Brandy Schillace

Take two Tylenol before listening to Tom Zeller and The Headache

Brandy Schillace — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 10:49:10 +0000

Did you know that chronic head pain, from blinding migraines to severe headache disorders known as “clusters,” affects 40% of the population? And that science, largely, shrugs over the cause? Many suffer in silence, afraid of being chided as “merely” having a headache, when in fact this is a horrifically debilitating disorder. If you are one of them, or know someone who is, this is a book for you. In The Headache, science journalist Tom Zeller reveals the struggling science behind a group of disorders that is as much a curse as a cultural punchline, and leads to key insights into the nature of pain itself.Guided by his own decades-long struggle with cluster headaches, Zeller gives the inside track. He visits cutting-edge clinics; interviews dozens of doctors, neurologists, and fellow headache patients; participates in clinical trials for multi-million-dollar new medicines; and even experiments with psilocybin in search of relief. Along the way, Zeller traces the longer arc of mystery around headaches, from prehistoric skull surgery to Virginia Woolf’s assertion that, in the throes of a migraine, “language runs dry,” to reveal how headaches became one of the most under-researched afflictions in medicine—and how that is slowly starting to change. Join us to talk live with Zeller about all things headache, and take a journey into the inner workings of the human nervous system.

Episode was recorded live August 13, 2026.

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We’re taking the cannolis with The Godfather (Peculiar Movie Club)

Brandy Schillace — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:54:35 +0000

Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Custodians of Wonder, we are reviewing the legendary mafia film The Godfather.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into one of the greatest movies of all time. We’ll discuss the themes of passing things down to your children, how Michael couldn’t stay away from the family business, and making offers that people can’t refuse.

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We’re going to get so high with Sam Kelly and Human History on Drugs

Brandy Schillace — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:43:18 +0000

Every so often, I find myself reading history and thinking ‘were they on DRUGS?’ Well, the probably answer is: Yes! Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner; Steve Jobs believed taking LSD helped him create the Apple computer, and Sigmund Freud loved cocaine so much he took it all the time and prescribed it to his patients. Hard to believe? Don’t worry, in Human History on Drugs, Sam Kelly gives us the receipts. Here’s more of that peculiar history your teachers never told you. With chapters spanning from Ancient Greece (“The Oracle of Delphi Was Huffing Fumes”) to modern times (“Carl Sagan Got Astronomically High”), Kelly’s research covers all manner of eras, places, and, of course, drugs.History is rife with drug use and drug users, and Human History on Drugs takes us through those highs (pun intended) and lows on a witty and entertaining ride that uncovers their mind-boggling impact on our past. Join us to chat live with Sam, and get a preview of the book by visiting his mega-hit TikTok!

Episode was recorded live July 23, 2026.

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Video by Luis Humanoide from Pixabay

Video by Ha Nguyen from Pixabay

Psychedelic Witch Track Filmy Ghost & JackCote

Psychedelic Dream by Geoff Harvey – Purple Planet Music source (Free Music Archive) and license type (CC BY-NC-ND)

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You might not recognize us with Sadie Dingfelder and Do I Know You?

Brandy Schillace — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 10:45:38 +0000

Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she’s a little quirky. But while she’s made some strange mistakes over the years, it’s not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (whom she thinks is her husband) that she realizes something is amiss.With a mixture of curiosity and dread, Dingfelder starts contacting neuroscientists and lands herself in scores of studies. In the course of her nerdy midlife crisis, she discovers that she is emphatically not neurotypical. She has prosopagnosia (faceblindness), stereoblindness, aphantasia (an inability to create mental imagery), and a condition called severely deficient autobiographical memory.As Dingfelder begins to see herself more clearly, she discovers a vast well of hidden neurodiversity in the world at large. There are so many different flavors of human consciousness, and most of us just assume that ours is the norm. Can you visualize? Do you have an inner monologue? Are you always 100 percent sure whether you know someone or not? If you can perform any of these mental feats, you may be surprised to learn that many people—including Dingfelder—can’t. Her book DO I KNOW YOU offers a lively blend of personal narrative and popular science, and you can chat with Sadie live, ask questions, and share experience!

Episode was recorded live June 25, 2026.

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We’re getting quite animated with Princess Mononoke (Peculiar Movie Club)

Brandy Schillace — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 02:07:29 +0000

Welcome to the Peculiar Movie Club, a bonus podcast linked to our main show the Peculiar Book Club through common themes in media. This week, in honor of the book Nightfaring, we are reviewing the Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke.

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive into this Anime classic. We’ll discuss the theme of Rebirth, Redemption, and who exactly are the bad guys in this movie.

Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@peculiarbookclub.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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We’ll let you in on the secret with Eliot Stein and Custodians of Wonder

Brandy Schillace — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:36:48 +0000

Did you know there’s a man saving the secret ingredient in Japan’s 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe? Or that the world’s rarest pasta is made in Italy, and only a few women alive still know the recipe? Or that in India, a family makes a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self? These are disappearing secrets, the magical element of culture being precariously preserved by the few for the many. Join us for a live chat with author Eliot Stein, who traveled the globe in search of remarkable people who are preserving some of our most extraordinary cultural rites. From shadowing Scandinavia’s last night watchman to meeting a 27th-generation West African griot to tracking down Cuba’s last official cigar factory “readers” more than a century after they spearheaded the fight for Cuban independence, Stein uncovers an almost lost world. From Inca bridge masters to those who still speak to bees, CUSTODIANS OF WONDER is a treasure trove of peculiar and heart-warming traditions—and those preserving them from brink of disappearance.

Episode was recorded live May 28, 2026.

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We’ll break our silence on The Artist (Peculiar Movie Club)

Brandy Schillace — Tue, 05 May 2026 17:44:05 +0000

Join Davey Berris and Darren Cross as they take a deep dive classic Anime film. We’ll discuss the theme of rebirth, battling curses, and who exactly are the bad guys in this movie.

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We’ll journey into the dark with Megan Eaves and Nightfaring

Brandy Schillace — Sat, 02 May 2026 11:13:27 +0000

People, plants and animals all depend on the natural night – both its darkness and its starlight – for everything from regulating our sleep cycles to providing the inspiration for myths and legends. But darkness is disappearing, and with it, our view of the stars. The constant glow of streetlights, of headlights streaming down highways, and wasteful glare from skyscrapers left shining all night have created so much light pollution that the majority of Americans can no longer see the Milky Way or experience the restful embrace of a natural night. As the dark becomes ever more elusive, it is a critical moment to stop, look up, and consider what we lose with the disappearing stars. In NIGHTFARING, journalist and dark sky advocate Megan Eaves-Egenes travels around the world to better understand our deep connection to the dark. From New Zealand to Uzbekistan, Italy to Japan, Germany to the Himalaya, she explores the many ways humans have depended on, feared, and mythologized darkness. Blending travel and nature writing with history and self-discovery, Megan writes of how the stars have helped her chart the course of her own life – just as they’ve guided humankind for as long as we’ve slept beneath them. Join us for a peculiar night of live chat with Megan about the disappearing dark.

Episode was recorded live April 23, 2026.

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We’re pushing the limits with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and The Edge of Space-Time

Brandy Schillace — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

In her highly acclaimed debut, distinguished cosmologist and particle physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein shared with her audience an abiding sense of wonder at the cosmos, while imagining a world without the entrenched injustice that plagues her field. Now, in The Edge of Space-Time, she embraces that cosmic wonder, taking readers on a mind-altering journey to the boundaries of the universe, inviting us to spend time at the edge of what we know about space-time and about ourselves.
Guided by her conviction that for humanity to go forward we must know our cosmic past, and drawing on poetry and popular culture—from Langston Hughes, Queen Latifah, and Lewis Carroll, to Big K.R.I.T., Sun Ra, and Star Trek—Prescod-Weinstein renders accessible some of the most abstract concepts of theoretical physics to tell fascinating stories about the history and fundamental nature of our universe. Here we meet the quantum cat that is both dead and alive, learn the difference between dark matter and dark energy, explore the inner workings of black holes, and investigate the possibility of a unified theory of quantum gravity, following our guide out to the far reaches of the cosmic event horizon and down to the tiniest (and queerest) neutrino. Along the way, she calls on us to resist colonial approaches to space exploration and instead imagine a better path forward in our pursuit of humanity’s undeniable connection with the stars.
Through Prescod-Weinstein’s clear-eyed and unique perspective, and informed by her deep knowledge of postcolonial history and Black feminist thought, The Edge of Space-Timeargues that physics is an essential way for everyone to look at the universe and presents a compelling case that “the edge” is a powerful vantage point from which to see the big picture.

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There will be plenty of finger pointing with Damon Young and Immortal Gestures

Brandy Schillace — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 04:18:29 +0000

There is an old Buddhist adage: the teachings are like a finger pointing to the moon. To achieve enlightenment, you are not supposed to look at the finger. You are supposed to look to the celestial light. I am asking you to look at the finger. The finger is also the moon.These words, from Damon Young, ask us to rethink the casual gesture: A tilted head. A finger to the lips. A wave that could mean emphasis or dismissal. A raised palm of piety and fellowship.These movements do not simply point to our thoughts, they are our thoughts made flesh. They can be instinctive, intuitive, or calculated―or all three. They exist in the briefest moment and through history, in a gently turned wrist and across whole nations. Our gestures drag stories with them, whether they mean to or not. They are invitations to think about how our worlds are larger than they seem―how we are much larger than we seem.Join us live with award-winning philosopher Damon Young as he sheds light on thirteen curious gestures. Drawing equally from classical poetry and science-fiction, heavy metal and ballet, Young illuminates our varied humanity from prehistory to today.

Episode was recorded live March 26, 2026.

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