Podcast · Learning

Playing Books

Learn from Audio Conversations on the World’s Most Unputdownable Books. The Playing Books Podcast 🎙️ is on Spotify, Apple, and other Platforms. More at playingbooks.org

New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 45 min
Latest: 28 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

28 Sep 2026 · 42 min

Trump Revealed - The Definitive Biography of the 45th President by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher.

Thank you for tuning in to the Playing Books podcast. Welcome to our first episode on President Donald J. Trump. What does it take to understand a man who has been called everything from a master dealmaker to a media manipulator, a Manhattan playboy to the Leader of the Free World? In this episode of Playing Books, we open the pages of Trump Revealed, the definitive biography by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher. This is not a partisan takedown or a glowing tribute. It is something rarer. A deeply reported, meticulously sourced portrait built on hundreds of…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

25 Sep 2026 · 45 min
How to Speak Money: What the Money People Say, And What It Really Means by John Lanchester.
Thank you for tuning in to the Playing Books podcast. Welcome to the finance episode. Why does financial advice often sound like a foreign language? What do terms like inflation, equity, bonds, leverage, and derivatives actually mean? And why do so many intelligent people feel excluded from conversations about money, investing, and wealth building? In this episode of the Playing Books podcast, we explore John Lanchester's How to Speak Money: What the Money People Say, And What It Really Means, a brilliant and refreshingly accessible guide to understanding the language that drives modern…
18 Sep 2026 · 58 min
Eugene M. Schwartz Discusses Breakthrough Advertising and Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the hands-on skills episode of the podcast. Why does a brilliant product sit there unsold? Why does a clever ad feel loud and still get ignored? And what if the problem was never your offer, but the sentence that tried to introduce it? We discuss Eugene M. Schwartz’s Breakthrough Advertising , with a foreword by Martin Edelston, in this episode. First published in 1966 and still hunted by copywriters, founders, and direct response obsessives, it remains one of the sharpest manuals ever written on persuasion in print. Schwartz…
16 Sep 2026 · 44 min
Dr. Sean W. Anthony’s Revolution: Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the expository episode of the podcast. What do we actually know about Muhammad, and how do we know it? Most of us meet him through a finished life story. A merchant. A shepherd. A messenger. A conqueror. A man whose words remade the map of the world. But that polished portrait did not arrive on the day he died. It was assembled later, inside courts, among scholars, under empires that already believed they knew whom he had to be. This episode of Playing Books opens Dr. Sean W. Anthony’s Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The…
2 Sep 2026 · 41 min
Morris Kline Discusses Mathematics for the Nonmathematician.
Welcome to the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to our Mathematics episode of the podcast. Why did math feel impossible in school? Why do so many bright adults still quietly admit they cannot do it? And what if the very thing you were taught to fear is the key to thinking more clearly about nearly everything? Today on Playing Books, we open the cover on Morris Kline's classic, Mathematics for the Nonmathematician , a book that has spent decades quietly rescuing curious readers from the idea that math is punishment, and reintroducing them to math as the most elegant language…
31 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
John Kiriakou's Ultimate Guide to CIA Skills, Tactics, and Techniques to Stay Safe.
Welcome to the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to another detective episode. If you have ever wondered how CIA officers read a room in seconds, get a stranger to reveal everything, or disappear in plain sight, this episode is for you. Inside Ultimate Guide to CIA Skills, Tactics, and Techniques, former CIA officer John Kiriakou pulls back the curtain on real-world tradecraft. Not Hollywood fantasy. Real CIA skills used in the field. We discuss the psychology of espionage and how to make it practical for your life. How to master CIA situational awareness at work. How to use…
26 Aug 2026 · 42 min
Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends and Everything You Wanted to Know
Thank you for tuning in to the Playing Books Podcast. In this episode, we discuss Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends, the gripping New York Times bestseller that reveals one of the most astonishing acts of betrayal in modern history. Imagine discovering that your closest friend, trusted colleague, and longtime confidant has secretly worked for the enemy for decades. For British intelligence officer Nicholas Elliott and American spy master James Jesus Angleton, that nightmare became reality when they learned the truth about Kim Philby, the most infamous double agent of the Cold War.…
12 Aug 2026 · 49 min
Norman Lewis’s Revolution: 30 Days to Better English — Make a Great First Impression, Improve Your Life, Relationships, Career, and Finances
Welcome back to the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to our English and grammar episode. Do you ever feel your English is almost there but not quite strong enough to own the room, ace the interview, or win the conversation? You know exactly what you want to say, but the right words, correct grammar, and confident tone slip away. This new episode is your reset. Today we discuss 30 Days to Better English by Norman Lewis, the master behind some of the most loved books on vocabulary building and grammar made simple. This is not a boring textbook. It is a smart, clear, and…
25 Jul 2026 · 50 min
300 Years of British Power with 57 British Prime Ministers From Sir Robert Walpole to Tony Blair and Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the British Premiership episode. Today we open the pages of works that reshape how we see power, ambition, and the people who hold both in Britain’s premiership history. Our discussion focuses on Robert Eccleshall and Graham Walker’s Biographical Dictionary of British Prime Ministers. The book refuses to treat history’s most influential figures in Britain and Europe as distant statues. We bring you face-to-face with the men and women who steered Britain through war, reform, crisis, and quiet moments of doubt. You meet the…
27 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 15 min
Patrick King Revolution: Control Your Emotions - Gain Balance, Resilience, and Calm; Find Freedom from Stress, Anxiety, and Negativity.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the episode on emotions. What if the greatest threat to your goals, your relationships, and your peace of mind is not the world around you but the unchecked storm raging inside you? Here is a question worth sitting with: if artificial intelligence is programmed to process and respond to information without emotional interference, why do so many humans, the most sophisticated minds on the planet, still get ambushed by their own feelings every day? In this episode of Playing Books, we explore one of the most practical and…
22 Jun 2026 · 1 hr
Geoff Colvin’s Revolution: Humans Are Underrated - What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will.
Welcome to the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this episode on human high capabilities and advantage. Artificial Intelligence may have left you feeling miserable and doubtful about your abilities and their relevance in the future. This episode should show why that shouldn’t be the case. Civilization, past advances, and development go to show, in many respects, that humans are indeed underrated. The fear that AI's abilities will surpass humans and replace them is baseless. Such arguments further establish how much human capabilities are underestimated. Geoff Colvin’s Humans…
20 Jun 2026 · 41 min
Paul C. Pitzer: Grand Coulee Dam, Once the Largest Man-Made Concrete Structure in the World, and Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the architecture episode. Picture this. Eleven million cubic yards of concrete poured into a single block on the Columbia River. Accolades were freely and frequently lavished on Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, including "The Biggest Thing on Earth!" "The Eighth Wonder of the World!" and "The Largest Reclamation Project Ever Undertaken!" Paul C. Pitzer captures every inch of that story. In this episode of Playing Books, we explore a defining saga of American engineering, ambition, and stubborn hope.…
17 Jun 2026 · 45 min
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Discusses the United Arab Emirates and Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the podcast's memoir episode. In this episode, our conversation is on Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s My Story , an inspiring, revealing, and marvelous memoir that chronicles one of the most extraordinary leadership journeys of the modern era. Published to mark Sheikh Mohammed's fifty years in public service, a journey that began with his appointment as Dubai's Minister of Defense in 1968, My Story offers a rare look into the vision, decisions, and determination behind Dubai's transformation from a small trading port into a…
15 Jun 2026 · 36 min
Walter Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.
Welcome to the colonialism episode of the Playing Books Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this expository episode. In this episode, we discuss Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, a revealing, inspiring, and remarkable book that has influenced generations of readers, scholars, and activists. Rodney examines how centuries of colonialism, slavery, imperialism, and economic exploitation shaped the relationship between Europe and Africa and left lasting effects that continue to influence societies around the world. As you listen, you'll learn how Rodney defines development and…
25 May 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
America’s Secret Cyber War Story Finally Told and Everything You Wanted to Know - Fred Kaplan.
Welcome back to Playing Books, the show where extraordinary stories reshape how you think, live, and participate in the world. Thank you for tuning in to the cyber episode of the podcast. In this episode, we discuss Fred Kaplan’s Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War , an explosive account of cyber warfare from its classified origins to its terrifying present day. Listening to this episode equips you with a sharp understanding of modern conflict. Instead of bogging you down in dense technical jargon, we focus on the gripping human drama that shaped our digital reality. By tuning…
24 May 2026 · 31 min
What Is Intelligence? Lessons from AI About Evolution, Computing, and Minds - Agüera y Arcas.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the intelligence episode of the podcast. The episode asks a question as old as humanity and as urgent as the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI): What is intelligence, really? Today, we’re sitting with Blaise Agüera y Arcas’s What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI About Evolution, Computing, and Minds, an inspiring and revealing book that refuses to give you the same old answers. Instead, it invites you into a living conversation about how minds form, how systems learn, how evolution computes, and how intelligence might be far…
9 May 2026 · 41 min
Meg-John Barker’s Revolution: The Psychology of Sex and Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning in to the sex episode of the podcast. We're exploring one of the most misunderstood aspects of human experience: sex. This episode focuses on Meg-John Barker’s The Psychology of Sex (The Psychology of Everything). What can psychology teach us about sex? How do different bodies and brains respond sexually? How can we prevent people from being stigmatized for their sexuality? Many such questions are explored in this episode and in Meg-John Barker’s The Psychology of Sex. On the side, we love to hear your take on this: how is…
8 May 2026 · 44 min
The Unfragile Mind: Rethinking Mental Health and Human Nature.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning into the mental health episode of the podcast. Today’s conversation centers on a book that feels urgent, humane, and quietly revolutionary. The Unfragile Mind: A Physician’s Call for Restoring Hope and Humanity to Mental Health Care by Gavin Francis is not just another title in the mental‑health space. It’s a reminder, delivered with clarity, compassion, and clinical honesty, that people are not diagnoses, and care should never feel mechanical, rushed, or stripped of dignity. In this episode, we talk about what it means to build a…
23 Apr 2026 · 49 min
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Revolution: Seven Tools for Useful Life And Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning into the memoir episode of the podcast. You made a great choice. This episode is largely about desiring a quality life, dreaming it, and going to work with everything you’ve got to make it a reality. We discuss Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, one of the most unexpectedly raw, refreshingly honest, and genuinely life-changing books to come out in years. Yes, that Arnold, the BIG MUSCULAR, HEAVY WEIGHT BODYBUILDER, with the last name, Schwarzenegger, that is hard to pronounce. Schwarzenegger went from a…
18 Apr 2026 · 45 min
Ivan Van Sertima’s Revolution: Black Africans in pre-Columbian America - Their Overwhelming Impact on the Civilizations, and Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning into the history episode of the podcast. What if the "New World" wasn't new to everyone? Our conversation is about Ivan Van Sertima’s They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America (Journal of African Civilizations). We step outside the lines of traditional history to explore a masterpiece that didn’t just stir the pot; it shattered it. Forget the standard 1492 narrative. Van Sertima presents a meticulously researched, revolutionary case for a pre-Columbian African presence in the Americas. From the colossal…
17 Apr 2026 · 52 min
Barbara Oakley, PhD, Teaches How to Excel at Highly Cognitive Subjects and Fields: The Human Brain Needs Regular Exercise, Too.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning into the cognitive episode of the podcast. We discuss Barbara Oakley, PhD’s A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra). Being a human being itself makes everyone highly intelligent and cognitive, far more than imagined. Many students, parents, teachers, bosses, and supposed geniuses have assumed that being smart isn’t for everyone. Only a handful of people are geniuses. But as cognitive researchers and experts like Dr. Oakley would find, intelligence is innate and requires learning how to…
16 Apr 2026 · 42 min
Doctor Li’s Revolution: Eat to Beat Diseases. Let Food Become Your Pills and Medicine.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning into the health episode of the podcast. What if your grocery list could become your first line of defense against disease? In this week’s episode, we dive into the groundbreaking book Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself by William W. Li, MD, a powerful, eye-opening exploration of how food can do far more than just fuel and fill you; it can heal you or make you sick. This isn’t another “don’t eat this, avoid that” conversation. Instead, it’s a refreshing shift: a celebration of what you can add to…
14 Apr 2026 · 39 min
The Knights Templar, Freemasons, Illuminati ... The New World Order And Everything You Wanted to Know.
Welcome to the Playing Books podcast. We thank you for tuning into the mystery episode of the podcast. Do you ever feel like invisible hands manage the world’s stage? Do you suspect that history isn’t a series of accidents, but a carefully scripted play? Humans must never be independent! We must become docile. In this episode of Playing Books, we discuss Jüri Lina’s "Architects of Deception." Lina didn't just write a book; he beat out an expository blueprint that strips the gold leaf from global power structures, revealing the cold, hard machinery underneath. Many things, including good…
9 Apr 2026 · 35 min
CJ Mahaney’s Revolution: Why Your Pride Is Quietly Sabotaging Your Greatest Life (And How to Fix It).
Thank you for tuning in to the Playing Books podcast. Welcome to the character episode of the podcast. What if the fastest way to real success, truly loving, mutual relationships, and lasting influence isn’t grinding harder or posting louder, but getting smaller on purpose? In this fresh, no-fluff episode of Playing Books , we crack open Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney, a foundational, expository book that quietly dismantles every cultural myth about what “winning” actually looks like. We explore why humility isn’t weakness or false modesty; it’s the hidden engine behind every truly…
24 Mar 2026 · 43 min
Neal Allen and Anne Lamott Reveal 36 Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills, Avoid Bad Sentences, and Enjoy Writing.
Thank you for tuning into the Playing Books Podcast. Welcome to the writing episode of the podcast. Have you felt it, that sinking moment when you reread something you wrote and thought: this isn't it? The idea was there. The feeling was real. But somehow, between the brain and the page, something leaked out, leaving behind a sentence that works but doesn't sing. "Most writers know what they want to say. Fewer know how to actually say it. That gap? That's where Neal Allen and Anne Lamott live." In this episode of Playing Books, we discuss Neal Allen and Anne Lamott’s Good Writing: 36 Ways to…
23 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Walter Isaacson on the Apple Founder, Steve Jobs, and Everything in Between.
Thank you for tuning in to the Playing Books Podcast. We welcome you to the biography episode of our podcast. In this episode of the Playing Books Podcast, we discuss Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, a book that strips away the myth, the marketing fog, and the glossy hero stories to reveal the real human behind Apple’s iconic glow. This isn’t just a biography; it’s a brutally honest autopsy of genius, ambition, obsession, and the messy edges of creativity. If you’ve ever felt torn between your ideas and your reality, if you’ve wrestled with perfectionism, or if you’ve wondered whether passion…
21 Mar 2026 · 54 min
Dani Robertson’s Revolution: 100 Animals That Come Out at Night And Everything You Wanted to Know.
Thank you for tuning in to the Playing Books Podcast. We welcome you to our episode about animals. "Ever wondered what truly awakens when the sun dips below the horizon? Most of us live our lives bathed in daylight, oblivious to the vibrant, mysterious world that thrives under the cloak of night. In this captivating new episode of the Playing Books podcast, we plunge into the shadows with Dani Robertson's eye-opening book, 'Creatures of Darkness: 100 of the Planet’s Weird and Wonderful Animals That Come Out at Night.' Prepare to embark on a global journey to the planet's most exclusive…
19 Mar 2026 · 54 min
Why the Jews? A Factual Examination of Antisemitism And Everything You Wanted to Know.
Thank you for your time and for tuning in to our expository episode of the Playing Books podcast. In this new episode of the Playing Books Podcast, we sit down with Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin’s Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism (An Examination of Antisemitism) , a book that doesn’t tiptoe around the hard questions. Instead, it walks straight into them with clarity, realism, and a kind of expository honesty that feels rare today. You may have asked this question yourself: Why the Jews? Welcome to your long-awaited answers or attempts to ask further questions and clarify the…
18 Mar 2026 · 43 min
Laura Bates' Revolution: Men Who Hate Women - The Deep Challenge of Inner Bondage, Identity Crisis, and Outburst Frustration.
Thank you so much for tuning in to the Playing Books podcast. Welcome to yet another episode to honor women in this International Women's Month. This episode explores the conversation we’ve all been avoiding until now. We discuss Laura Bates' Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All (Essential Book for Women's History Month), one of the most unflinching voices of our time rips the lid off the online rabbit holes where “nice guys” morph into incels, where pickup artists train men to treat women like targets, and where…
17 Mar 2026 · 36 min
Operation AJAX in Iran in 1953: How The CIA Turned Iran into an Extreme Islamic Country and Prevented True Democracy in the Entire Middle East.
Thank you for your time and for tuning in to the Playing Books podcast. Welcome to the spycraft episode of the Playing Books podcast. In this episode of Playing Books, we discuss Operation Ajax: The Story of the CIA Coup that Remade the Middle East by Mike de Seve, illustrated by Daniel Burwen, with a foreword by Stephen Kinzer, and ask a simple question: what really happened in Iran in 1953, and why does it still shape every headline you scroll past today? This episode and the book, Operation Ajax, remind us that history repeats itself. What we see going on in Iran today follows the pattern…

About Playing Books

Learn from Audio Conversations on the World’s Most Unputdownable Books. The Playing Books Podcast 🎙️ is on Spotify, Apple, and other Platforms. More at playingbooks.org

Playing Books is a English learning podcast from Worthscope. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Worthscope
Language: English
Category: Learning
New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 45 min
Latest episode: 28 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1768578068
Rights: Worthscope

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