Conversations

A chance encounter led Lovemore Ndou into his local boxing gym, and a lucky left hook became his ticket out of apartheid South Africa

Ben Gillies, former drummer of Silverchair, discusses his rise to success as a teenage rock star, the challenges he faced, and his journey towards creating a fulfilling life as an adult. He explores his energetic nature as a child, his early musical influences, the role of friendships and parental involvement, the impact of alcohol on relationships, and reflects on parental love and his experience in Silverchair.

Lawyer David Gillespie examines the impact of psychopaths in the workplace and their lack of empathy and trust. He discusses the connection between trust, empathy, and mirror neurons, as well as the disturbing behavioral changes associated with frontotemporal dementia. The Prisoner's Dilemma demonstrates the importance of trust, while analyzing a TV interview on 9-11 highlights Donald Trump's pathological behavior. The chapter also explores the charming aspect of psychopaths and the need for personal well-being when dealing with them.

Josh Niland on his mission to cook fish eyes, fish liver, and fish sperm to help revolutionise how we cook and eat fishChef Josh Niland is devoted to changing ideas about how we cook and eat fish in the western world.He believes that rather than eating just the fillet, we should aim to eat the whole fish, as we do nose-to-tail with animals. At his restaurants he cooks with fish eyeballs, fish livers, fish heads, and milt (fish sperm).A big part of Josh's philosophy is about making fishing more sustainable. He says fishers risk their lives every, so we're duty bound to use as much of the catch as we can.Josh's approach is winning him acclaim around the world. At 30, he won an award which is considered the Oscars of food writing, the James Beard Award, for his first book, The Whole Fish Cookbook.His passion has its roots in his childhood. At eight years old, Josh fell terribly ill, and during a long convalescence, realised exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up.Today Josh has five restaurants of his own, including one in Singapore.Further informationFish Butchery is published by Hardie GrantTo binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

David Marr with the story of his great-great-grandfather Reg Uhr, who led murderous expeditions with the Native Police during Queensland’s frontier wars CW: mentions the names of Aboriginal people who have died

Diego Garcia-Bellido is a palaeontologist who specialises in soft-bodied fossils from hundreds of millions of years ago. These perfectly preserved eyes, guts and nervous systems provide a window into the beginning of our own family tree, and into life on Mars.

Robyn Davidson on her adventures high in the Himalayas, her love affair with an Indian prince, and her late in life reckoning with her own story (CW: mentions suicide)

Jessica is an orchestral conductor, organ virtuoso and also a synesthete who 'sees' colour in her mind's eye (R)

James O'Hanlon digs deep into the secret world of spiders; complex and tiny lives most of us are either unaware or afraid of

Historian Katherine Pangonis with stories from five cities of the ancient world, from their splendour in antiquity to their comparatively modest twilight