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The Reith Lectures
The Reith Lectures
Oct 24, 2024 10:23 PM

Author:Various,Grayson Perry,Hilary Mantel,Kwame Anthony Appiah,Atul Gawande,Margaret Macmillan,Michael J. Sandel,Tom Kirkwood,Vilayanur S. Ramachandran,Daniel Barenboim,Eliza Manningham-Buller

The Reith Lectures

Ten emblematic lectures by world-leading thinkers, specially selected by the series producer.

Since 1948, the BBC's iconic annual lecture series has provided a platform for brilliant, entertaining individuals to discuss and develop their ideas on radio. The topics range from art and science to history, culture, politics and more, and each Reith Lecture - which is a little longer than a TED talk - is followed by a lively question-and-answer session showcasing the speaker's expertise, wisdom and wit.

This collection brings together ten of the very best Reith Lectures, chosen by the series producer, Jim Frank. Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry argues that art can no longer shock us - we've seen it all before; bestselling novelist Hilary Mantel explores how art can bring the dead back to life; Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former MI5 director, tells us what it was like to head up the security services in the aftermath of 9/11; Tom Kirkwood asks whether ageing and death are the price we pay for sex; and Margaret MacMillan discusses the relationship between war and humanity, and the role of the soldier.

In addition, Atul Gawande considers the future of medicine; Michael Sandel examines the expansion of markets; Kwame Anthony Appiah appeals for a world free of racial fixations; Vilayanur S. Ramachandran looks at the process we call 'seeing'; and Daniel Barenboim celebrates the power of music to bring us together. Illuminating, captivating and thought-provoking, these superlative radio lectures are full of insight and inspiration.

Production credits

Presented, chaired and introduced by Sue Lawley

Produced and curated by Jim Frank

Edited by Hugh Levinson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:

Tom Kirkwood: Sex and Death 18 April 2001

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran: Synapses and the Self 9 April 2003

Daniel Barenboim: In the Beginning was Sound 7 April 2006

Michael Sandel: Markets and Morals 9 June 2009

Eliza Manningham-Buller: Terror 6 September 2011

Grayson Perry: Nice Rebellion - Welcome In! 29 October 2013

Atul Gawande: The Century of the System 2 December 2014

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Colour 1 November 2016

Hilary Mantel: The Day is for the Living 13 June 2017

Margaret MacMillan: Fearing and Loving - Making Sense of the Warrior 3 July 2018

© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Reviews

This isn't just a collection of essays for Atwood fans. Rather, this is an attempt to make sense of the world, taking in with characteristic verve everything from Anne of Green Gables to Donald Trump, zombies to censorship . . . While the tone skates from surreal off-kilter wit to impassioned gravity, Atwood always makes the idea of big questions a little more digestible . . . The collection is polyphonic, enthusiastic, illuminating

—— Sophie Macintosh , i News

Margaret Atwood was recently described in a Guardian interview as "arguably the most famous living literary novelist in the world", and she is undoubtedly the most venerable . . . It's fascinating to read Atwood's reflections on her own novels and their continued relevance . . . but equally striking to see how many pieces she has included here generously celebrating other writers

—— Stephanie Merritt , Observer

If there's one person in the world from whom you'd want a hot take on the most pressing issues, it would surely be Margaret Atwood . . . She answers our burning questions on climate change, the rise of Trump and on to debt and tech

—— Joanna Taylor , Evening Standard

With her bold imagination, calm insight, and wit, Atwood gathers diverse strands into a marvellous collection ranging from the history of forests to the nature of science fiction and beyond. Burning Questions is a delicious antidote to intellectual fragmentation that left me inspired

—— Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life

A compilation of essays that pick the brain of Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood, this is a wonderfully written insight into everything from zombies to the climate crisis

—— Stylist

I drank in the book this past weekend, in two warm slugs

—— Jennifer Senior , Atlantic

[Atwood's] intelligence shines off the page with such intensity it makes you blink

—— Rose Shepherd , Saga Magazine

The mighty Margaret Atwood writes about everything from granola to Trump

—— Robbie Millen , The Times, *Books to Look Out For 2022*

Atwood's third collection of essays...does not fail to impress... This is one to dip into again and again, and is likely to remain relevant many years into the future

—— UK Press Syndication

Atwood...always...gets right to the heart of the matter... More than 50 pieces display her astonishing range... Each is written with her trademark wit

—— Erica Wagner , Harper's Bazaar

Atwood is generous and unguarded - exactly what you would hope of her... frank, honest and good company

—— Shahidha Bari , Guardian

A kaleidoscope look at life and literature from the perspective of one of our finest writers... Her humour and breath of knowledge make this a collection to open your mind - and make you laugh

—— Zoe West , Woman & Home

[Atwood's] prescience, her wicked sense of humour, her generosity and her appetite for work at all on flamboyant display in Burning Questions

—— Mary Norris , Times Literary Supplement

Atwood's third volume of essays... [is] shot through with wisdom and wit

—— Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2022*

This week, the Supreme Court nominated Margaret Atwood for a Nobel Prize in Prescience

—— Washington Post

A poetic journey of restoring nature in an iconic landscape. Wild Fell informs and inspires.

—— Jake Fiennes

A visionary, practical and lyrical book on restoring land, from one of the best in the game, on the front line of nature restoration.

—— Benedict Macdonald

Lee Schofield's Wild Fell is a soaring elegy to nature, a book infused with a deep love of place, and a stirring call to restore wildlife to our landscapes. Written with wit, verve and humility, Wild Fell is above all a story of hope, weaving together deep insights about botany and the history of the land with a wisdom won through years of practical experience.

—— Guy Shrubsole

Wild Fell is a beautiful, powerful book that subtly navigates great and complex challenges.

—— George Monbiot

A funny, modest, intellectually robust individual, serious about the range of policies needed for transformation. Miliband assures us this is not a manifesto. To my mind, it should be

—— Ann Pettifor , Times Literary Supplement

Despite having an engrossing plot, the book reminds you that plot is never really the point of a great novel, and this is a great novel

—— Erica Wagner , Financial Times

A beautifully wrought saga of human connection and the creative process, of love and all of its complicated levels. A gem of a novel, intimate yet sweeping, modern yet timeless. Bits of this book lingered in my head the way ghosts of Tetris pieces continue to fall in your mind's eye after playing

—— ERIN MORGENSTERN

I read this in one sitting - I physically couldn't put it down. It is just as wonderful as everyone says

—— LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol

I loved this novel about two kids setting up a computer games company. What fascinated me is it's not about a romantic relationship but friendship.

—— Mat Osman , The Times

Gets at so much about work, love and storytelling. It's a book that spawns great conversations

—— Maggie Shipstead , Guardian

You needn't be a gamer to be charmed by this immersive tale of friendship, creativity and life's messy wonders

—— Mail on Sunday

I cannot recommend it highly enough

—— HANK GREEN, Instagram

When was the last time I read a book that surrounded me like this? . . . I'm blown away

—— KATIE CLAPHAM, Storytellers Inc

I love it so much. So so much

—— MELINDA SALISBURY, author of The Sin Eater's Daughter

You'll be sobbing behind your Celine sunnies

—— Evening Standard

Utterly absorbing

—— Wired

An artfully balanced novel - charming but never saccharine. The world Zevin has created is textured, expansive and, just like those built by her characters, playful

—— Pippa Bailey , Observer

This book is impossibly good-one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. I press it into people's hands with a demented kind of urgency. 'Yeah, yeah, I don't care about video games either. I promise you'll love it.' And everybody does. How did Gabrielle Zevin write such a perfect novel about friendship? I mean, really. How? In any case, she did, and it's a treasure

—— CATHERINE NEWMAN

Tremendous new novel about art, friendship and gaming . . . a literary blockbuster destined to be filed in the Great American Novel category

—— Helen Brown , Independent

"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" is actually a novel about friendship . . . a creative partnership as intense as a marriage . . . draws any curious reader into the pioneering days of a vast entertainment industry too often scorned by bookworms. And with the depth and sensitivity of a fine fiction writer, Zevin argues for the abiding appeal of the flickering screen

—— Ron Charles , Washington Post

A brilliant story about life's most challenging puzzles: friendship, family, love, loss. By turns funny, poignant, wistful, and occasionally devastating

—— NATHAN HILL, author of THE NIX

The sort of book that comes around once in a decade - a magnificent feat of storytelling. It is a book about the intersection between love and friendship, work and vocation, and the impossible and relentless pull of our own west-bound destinies

—— REBECCA SERLE, author of In Five Years

Sam and Sadie's relationship is pure wizardry; it's deep and complex, transcending anything we might call a love story. Whether you care about video games or not is beside the point. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the novel you've been waiting to read

—— Book Page, Chika Gujarathi

I feel completely changed by this book from Gabrielle Zevin. It's a book about love - about friendship, but really it transcends the borders of storytelling. My heart ached when I finished it. Truly unforgettable

—— CATHERINE CHO, author of Inferno

The perfect engrossing holiday read...beautiful and heartbreaking

—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Zevin's delight in her characters, their qualities, and their projects sprinkles a layer of fairy dust over the whole enterprise. Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.

—— Kirkus

A one-of-a-kind achievement

—— Publishers Weekly

A particularly memorable and compelling kind of love story... [a] nuanced depiction of human connection over 30 years that will have you blinking back tears behind your sunglasses

—— Culture Whisper, *Summer Reads of 2022*

dazzling and intricately imagined

—— B&N Reads

Zevin's writing is like being put under a spell. She's kind of magical.

—— Liberty Hardy , WBEZ

Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.

—— Kirkus

exhilarating

—— Smithsonian

engrossing

—— Wall Street Journal

delightful and absorbing . . . expansive and entertaining

—— Tom Bissell , New York Times

The go-to for your next hit of Nineties nostalgia; if you ever spent too long playing Donkey Kong, this one's for you

—— Evening Standard, *Summer Reads of 2022*

This is a boy meets girl story that is never a romance - though it is romantic . . . Their relationship is a joining of minds and of worlds that is both purer and sweeter than any base physical attraction

—— Pippa Bailey , Observer

Big-hearted, generous, intelligent and open to the complexities of life

—— Irish Independent

A novel that treasures the act of play and holds it sacred . . . the world of video games and video game development is just the landscape in which life plays out . . . Tomorrow is about love, above all things

—— Sarah Maria Griffin , Guardian

Delightful and absorbing

—— Tom Bissell , International New York Times

Teenagers of the 21st century are as likely to bond over video games as they are rock music or movies. Gabrielle Zevin's exhilarating, timely and emotive book is perhaps the first novel to truly get to grips with what this means

—— Guardian

Exhilarating... this is refreshingly original

—— Psychologies

It is the imaginary world of a game, a world Zevin describes with the addict's ardour, which forms a universe even the sturdiest parent or antediluvian book-lover will be enticed into.

—— Big Issue

Friendship, love, loyalty, violence in America and the magic of invented worlds. Gorgeous

—— People

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a special book -- one that transports readers fully, as games do their players, into its immaculately crafted world

—— The Times

Woven throughout are meditations on originality, appropriation, the similarities between video games and other forms of art, the liberating possibilities of inhabiting a virtual world, and the ways in which platonic love can be deeper and more rewarding - especially in the context of a creative partnership - than romance.

—— New Yorker

Zevin probes at many of the themes that energize video games as a medium: their narrative depth, their therapeutic value, their casual violence, their toxic industry. And the possibility of living a better life in a virtual world

—— Wired

Zevin has the ability to make you care about her creations within paragraphs of meeting them... whose fates I consistently worried about when I occasionally had to put the book aside.

—— Financial Times

[An] engrossing, delightful novel... Zevin has the ability to make you care about her creations within paragraphs of meeting them... [Tomorrow] is rich with characters whose intertwined fates power the narrative

—— Financial Times

This book, with its respect for craft-the craft of love and games, or loving games-will remind you of how abundant one life is, how lucky we are to keep each other in our memories forever.

—— Kotaku

[I] raced through this pure wonder of a book in a few days

—— NINA MINGYA POWLES, author of Small Bodies of Water

A 2022 book that everyone should read

—— Pandora Sykes , Stylist LIVE

A must-read

—— Neil Druckmann

Anyone who reads Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow can't stop talking about it

—— Stylist

Utterly beautiful and endlessly hopeful, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter to life, friendship, and creativity

—— The Skinny, *Books of 2022*

[The] 2022 book that everyone should read

—— Pandora Sykes , Stylist Live

My #1 book to recommend . . . incredible, like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon meets The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. It's about love and friendship and video games

—— Emma Straub

It feels right that the best video game novel out there is by a woman. Her story about the decades-long friendship and partnership between video game designers Sam and Sadie gets at so much about work, love and storytelling. It's a book that spawns great conversations.

—— Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch

In following Sam and Sadie's journey from Massachusetts to California and into the imagined worlds of their games, Zevin writes the most precious kind of love story

—— Time Magazine, Best Novel of the Year

Zevin's writing is poetic, the plot is entertaining, moving and gripping and the nods to real life video games make it all feel incredibly real

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

Reading this is almost like an invitation from Zevin to enter a game...with every scene and moment so carefully constructed. Just brilliant

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

I loved it

—— Sarah Keyworth

A hugely enjoyable novel about lives and loves mediated by technology

—— Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2023*

This playful, accomplished novel is a poignant celebration of friendship, love - and gaming

—— Daily Mail

An engrossing coming-of-age story

—— Sunday Times, *Books of the Year*

Epic in scale, with unforgettable characters, it breaks you heart and puts it back together

—— Daily Express, *Books of the Year*
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