikes in 24 hours and a bear sneaks up behind a Colorado boy eating popcorn on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Colette Brull-Ulmann et al., "Through the Morgue Door: One Woman’s Story of Survival and Saving Children in German-Occupied Paris" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) 3:08:45

12d ago3:08:45

3:08:45

Today I talked to Anne Landau and Margaret Sinclair, the translators of Through the Morgue Door: One Woman’s Story of Survival and Saving Children in German-Occupied Paris (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) n 1934, at the age of fourteen, Colette Brull-Ulmann knew that she wanted to become a pediatrician. By the age of twenty-one, she was in her second y…

1
Odds and Ends: Boston steer captured, orangutan escape 4:54

14d ago4:54

4:54

The UPI Odd News Minute presents Weekend Odds and Ends, our weekly round-up of the missed odd-portunities that didn't quite make it into this week's podcasts. This week's stories include a steer captured after two months on the loose in Boston, a Toronto Zoo orangutan escaping from his new outdoor enclosure, a rare orange lobster being returned to …

1
John V. Pavlik, "Journalism and the Metaverse" (Anthem Press, 2024) 41:15

15d ago41:15

41:15

Journalism has been in a state of disruption since the development of the Internet. The Metaverse, or what some describe as the future of the Internet, is likely to fuel even further disruption in journalism. Digital platforms and journalism enterprises are already investing substantial resources into the Metaverse, or its likely components of arti…

1
What is Going on with Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? 40:17

14d ago40:17

40:17

After being the posterchild of democratization, today Central and Eastern Europe is often seen as the region of democratic backsliding. In this episode, Milada Vachudova and Tim Haughton talk with host Licia Cianetti about how ethno-populist and illiberal politicians have been reshaping the region’s politics, how people have gone to the streets to …

1
Aleksander Pluskowski, "The Teutonic Knights: Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation" (Reaktion, 2024) 56:48

14d ago56:48

56:48

Aleksander Pluskowski of the University of Reading joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, The Teutonic Knights: Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation, out 2024 with Reaktion Books. A gripping account of the rise and fall of the last great medieval military order. This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the knights of the …

1
What is Going on with Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? 40:17

14d ago40:17

40:17

After being the posterchild of democratization, today Central and Eastern Europe is often seen as the region of democratic backsliding. In this episode, Milada Vachudova and Tim Haughton talk with host Licia Cianetti about how ethno-populist and illiberal politicians have been reshaping the region’s politics, how people have gone to the streets to …

1
French museum invites visitors to disrobe, 'bee-mergency' on California highway 2:55

15d ago2:55

2:55

A French museum offers special clothing-optional tours of its exhibit on naturism, a red pepper spill on a California highway turns into a "bee-mergency" and an escaped ostrich wanders into a South Dakota road on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Marga Ortigas, "God's Ashes: Apocrypha" (Penguin, 2024) 37:10

15d ago37:10

37:10

Climate change. The refugee crisis. The rise of social media. These big social questions—and others—inspired journalist Marga Ortigas in the creation of her new novel God’s Ashes (Penguin Southeast Asia, 2024) , a piece of speculative fiction set in a very different 2023. A transnational crime unites the book’s characters, rich and poor, on a journ…

1
Marga Ortigas, "God's Ashes: Apocrypha" (Penguin, 2024) 37:10

16d ago37:10

37:10

Climate change. The refugee crisis. The rise of social media. These big social questions—and others—inspired journalist Marga Ortigas in the creation of her new novel God’s Ashes (Penguin Southeast Asia, 2024) , a piece of speculative fiction set in a very different 2023. A transnational crime unites the book’s characters, rich and poor, on a journ…

1
OMN Classic: The unreleased pilot episode 3:16

16d ago3:16

3:16

Ben Hooper has the day off, but we have a special treat for you! Here, released for the first time ever, is the UPI Odd News Minute's unreleased pilot episode from March 9, 2023! We'll be back with a brand new episode on Thursday. For these stories (although you'll have to look back a ways in the archive) and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Ellen Hampton, "Doctors at War: The Clandestine Battle Against the Nazi Occupation of France" (LSU Press, 2023) 58:41

17d ago58:41

58:41

Ellen Hampton's Doctors at War: The Clandestine Battle Against the Nazi Occupation of France (LSU Press, 2023) tells the stories of physicians in France working to impede the German war effort and undermine French collaborators during the Occupation from 1940 to 1945. Determined to defeat the Third Reich's incursion, one group of prominent Paris do…

1
Ludovico Silva, "Marx's Literary Style" (Verso, 2023) 1:08:03

17d ago1:08:03

1:08:03

In Marx’s Literary Style, the Venezuelan poet and philosopher Ludovico Silva argues that much of the confusion around Marx’s work results from a failure to understand his literary mode of expression. Through meticulous readings of key passages in Marx’s oeuvre, Silva isolates the key elements of his style: his search for an “architectonic” unity at…

1
Team's bat dog goes No. 2 during debut, bald eagle 'too fat to fly' 3:00

17d ago3:00

3:00

A Florida minor league team's new bat dog poops near the pitcher's mound during her debut game, a suppostedly injured bald eagle rescued from a Missouri national park is found to be "too fat to fly" and a book is finally returned to a Virginia library after 50 years on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Lori Gemeiner-Bihler, "Cities of Refuge: German Jews in London and New York, 1935-1945" (SUNY Press, 2019) 1:09:25

17d ago1:09:25

1:09:25

In the years following Hitler’s rise to power, German Jews faced increasingly restrictive antisemitic laws, and many responded by fleeing to more tolerant countries. Cities of Refuge: German Jews in London and New York, 1935-1945 (SUNY Press, 2019), compares the experiences of Jewish refugees who immigrated to London and New York City by analyzing …

1
Oldest living man turns 112, car wash kitten 2:51

18d ago2:51

2:51

The world's oldest living man celebrates his 112th birthday, a kitten is rescued from an Ohio car wash and a bear takes a dip in a California home's hot tub on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Odds and Ends: 'Bear coming,' Boba Fett, Hambone Awards 4:33

21d ago4:33

4:33

The UPI Odd News Minute presents Weekend Odds and Ends, our weekly round-up of the missed odd-portunities that didn't quite make it into this week's podcasts. This week's stories include a bear that suddenly appeared outside a Connecticut family's home, a rare "Star Wars" Boba Fett action figure selling for a record sum, this year's Hambone Awards …

1
Laurien Vastenhout, "Between Community and Collaboration: 'Jewish Councils' in Western Europe under Nazi Occupation" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 1:28:15

22d ago1:28:15

1:28:15

The first comprehensive, comparative study of the 'Jewish Councils' in the Netherlands, Belgium and France during Nazi rule. In the postwar period, there was extensive focus on these organisations' controversial role as facilitators of the Holocaust. They were seen as instruments of Nazi oppression, aiding the process of isolating and deporting the…

1
'Sign war' engulfs N.C. city, escaped bison return with a baby 2:58

22d ago2:58

2:58

A war of words on the signs outside of two businesses in North Carolina's Morehead City spreads to dozens of local businesses and the three bison that escaped from a Connecticut farm return with a newborn baby on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Rachel Kousser, "Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great" (Mariner Books, 2024) 50:05

23d ago50:05

50:05

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser’s book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years o…

1
Road covered in beer, baboon tours the suburbs 2:54

23d ago2:54

2:54

A Mississippi road is covered in spilled beer, a baboon tours the suburbs of Cape Town, a horse gets stuck on a fence and a lost goat is found after two days on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Oliver Volckart, "The Silver Empire: How Germany Created Its First Common Currency" (Oxford UP, 2024) 53:02

23d ago53:02

53:02

The problems that gave rise to the widespread desire to introduce a common currency were myriad. While trade was able to cope with-and even to benefit from-the parallel circulation of many different types of coin, it nevertheless harmed both the common people and the political authorities. The authorities in particular suffered from neighbours who …

1
Joachim C. Häberlen, "Beauty Is in the Street: Protest and Counterculture in Post-War Europe" (Penguin, 2023) 1:19:17

23d ago1:19:17

1:19:17

In post-war Europe, protest was everywhere. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, from Paris to Prague, Milan to Wroclaw, ordinary people took to the streets, fighting for a better world. Their efforts came to a head most dramatically in 1968 and 1989, when mass movements swept Europe and rewrote its history. In the decades between, Joachim C. Haberle…

1
'Human skull' on California beach, postcard's 212-year journey 2:52

24d ago2:52

2:52

A "human skull" found on a California beach turns out to be neither human nor skull, a trio of buffalo escape from a Connecticut ranch and a postcard arrives at its intended address 121 years late on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Breaking records by breaking records, 'Kentucky Meat Shower' exhibit 3:00

25d ago3:00

3:00

David Rush becomes the world's top record-breaker by literally breaking records, a kangaroo ties up morning traffic in West Virginia and a Kentucky museum explores the history of the mysterious "Kentucky Meat Shower" on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
Susanne Barth, "From Schmelt Camp to 'Little Auschwitz': Blechhammer’s Role in the Holocaust" (Purdue UP, 2024) 1:04:20

26d ago1:04:20

1:04:20

From Schmelt Camp to "Little Auschwitz" Blechhammer's Role in the Holocaust (Purdue UP, 2024) is the first in-depth study of the second largest Auschwitz subcamp, Blechhammer (Blachownia Śląska), and its lesser known yet significant prehistory as a so-called Schmelt camp, a forced labor camp for Jews operating outside the concentration camp system.…

1
Odds and Ends: Black ring over Virginia, Lake Erie gator 4:12

28d ago4:12

4:12

The UPI Odd News Minute presents Weekend Odds and Ends, our weekly round-up of the missed odd-portunities that didn't quite make it into this week's podcasts. This week's stories include a mysterious black ring in the sky over Virginia, a 110-pound fatberg blocking a sewer, a bear wandering into a California classroom, an alligator spotted swimming…

1
Indiana emu, world's widest tongue 2:52

29d ago2:52

2:52

Deputies round up an emu on the loose for several days in Indiana, a crash spills hundreds of boxes of raisins onto a California highway and a Texas woman's tongue is named the widest in the world on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.

1
444 video game consoles on one TV, lost cat's 600-mile journey 2:59

30d ago2:59

2:59

A man breaks a world record by hooking 444 video game consoles to a single TV, a cat missing for a year turns up more than 600 miles from home and a hidden camera in the Oregon Zoo's lion enclosure turns out to be not-so-well hidden on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Juli Min, "Shanghailanders" (Spiegel & Grau, 2024) 41:00

1M ago41:00

41:00

Shanghailanders (Spiegel & Grau: 2024), the debut novel from Juli Min, starts at the end: Leo, a wealthy Shanghai businessman, sees his wife and daughters off at the airport as they travel to Boston. Everyone, it seems, is unhappy. The novel then travels backwards through time, giving answers to questions revealed in later chapters, jumping from pe…

1
Leaky hydrant becomes 'goldfish pond,' shark pursues kayakers 3:00

1M ago3:00

3:00

A leaky fire hydrant in Brooklyn becomes the "Bed-Stuy Goldfish Pond," a pair of California kayakers are pursued by a great white shark and a Florida woman cleaning up Hurricane Debby debris finds a message in a bottle from 1945 on today's UPI Odd News Minute. For these stories and more, visit UPI.com/Odd_News.…

1
Hitler's People by Richard J Evans 8:23

1M ago8:23

8:23

Happy publication day to Hitler's People by Richard J Evans! Listen to editor Scott Moyers share backstory on the book, and stay tuned for a reading from the audiobook. About the book: Through a connected set of biographical portraits of key Nazi figures that follows power as it radiated out from Hitler to the inner and outer circles of the regime’…

1
On the Edge by Nate Silver 8:11

1M ago8:11

8:11

Happy publication day to On the Edge by Nate Silver! Listen to editor Virginia Smith share backstory on the book, and stay tuned for a reading from the audiobook. About the book: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, the definitive guide to our era of risk—and the players raising the stakes. Read more: https://www.…

1
The Wisdom of Sheep by Rosamund Young 8:39

1M ago8:39

8:39

Happy publication day to The Wisdom of Sheep by Rosamund Young! Listen to editor Will Heyward share backstory on the book, and stay tuned for a reading from the audiobook. About the book: A touching, wise and surprising chronicle of the rich inner lives of animals, drawn from Rosamund Young’s extraordinary lifetime as an organic farmer. Read more: …

1
Andrew R. Basso, "Destroy Them Gradually: Displacement as Atrocity" (Rutgers UP, 2024) 1:13:07

1M ago1:13:07

1:13:07

Perpetrators of mass atrocities have used displacement to transport victims to killing sites or extermination camps to transfer victims to sites of forced labor and attrition, to ethnically homogenize regions by moving victims out of their homes and lands, and to destroy populations by depriving them of vital daily needs. Displacement has been trea…

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