On todays episode of Modern Notion, we visit the salon in New York that originated Brazilian waxing. Jonice Padilha, one of the seven sisters behind Manhattans J Sisters salon, speaks to reporter Renee Gross about how the salon came up with the idea of taking it all off. From there, the trend took off—youll have to listen to find out why. Music this hour: “Forgiven Not Forgotten” by Jahzzar, from the album Kuddelmuddel “What True Self? Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X” by Chris Zabriskie,...

What if we looked at the human body as a landscape, and mapped its features using a cartographers eye? Thats what Dr. Gavin Francis does in his new book, Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum (Basic Books, October 2015). On this episode of Modern Notion we dive into some of the case studies from Dr. Franciss book, from electro-shock therapy to vertigo. Music this hour: “Oceanica” by Avaren, from the album For Others’ Use “Theme S” by Steve Combs andamp;...

Our guest on todays (new! improved! weekly!) Modern Notion is Gordon Edgar, the longtime cheesemonger at Rainbow Cooperative Grocery in San Francisco. Gordon turns his attention to a specific kind of cheese in his new book, Cheddar: A Journey to the Heart of Americas Most Iconic Cheese (Chelsea Green, October 2015). In the midst of a cheese renaissance, Gordon wants to understand cheddars place in American culture. Music this hour: “Chicken and Cheese 2 (Foot Village cover)” by Tussle

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On todays show, were talking with author Simon Read about Winston Churchill—but probably not the Winston Churchill you already know. In his book, Winston Churchill Reporting: Adventures of a Young War Correspondent (Da Capo Press, October 2015), Read explores the five years Churchill spent as a war correspondent, which took him around the world, from Cuba to Sudan. In those five years, Churchill had experiences that impacted his later life as a world leader, and he solidified his feelings...

On todays show, our guest is Dave Goulson, a professor of biological sciences and the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in the UK. Goulson recently wrote a memoir of sorts about a farm he bought in France, called A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm (Picador, April 2015). For the last decade, Goulson has been turning the farm into a bug-friendly wildflower meadow, and along the way hes recorded what species live there and conducted experiments on them,...

On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, our guest is David Talbot, the former CEO and editor-in-chief of Salon.com. Talbot has written a new book, The Devils Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of Americas Secret Government (Harper, October 2015). Dulles was the director of the CIA until President John F. Kennedy fired him; and now theres evidence to suggest that Dulles might have been behind the plot to kill the president. But perhaps even more persistent in Dulless legacy is...

Jamie Holmes is our guest today, talking about his new book Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing (Crown, October 2015). Holmes argues that embracing ambiguity can help us lead more productive and happier lives. Also on the show, reporter Lila Cherneff visits a zebrafish lab on Mount Desert Island in Maine to learn about the science of resilience. Plus, contributing editor Mark Hay tells an alternate history of the dodo bird. Music this hour: “Soldiertype (militarised)” by Ketsa, from the...

On todays show, novelist and English professor Eileen Pollack is discussing her new book, The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys Club (Beacon Press, September 2015). Pollack graduated from Yale with a bachelors degree in physics, but she believes that a lack of encouragement, and even active discouragement, led her to pursue a career in the humanities instead of male-dominated STEM fields. This book is a response to Larry Summerss famous comments about women in science,...

On todays show, our guest is Clint Emerson, author of 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operatives Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation (Touchstone, October 2015). Emerson uses his experiences a Navy SEAL to give tips on how to stay ahead of the bad guys—mostly by using bad guy tactics. He gives detailed instructions on how to make an improvised Taser with a disposable, plus many other ways to be prepared for the worst. Later in the hour, well, we hear...

On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, our guest is Wayne Wiegand, author of Part of Our Lives: A Peoples History of the American Public Library (Oxford University Press, October 2015). Wiegand argues that libraries are about much more than books: theyre a community meeting place. And to answer the question in the headline: theyre not going anywhere. Music this hour: “Kelli’s Number” by U.S. Army Blues, from the album Live at Blues Alley “Soldiertype (militarised)” by Ketsa, from the...

On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, were talking with Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at Kings College London and author of The Diet Myth: Why the Secret to Health and Weight Loss Is Already in Your Gut (The Overlook Press, September 2015). Using twin studies, and testing out various diets for himself, Spector has uncovered the importance of a persons microbiome—i.e. the bacteria residing in the gut—to overall health and wellness. Later in the hour, contributing editor...

The guests on todays Modern Notion Daily show are Steve Ettlinger and Dwight Eschliman, coauthors of Ingredients: A Visual Exploration of 75 Food Additives and 25 Food Products (Regan Arts, September 2015). Ettlinger, who had previously written about artificial ingredients in his book Twinkie Deconstructed, teamed up with Eschliman, a photographer who has deconstructed food in previous visual projects, to really find out what all of these ingredients are. Among their discoveries: MSG doesnt...

Our guest on Modern Notion Daily is Susanna Moore, author of Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawaii (Farrar, Straus andamp; Giroux, September 2015). The book was recently longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award. Moore details the history of the archipelago, first inhabited by humans in the sixth century. Well learn about the origin of the word taboo, well put the myth that Hawaiians cannibalized Captain James Cook to rest, and well meet Queen Kaahumanu. Music this hour: Island Pop...

On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, our guest is Sasha Abramsky, author of The House of Twenty Thousand Books (New York Review Books, September 2015). Abramsky recalls his grandparents London home, filled with a vast rare book collection—but more importantly, he remembers the ideas discussed among those treasured volumes. Later in the hour, reporter Jessie Wright-Mendoza tells the story of Harman Blennerhassett, who helped Aaron Burr in his attempt to create a treasonous state. Music...

Our guest on todays episode of Modern Notion Daily is Frances Dinkelspiel, author of Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California (St. Martins Press, October 2015). Dinkelspiel was intrigued by the 2005 arson of Wines Central, which destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wine. But ultimately, her journey to tell that story led her to other darkness that lurked in the shadows of the wine business on the West Coast. Music this...

On todays show, our guest is Robert Weintraub, author of No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog, and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII (Little, Brown and Company, May 2015). This is the story of Judy, a pointer dog who was a Japanese POW. She befriended Frank Williams, a British POW, and the two cared for each other through the war and beyond. Music this hour: “Theme S” by Steve Combs andamp; Delta Is, from the album Themes (Vol. 1) “Soldiertype (militarised)” by Ketsa,...

On todays Modern Notion Daily podcast, our guest is Gillen DArcy Wood, author of Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World (Princeton University Press, paperback September 2015). In 1815, the Tambora volcano on Sumbawa (part of Indonesia) erupted for three days, producing volcanic ash that was absorbed into the Earths atmosphere and stratosphere. People blame this volcano for famine, cold weather, and a cholera outbreak over the next three years around the world. Later in the show, staff...

Our guest on todays episode of Modern Notion Daily is Caitlin Doughty, a mortician and author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Stories from the Crematory (W. W. Norton andamp; Co., paperback September 2015). Doughty promotes death positivity—which does not mean you should be happy when a loved one dies, but that you should embrace the dying and post-death process. In the interview, Doughty reveals her plans for her own body after she dies. Later in the hour, reporter Erika Beras takes us...

On Modern Notion Daily, our guest is Lillian Faderman, author of The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle (Simon andamp; Schuster, September 2015). Faderman starts this detailed account of the treatment of LGBT people and communities in the 1950s, when police raided gay bars and prosecuted people for their sexuality in courts of law. How did we get from there to 2015, Faderman asks, when LGBT people can serve openly in the military and marry whomever they choose? Later in the hour,...

This hour of Modern Notion Daily, our guest Karen Abbott talks about her book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper Perennial, paperback September 2015). Abbott explored the lives of four women who contributed to the war effort in unusual ways, from the Confederate spy who bedded countless Union soldiers to obtain secrets, to the woman who dressed as a man and enlisted in the Union Army. Later in the hour, Mark Hay explains the Kuiper Belt and why its...

Our guest on todays episode of Modern Notion Daily is Casey Schwartz, author of In the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis (Pantheon, August 2015). Schwartz completed a graduate program that allowed her to study psychoanalysis at the Anna Freud Centre in London and neuroscience at Yale. She constantly felt like the two disciplines were talking past each other, until she met Dr. Mark Solms and stepped into the new world of neuropsychoanalysis. Later in the hour,...

On todays Modern Notion Daily podcast, our guest is Roger Giner-Sorolla, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent and a member of the team working on the Reproducibility Project for Psychology. The Reproducibility Project tasked psychologists with choosing 100 studies that they could replicate in their own labs as a way of examining the state of psychology research on the whole. Only 36 percent were successfully replicated—but what does that figure really mean? Music this...

Our guest on todays episode of Modern Notion Daily is Pedro Domingos, a professor of computer science and the author of The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World (Basic Books, September 2015). Domingos is an expert in machine learning, which is the engine behind much of what happens in our digital lives (suggested friends on Facebook, route times on GoogleMaps, and the like). The holy grail of machine learning is the master algorithm, and...