Category: DailyShorts

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NPR's Book of the Day - Authors of two new novels draw inspiration from history in wildly different ways

Today on the show, we hear from authors who were inspired by history in wildly different ways. First, when Emma Donoghue encountered a famous photo of the 1895 Montparnasse derailment, she says she couldn't believe no one had written a novel about it. Donoghue's The Paris Express imagines what life was like for passengers on the old-fashioned steam locomotive. In today's episode, she talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the extensive historical research she conducted in order to write the book. Then, Bob the Drag Queen has called Harriet Tubman "the first Black superhero." In Bob's debut novel Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, Tubman returns to continue her work as an abolitionist through hip-hop. In today's episode, Bob speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the idea of freedom, Tubman's military service, and a recent appearance on The Traitors.

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Bay Curious - The Berkeley Park That Was Once All Trash

Bay Curious listener Tom Rauch grew up in Berkeley in the 1960s. Some of his most vivid memories from that time are of the old Berkeley dump. “It really was just this big, giant pit where you backed up your car, opened up your trunk and just shoveled whatever you had into this open pit,” he said. Fast forward to today, and the dump is long gone. In its place is César Chávez Park, a big grassy expanse with sweeping views of the entire San Francisco Bay.


Rauch recently started to wonder about the old dump, and submitted some questions to Bay Curious. How did it go from a squalid mass of junk to a beautiful shoreline park where people go to walk their dogs, fly kites and have picnics? And what are some of the challenges of turning a big pile of trash into a recreational space? Reporter Dana Cronin takes us on the journey to find out.


Additional Reading:



Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts


This story was reported by Dana Cronin. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Mass Extinction Events

We like to think of the Earth as a very stable place. While there might be seasonal variation in the weather, things don’t really change that much within our lifetimes. 


However, if you take a longer perspective, a much longer perspective, things can change a lot. 


In fact, there have been five times in the history of the Earth when life on Eath completely changed. When over half of the species on the planet completely disappeared. 


Learn more about the Earth’s mass extinction events and what caused them on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.



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the memory palace - Episode 229: Teammates

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

During mid-April, 2025, I'm doing a southern book tour, with stops in San Antonio, Houston, Gainesville, Montgomery, New Orleans, and Oxford. Find out more at www.thememorypalace.us/events.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

  • La Copla from Atahualpa Yupanqui
  • Yes, Brick by Brick and Waende by Caeys
  • Space in Between by Federico Albanese
  • Kieke by Shida Shihabi


Notes

  • My favorite work on Mays is James Hirsch's glorious biography, Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend. I also recommend John Klima's Willie's Boys, about the Black Baron's 1948 season.
  • If you're looking to get more context for the city during those years, I'd recommend Diane McWhorter's history, Carry Me Home. 


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The Indicator from Planet Money - Why the great vinyl shortage is over

There have now been a few major vinyl booms. And unbeknownst to many, a small village in the Czech Republic has been responsible for manufacturing a large number of these albums. On today's show, how this dominant player became a problem for its competitors in the U.S.

Related episodes:
Rumor has it Adele broke the vinyl supply chain
'Let's Get It On' ... in court (Update) (Apple / Spotify)

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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NPR's Book of the Day - To confront radical change, ‘Slate’ writer Scaachi Koul wrote a new book of essays

Three years ago, Scaachi Koul went through a divorce, a process that she says was "disorienting." But divorce, the Slate writer says, also offered a framework for rethinking everything: her relationship with men, family, conflict, and herself. Her new book of essays Sucker Punch works through this personal evolution. In today's episode, Koul speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel about one of the primary relationships in these essays: the writer's relationship with her mother. They also discuss Koul's shifting perspective on fights, her interest in speaking with the man who sexually assaulted her, and her loose interpretation of Hindu fables.

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Questions and Answers: Volume 29

If you happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, April is a time when days get longer, the temperature gets warmer, and things start to become green again.


It is also the month of National Unicorn Day, National Superhero Day, National Take A Wild Guess Day, and, of course, National Hairball Awareness Day.


More important than any of these august holidays, it is the month where I answer your question. 


Stay tuned for another episode of Questions and Answers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.




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