New Books Network

Matthew P. Romaniello, historian of Russian imperial history and medicine, explores 18th-century naturalists and physicians who mapped Russia’s people, climate, and health. He discusses humoral medicine as ethnography, transnational medical networks, scurvy and variolation campaigns, travel writing biases, and how climate shaped imperial knowledge and reputation.

Margaret Heffernan, author and former CEO with BBC media roots, explores how artists turn uncertainty into creative opportunity. She discusses how artistic habits sharpen decision timing, the limits and uses of historical analogies, and why companies need artists for imaginative strategy. Topics include scenario storytelling, cross-domain innovation, hedging bets, and the governance challenges of AI.

Danielle Girard, novelist known for tense psychological thrillers, discusses her 2026 novel Pinky Swear and the seeds of its suspense. She talks about teenage choices that shape adult lives. She explores Cleveland and Midwest roots, surrogacy research, trust symbolized by a pinky promise, and how secrets and small‑town rules drive betrayal and redemption.

Peter D. McDonald, author and scholar combining English literature and game design, explores how modern play was shaped after mid-20th century. He traces Fluxus experiments to corporate role-playing and video games. He outlines four styles like the impossible reversal and simulated freedom. The conversation surveys designed play, cultural shifts, and surprising links across art, toys, and tech.

John Masiulionis, author and hospice advocate working to build a children’s hospice in San Diego. He discusses his picture book Walking Each Other Home – Zachary’s Mission and its themes of a child’s mission, earth angels, and unconditional love. He also talks about his videocast series, experiences with real hospices, and how personal struggles shaped his work.

Jan Yager, sociologist and prolific author on productivity and relationships, presents eleven memorable principles for mastering time. She discusses research-driven methods, practical exercises, using AI and delegation, crafting routines that enable spontaneity, honoring relationships and pets, and the role of endings and stillness in making time work for a fulfilling life.

Nurhaizatul Jamil, Associate Professor of Global South Studies and author studying Islamic piety and gender. She explores Islamic self-help seminars in Singapore, how women navigate faith, love, work and consumption. Listens to how state racialization, affective teaching, and neoliberal advice shape pious transformation. Hints at modest fashion, ecoethics, and interdisciplinary approaches.

Kate Knave, a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow at Edinburgh and author of A Drive to Survive, challenges the Free Energy framework from a bioenactivist perspective. She contrasts metabolism-driven autopoiesis with sensor-guided movementism. Topics include cybernetics, predictive processing, individuation, constraint closure, and applying organismal ideas to ecosystems and designed environments.

Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science and expert on climate politics and resource extraction. She discusses why lithium is vital for decarbonization and the geopolitical maps of where it is produced. She explores social and environmental harms in places like Chile, European onshoring conflicts, and how communities organize resistance. Conversations end with governance fixes and demand-reduction strategies.

Casey Walker, novelist (Iowa Writers’ Workshop MFA; forthcoming Mexicali), discusses his story “Islands” set at a tense lake house and the fraught relationships among three orphaned brothers. He recounts the story’s decade-long evolution, editorial reshaping that uncovered key scenes, and teasers about his historical novel Mexicali set on the US–Mexico border.