Featured : MIMI ZIEMAN, Tap Dancing on EverestWe humans are a risky bunch. It seems part of our make-up, or at least the make up of one small expedition of four climbers. Their mission: attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, summitted only once before. That’s not all, though. They would climb without using supplemental oxygen, porter support, or chance for rescue. And going with them: Mimi Zieman, a woman still in her third year of medical school, as team doctor. And we have to ask… why? According to Zieman, she felt called—something she couldn’t resist drawing her on. In ways not so dissimilar to WHALE FALL by last year’s guest Daniel Kraus, Tap Dancing on Everest offers up a coming of age story about finding your own authentic self. As Zieman goes solo hiking through Nepal, she weaves her childhood as the daughter of Jewish immigrants raised in 1970's New York City, with adventure, medicine, and empowerment. Join us for a chance to ask Zieman about the how and the why, about what drives a person to extremes and what we can make out of such experiences.

Episode was recorded live May 22, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

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An exquisite, lyrical foray into the world of deep-sea divers, the obsession and madness that oceans inspire in us, and the story of submarine inventor Peter Madsen's murder of journalist Kim Wall—a captivating blend of literary prose, science writing, and true crime.

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Featured: RILEY BLACK, When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest RomanceA favorite author returns! Once again featuring the marvelous Riley Black, author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, whose latest book takes a long look at prehistoric plants! It’s so rare that we see this type of book, one that gives us the actual landscape of history. Fossils plants allow us to touch the lost worlds from billions of years of evolutionary backstory. Each petrified leaf and root show us that dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and even humans would not exist without the evolutionary efforts of their leafy counterparts. It has been the constant growth of plants that have allowed so many of our favorite, fascinating prehistoric creatures to evolve, oxygenating the atmosphere, coaxing animals onto land, and forming the forests that shaped our ancestors’ anatomy. It is impossible to understand our history without them. Join us as we travel back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Ask Riley questions, live! Scramble with us up the Tree of Life—with another of out alum, Bethany Brookshire (author of PESTS). Two authors for the price of one! Maybe we can get two cocktails. Hmm… A VIP event, only on the Peculiar Book Club! (Join Patreon to be live with us!)

Episode was recorded live May 9, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

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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 Humans: a Monstrous History, we are reviewing the classic monster movie from 1986 The Fly.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this body horror classic. We'll discuss the themes of obsession, the effects of terminal diseases on people and their relationships, and the Goldblum-iness of the movie.

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Uncredited proves that not only have there been hundreds of ground-breaking women in all professions, but that their accomplishments have been overlooked, denigrated, or downright repressed by their male colleagues or historians. Uncredited explores why women have not been properly acknowledged for their accomplishments, both historically and today.

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Featuring : SUREKHA DAVIES, Humans: A Monstrous HistoryGuess what? We are featuring one of our own! Surekha Davis, long time peculiar, debuts a book on monsters. I mean on humans. Well. I mean both. Why do humans make monsters, and what do monsters tell us about humanity? Davies reveals how people have defined the human in relation to everything from apes to zombies, and how they invented race, gender, and nations along the way. With rich, evocative storytelling that braids together ancient gods and generative AI, Frankenstein's monster and ET, Humans: A Monstrous History shows how monster-making is about control: it defines who gets to count as normal. In an age when corporations increasingly see people as obstacles to profits, this book traces the long, volatile history of monster-making to chart a better path for the future. The result is a profound, effervescent, empowering retelling of the history of the world for anyone who wants to reverse rising inequality and polarization. This is not a history of monsters, but a history through monsters. THINK of the cocktail potential here, people! It’s going to be a wild night of history and monster mystery—so don’t miss out! Join us as an author-host is Bill Schutt, most recently author of BITE, and I can’t think of a better pairing for our VIP show!

Episode was recorded live April 24, 2025.

Email: peculiar@bschillace.com

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A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

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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 The Killer Whale Journals, we are reviewing a movie from our childhoods, 1993's Free Willy.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this childhood favorite. We'll discuss the themes of the importance of family, respect and love for whales, and greed.

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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