Best of the Spectator
Home to the Spectator's best podcasts on everything from politics to religion, literature to food and drink, and more. A new podcast every day from writers worth listening to. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Filtered episodes(5)
- StandardSummaries onlyThe Book Club: Steven Pinker
Published Sep 30, 2026
The Book ClubIn this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker to discuss his new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows…Pinker explores the powerful idea of ‘common knowledge’ - not simply what we know, but what we know that other people know, and what we know they know we know.From the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes to revolutions, financial markets and international relations, he argues that our ability to coordinate with one another depends on mak
- StandardSummaries onlyThe Book Club: John Sellars – Stoicism Is Not What You Think
Published Sep 23, 2026
The Book ClubIn this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by philosopher John Sellars to discuss his new book, Stoicism Is Not What You Think.Sellars explores the ancient philosophy of Stoicism and challenges some of its most common misconceptions – from the idea that Stoics repress their emotions to the belief that they are cold, indifferent and detached from the world.From its origins in ancient Athens to its modern revival online, Sellars explains what the Stoics actually believed and counter Sto
- StandardSummaries onlyThe Book Club: Anand Gopal – Days of Love and Rage
Published Sep 15, 2026
The Book ClubIn this week's Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by The New Yorker writer Anand Gopal, whose new book, long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize, is Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Revolution.What does freedom mean once the dictator has gone? Anand explains why he spent eight years reporting on Manbij, a city of 150,000 that pushed out the Assad regime and set about building a democracy from scratch – and how the argument over what came next split the revolution in two. They discuss the b
- StandardSummaries onlyThe Book Club: James Marriott
Published Sep 2, 2026
The Book ClubIn this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by The Times columnist James Marriott, whose new book is The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-literate Society.Are we witnessing the end of the reading age? James explains why literacy has shaped not just our culture but the way we think – and why its decline could have profound consequences for politics, democracy and public life. They discuss how television, TikTok and short-form video have transformed our attention
- StandardSummaries onlyThe Book Club: Simon Sebag Montefiore – The Cauldron
Published Aug 25, 2026
The Book ClubMy guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Simon Sebag Montefiore, the author of a number of fantastic books, including The Cauldron, which released this week. Simon and I talk about the making of the modern middle east, and how we forget some of the most fundamental groups who shaped this part of the world into the region that we know of today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.