Peculiar Book Club Podcast

There is an old Buddhist adage: the teachings are like a finger pointing to the moon. To achieve enlightenment, you are not supposed to look at the finger. You are supposed to look to the celestial light. I am asking you to look at the finger. The finger is also the moon.These words, from Damon Young, ask us to rethink the casual gesture: A tilted head. A finger to the lips. A wave that could mean emphasis or dismissal. A raised palm of piety and fellowship.These movements do not simply point to our thoughts, they are our thoughts made flesh. They can be instinctive, intuitive, or calculated―or all three. They exist in the briefest moment and through history, in a gently turned wrist and across whole nations. Our gestures drag stories with them, whether they mean to or not. They are invitations to think about how our worlds are larger than they seem―how we are much larger than we seem.Join us live with award-winning philosopher Damon Young as he sheds light on thirteen curious gestures. Drawing equally from classical poetry and science-fiction, heavy metal and ballet, Young illuminates our varied humanity from prehistory to today.

Episode was recorded live March 26, 2026.
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Why would anyone research how elephants pee? Or study worms who tie themselves into a communal knot? Or quantify the squishability of a cockroach? It all sounds pointless, silly, or even disgusting. But NOT TO US! This is going to be a Peculiar fan favorite, I am certain.
In The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog, Carly Anne York shows how unappreciated, overlooked, and simply curiosity-driven science has led to breakthroughs big and small. Got wind power? You might have humpback whales to thank. Know anything about particle physics? Turns out there is a ferret close to the heart of it all. And if you want to keep salmon around, be thankful for that cannon! The research itself can seem bizarre. But that’s why it’s awesome. Join us live for a night with Carly to talk about the weird heart of science, where it’s a good thing to let your curiosity run wild.

Episode was recorded live March 12, 2026.
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Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media.  This week, in honor of the book Story of a Murder, we are reviewing the crime thriller film A Perfect Murder.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this solid 90's movie. We'll discuss the themes of greed, there's always nuggets of truth in a good lie, and how much money it would take for either of us to commit a murder (hypothetically speaking of course).

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Since the Mayflower sidled up to Plymouth Rock, cult ideology has been ingrained in the DNA of the United States. It turns out that Puritan doomsday belief never went away; it just went secular and became American culture. From our fascination with cowboys and superheroes to our allegiance to influencers and self-help, susceptibility to advertising, and undying devotion to the self-made man, Americans remain particularly vulnerable to a specific brand of cult-like thinking.With in-depth research and compelling insight, journalist Jane Borden uncovers the American history you didn’t learn in school, including how we are still being brainwashed, making us a nation of easy marks for con artists and strong men. Along the way, she also revisits some of the most fascinating cults in this country—including, the Mankind United and Love Has Won—presenting them as integral parts of our national psyche rather than aberrations. Join the author live for a night of pop history that contextualizes the current rise in far-right extremism as a natural result of our latent indoctrination, and proposes that the United States is the largest cult of all.(Sounds effects for sketch provided by freesound_community from Pixabay)

Episode was recorded live February 26, 2026.
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A journey through human festivity, told through colorful travel narratives set at some of the world's most eye-catching festivals and interweaved with insights from the fields of anthropology, history, psychology, and folklore, examining why we celebrate festivals in the ways we do.

Fiesta explores the vibrant tapestry of human festivity, delving into the extraordinary lengths to which we go to express our cultures and commemorate life's milestones. From drunken pilgrimages to sacrificial funerals, national days to neo-pagan necromancy, festivals represent human culture at its most vivid and varied, and the resulting account is both a rich collection of travel writing and an anthropological exploration of the roles that festivals play in society. Through colorful characters, vibrant sights, and varied locales, Daniel Stables takes a curious, humanistic look at festivals across the world, unravelling the universal threads that run through our diverse global celebrations.

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