Kathryn and Ross Petras on Brains, Breasts, Bowels, and Bladders: A History of the World Through Body Parts

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.

In this episode, Andrew is joined by Kathryn and Ross Petras, authors of A History of the World Through Body Parts: The Stories Behind the Organs, Appendages, Digits, and the Like Attached to (or Detached From) Famous Bodies.

Kathryn & Ross Petras are a brother-and-sister writing team and authors of many word-oriented books like the New York Times bestseller You’re Saying It Wrong, THAT DOESN’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS, as well as Very Bad Poetry and Wretched Writing. They’ve also compiled a series of bestselling quote books like Age Doesn’t Matter Unless You’re a Cheese and It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done, as well as the page-a-day calendar The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said (now in its 24th year—with over 4.8 million copies sold) and its counterpart The 365 Smartest Things Ever Said. They also do a podcast, a sort of Car Talk about words, with NPR’s KMUW called You’re Saying It Wrong.