Episode 49: The Fate of the Planet

The Book XChange Podcast

In this (quite literally) world-spanning episode, Jude and John look at books that dare to confront one of the most vexing and critical issues of our time: the impact our race is having on the physical environment. Our "common home" (in the phrase favored by Pope Francis) literally hangs in the balance due to a whole series of choices we've made as a species, and we wanted to read more from both the fiction and non-fiction sides of the aisle about what this means (and could mean) for the future of humanity. In a very real sense, few subjects are more worth educating ourselves about more than this one. We talk about speculative science fiction, popular scientific and nature writing, pioneering novelists who have been sounding the alarm for years and yes, we even bring up a well-timed and surprisingly accessible Papal encyclical. We found it to be a wide-ranging, eye-opening and fascinating subject to dive into, and hope our listeners will too - if we do our job right, this one will provide plenty of food for thought, if nothing else. Thanks as always for listening to and supporting this homegrown effort!

Website: anchor.fm/book-change

Email address: [e-mail]

MUSIC BY YOUNG WOLF, VOIDZ PANDA

BOOKS DISCUSSED/MENTIONED/RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE:

What John is currently reading/plans to read next:

'World Made By Hand,' James Howard Kunstler -

'A Visit to the Goon Squad,' Jennifer Egan -

What Jude is currently reading/plans to read next:

'The Wake,' Paul Kingsnorth -

'Stella's Carpet,' Lucy E. M. Black -

Books/Writers discussed in this episode:

'The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy,' Michael McCarthy -

'The Overstory,' Richard Powers -

'The Road,' Cormac McCarthy -

'Barkskins,' Annie Proulx -

'Last Chance to See,' Douglas Adams -

'The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,' Elizabeth Kolbert -

'Dune,' Frank Herbert -

'The Stand,' Stephen King -

'The Death and Life of the Great Lakes,' Dan Egan -

'Storm,' George R. Stewart -

'2312' & 'New York 2140,' Kim Stanley Robinson -

'Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home,' Pope Francis -

'Fiskadoro,' Denis Johnson -

'A Canticle for Leibowitz,' Walter M. Miller, Jr. -

'A Friend of the Earth' & 'When the Killing's Done,' T. C. Boyle -

'The Geography of Nowhere,' 'The Long Emergency' & 'World Made By Hand,' T. C. Boyle -

'Flight Behavior,' Barbara Kingsolver -

'The Drowned World,' J. G. Ballard -

Planned next episode of the Book XChange podcast:

Episode 50 is called "Re:Verse," and for the first time, the Book XChange will take on poets and poetry: the value and challenges of reading it, why it matters, favorite poets and epics written in verse, etc.