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- 1 h 26typische Länge
- 20. Okt.letzte Folge
Ryan Murdock talks with the world’s most original writers, publishers and travelers to get the story behind great books about place.
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Christopher Harding on the history of Japan
How do you capture two and a half thousand years in a couple hundred pages? Today’s guest managed to hit the highs and lows of Japan’s long history while peppering his account with literature, culture, religion and those subtle ways of seei
Ask Me Anything (AMA) #2
Thank you to all those who submitted questions. There were more than I expected. I hope you find this interesting. Watch the video for: * an update on the future of Personal Landscapes — and a change in direction * behind the scenes glimpse
Paul Theroux on the road in Canada
We’re talking about Canada today, a place I know a little something about. My homeland is the subject of Paul Theroux’s newest travel book. Like Canada, True North is vast and it covers too much ground to summarize in a podcast. This is a g
Jan Morris with biographer Sara Wheeler
Jan Morris seemed to live multiple lives. She was a soldier at the end of the Second World War, and a globetrotting journalist with a knack for turning up in the middle of what would become historic events. She was a man — James Morris — an
George Forster with biographer Andrea Wulf
George Forster is the most interesting 18th century explorer that I had never heard of. He traveled the South Pacific on Captain James Cook’s second voyage at age seventeen, sailing through icy waters tantalizingly close to undiscovered Ant
Rory Maclean on the cross-cultural geography of heaven
When Rory Maclean’s wife died of cancer at age 55, he set out on a series of journeys that changed his life. His newest book is an examination of grief, a celebration of love, and a cross-cultural exploration of the afterlife. He approached
Colin Thubron on Russia and Asia's borderlands
Colin Thubron’s keenly observed travel writing has made him one of our greatest writers on place. The scale of his journeys is immense, but his lyrical books focus on the small and immediate. He writes about ordinary people whose lives were
Tom Feiling on Japan’s warning for the future
When Tom Feiling lived in Tokyo in the early 1990s, Japan was a vision of the future. A place where science fiction existed next to centuries old Shinto shrines. He returned to the country nearly twenty-five years later to find some of the
Katja Hoyer on life at the edge of catastrophe
The little town of Weimar was the crucible of German high culture, democracy, and dictatorship. It was home to Goethe and Schiller, Nietzsche and Liszt. It gave its name to the Weimar Republic. And it was an early stronghold of Adolf Hitler
Nicholas Crane on the hidden history of Britain's paths
Landscapes contain hidden histories that shaped the development of the world we live in. How we moved through those landscapes also tells us something about ourselves. The Paths More Traveled explores the web that has stretched across Brita
Robert Kaplan on a world in permanent crisis
The foreign affairs and travel writer Robert Kaplan sees today’s world as a larger version of Germany’s Weimar Republic, “connected enough for one part to mortally influence the other parts, yet not connected enough to be politically cohere
Isabella Tree on Nepal’s living goddess
In a small medieval palace on Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, a young girl chosen from a caste of Buddhist goldsmiths watches over this broad valley and protects the country and its people. She’s the embodiment of Devi, the universal goddess, an
Easter Island with archaeologist Mike Pitts
Every book I read about Easter Island said roughly the same thing: a small, isolated group of people living on the world’s most remote inhabited island couldn’t have sculpted, moved and erected the enormous statues that are Easter Island’s
Moonlighting: reliving the 80’s with Scott Ryan
Moonlighting posed as a detective show, but it was actually an old-fashioned 1940s screwball-comedy. Mysteries were just a framework for the romantic tension between the two main characters, played by Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. In an
Constantine Cavafy with biographer Gregory Jusdanis
I first encountered Constantine Cavafy in Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, where ‘the old poet’ represented the ghostly voice of the city. I was immediately attracted to the dreamlike quality of his poems, and the way he captured a se
Peter Matthiessen with biographer Lance Richardson
Peter Matthiessen is a towering figure of twentieth-century American letters, and the only writer to win the National Book Award in both fiction and nonfiction. He’s also a difficult man to pin down because he accomplished so much in so man
Alex Hutchinson on what drives us to explore
This drive to discover is deeply human, and as today’s guest will tell you, it might even be encoded in our genes. Alex Hutchinson is the author of The Explorer's Gene. He draws on the latest insights from neuroscience and behavioural psych
Foster Hirsch on film noir and 1950s Hollywood
Film noir is is my favourite silver screen genre. I’ve seen every A-list film noir multiple times, and most of the B-movies, too. I’ve wanted to do a podcast conversation about it since I started Personal Landscapes. These downbeat stories
Peter Carpenter: Walking in the Footsteps of David Bowie
When his doctor told him to walk or die, Peter Carpenter transformed a health crisis into a feat of urban archaeology. In wandering the streets where David Bowie honed his craft, Carpenter uncovered hidden dimensions and new connections to
Justin Marozzi: Slavery in the Islamic World
The Atlantic slave trade began in the 15th century and was abolished in the United States in 1865, but slavery was practiced in the Muslim world for much longer. It dates back to the 7th century, and endured openly until late in the 20th ce
Europe By Rail with Nicky Gardner
Europe By Rail is a beautifully-published guidebook that covers 50 key rail routes across Europe, blending practical advice with narrative storytelling, and a focus on slow travel by local trains. This wonderful resource has been inspiring
Louis D. Hall on riding to the end of the land
In his mid-twenties, city-bound and restless, Louis D. Hall decided to make an uncharted journey on horseback. He found his horse, Sasha, in Italy’s Apennine Mountains and headed west for ‘the end of the land’. In Green is a classic adventu
Andrew McCarthy on walking the Camino and the Brat Pack
If you grew up in the 80s like I did, you know Andrew McCarthy from Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire. But Andrew is more than an actor and director. He’s also an award-winning travel writer. His writing is introspective, vulnerable and se
Germany’s Broken Republic
Germany’s post-war recovery was an economic miracle. The country was on the rise in a good way. And then it all started going wrong. The signs of trouble were visible long before the covid pandemic pushed us over the brink. Journalists Will
Kyle Chayka on how the internet flattened culture
Digital platforms promised us personalization but their algorithms homogenized culture to a bland lowest common denominator instead. They don’t just influence what we consume, they also determine what is produced as artists shape their outp
Sophy Roberts on A Training School for Elephants
In 1879 a forgotten Irish adventurer called Frederick Carter marched four tamed Asian elephants from the coast of East Africa to the edge of the Congo. He was sent to establish a training school for African elephants so they could be used t
Joseph Koudelka with biographer Melissa Harris
Josef Koudelka (https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/josef-koudelka/) was born in Czechoslovakia the year Germany annexed the Sudetenland. His childhood was overshadowed by Nazi occupation. He lived under the postwar communist regime,
Clair Wills on Ireland’s missing persons
Clair Wills was in her twenties when she learned she had a cousin she'd never met. It wasn’t as though their families drifted apart. She’d never been told of this person’s existence. It was shrouded in shame and secrecy, and she wanted to u
Deborah Lawrenson on her mother the spy
What would you do if someone you knew your entire life — your mother — suddenly revealed that she’d been a spy? Deborah Lawrenson turned her story into a novel. The tangled web of espionage she weaves in The Secretary is fiction, but the ba
Michael Asher on crossing the Sahara by camel
In 1986, Michael Asher and his wife Mariantonietta Peru set out to cross the Sahara from west to east, by camel and on foot. Their 4,500 mile (7,200 km) journey is the longest trek ever made by Westerners in the Sahara, and the first record
