The Colin McEnroe Show

Lately the ancient philosophy of Stoicism is having a bit of a resurgence. This hour we learn about the philosophy, why people are drawn to it, and how to live like a Stoic. Plus, we look at how Stoicism appears in music.

GUESTS:

• Massimo Pigliucci: The K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. He is the author of books including Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Ske...

I’ve had some well-documented trouble with our neighborhood squirrels over the last few winters. It could be that most homeowners in the Northeast and beyond feel like they’ve had some sort of conflict with the local squirrels.

But we maybe misunderstand squirrels. Their seemingly scattershot behaviors actually suggest a fascinating intelligence and intentionality. And while we see squirrels as a nemesis of birds and bi...

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to aggressive grills on cars, wrong-way drivers on Connecticut highways, the composer Lili Boulanger, voting rights for permanent residents, the herbicide diquat in Connecticut, volunteering … Anything. Seemin...

Ironheart is a new miniseries from Marvel Television. It is the 28th (not a typo) TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it concludes Phase Five of the MCU after six movies and eight series. Ironheart is set about six months after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which came out in 2022, but which is set in the spring of 2025 — which sets this show in our future, around the fall of 202...

This hour we take a look at the history and evolution of chapters, and discuss how they impact our reading experiences.

GUESTS: 

• Nicholas Dames: Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he studies the history and theory of the novel. His new book is The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. He is also co-ed...

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

This week's topics include Trump's Policy Bill, video game soundtracks, mortality, the WNBA, and whether new cars look angry.

You can now watch our calls shows on ...

This hour, philosopher Agnes Callard joins us to talk about her latest book, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life.

GUEST: 

• Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago and author of Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Join the conversation ...

Randy Newman has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards (he’s won twice), for 23 Grammy Awards (seven wins), and for three Primetime Emmy Awards (and he won all three).

Bruce Springsteen has called him “our great master of American song and storytelling.” Jackson Browne says Randy Newman is “the foremost satirist of our times.” And the composer John Williams has called him “a kind of musical Will R...

When you think of the Vikings, you probably picture a bearded man wearing a horned hat, pillaging on a Viking ship. But that's far from the whole story.

This hour is all about the everyday lives of the Vikings with historian Eleanor Barraclough, from their homes and hair to their myths and music.

GUEST: 

• Eleanor Barraclough: Historian, writer, and broadcaster based at Bath Spa University; her ne...

This hour is all about the importance of rest, and how to rest well. Plus, we'll talk about the role of rest in religion, and look at the history of "the rest cure" in medicine.

GUESTS: 

• Alex Soojung-Kim Pang: Author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, and Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less—Here's How among other books
• Kristen Lucken: Program cha...

This hour: the art of the epigraph.

We talk with writers about how they pick the quotes that open their books, what epigraphs can do well, how the business of epigraphs works, and what epigraphs mean for readers.

Plus, a look at how some movies use epigraphs.

GUESTS:

• David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
• Tajja Isen: A contributing writer for The Walrus and the author of Some of My Best Fri...

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the U.S. bombing Iran and Iran’s retaliation in Qatar, the Democratic primary in New York City, the possible decline of “you’re welcome,” a possible July 17 protest, the “great q...

Brian Wilson was a singer, songwriter, record producer, and a founding member of The Beach Boys. He’s thought of as one of the great geniuses of pop music, and he’s been called the poet laureate of summer. Wilson died June 11 at 82.

On February 1, 2017, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford and put on a show, on stage in front of a live audience, on Brian Wilson’s music and legacy. We’ve never reaired that...

Humans have always been interested in the sky, and astrology has been used as a tool for people in power for a long time.

During times of stress, interest in astrology increases.

But why are we so interested in something that is not considered a science?

This hour, a look at the history of astrology, its relationship with astronomy, and the reasons why people love it so much.

GUESTS:

• Julie Beck: Seni...

Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.

We talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish.

This hour, a look at disgust — and, specifically, how our reflexive disgust response may get in the way of things we probably need to think about doing.

During the next century, the human race probably needs to eat more insects. And we’ll almost definitely need to convert sewage water into d...

Perfectionism is on the rise among young people.

This hour, we look at the impact of perfectionism on mental health and how to deal with perfectionist tendencies.

Plus: what the self-help industry can tell us about our interest in perfection.

GUESTS:

• Thomas Curran: Assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of The Perfection Trap: Embracing the...

The pop music genius Brian Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, died on June 11. The Nose says goodbye.

And: Wes Anderson has written and directed 12 feature films. The Nose has covered at least four of them plus his set of Roald Dahl shorts. So this hour, a look at Wes Anderson’s latest, The Phoenician Scheme, in all its twee, symmetrical, pastel, typewriter- and hatbox*-filled glory.

*I’d just like to point ou...

Listen live Thursday at 1 p.m.

We’ve done a version of this show every single year since 2013. And we did it in 2011. We probably even did one in 2010. (We just can’t prove it.)

So it’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that … makes some people angry, we realize.

And that has a lot to do with how we define the term “song of the sum...

What would it mean if we treated rivers as alive? That's the question that nature writer Robert Macfarlane wrestles with in his new book. What would happen if we took that aliveness seriously? How would we know what a river would want? Who would speak for it? These are questions that communities around the world are dealing with as they work to figure out how to protect rivers and the ecosystems that rely on them. This hour, Macfar...