Michael Calore: Go to the movie.
Lauren Goode: Just go to the movie.
Katie Drummond: I like that.
Michael Calore: This is the worst movie of the year to watch.
Lauren Goode: No, it’s the best time of year because of air conditioning and comfortable seating.
Michael Calore: Yes, but this is –
Katie Drummond: I’m with Lauren, which is a great advice.
Lauren Goode: No, I’ve been there three times this year and every time, at the last minute. A friend invited me to see the 40th anniversary of the city at the last minute. We went, it was amazing. I went out with my friends one night and we said, “Let’s go see the sinner.” It was playing across the street, which was great. The theater is almost empty, it is glorious. The film itself is actually a big critic in the New Yorker Pod viewing our friends, critics. They have some ideas about materialists, so I’m going to throw it at them, but it’s great. I thought, I needed to go to the movies more.
Michael Calore: Oh, for sure.
Lauren Goode: Mike, what are your suggestions?
Michael Calore: I want to recommend a book, which is one I read on the weekend of July 4th. That’s called, and I’m glad to turn down Leif Enger. I believe this is Leif Enger’s fourth novel. He is a bestseller, and you may have heard of his name before. This is his new book, a dystopian novel. It depicts a world for decades in which society collapsed in a very easy to identify and familiar way, somewhat like today’s more dangerous and uncertain version. The entire economy is controlled by a few super rich elites. The education system collapsed and most Americans were illiterate. In this book, we have a proud illiterate president. Satellite communications have been instilled with total unreliability and GPS no longer works. Like the erosion version of the world we live in, it does present it. We enter this world and follow the protagonists in the mission. The entire book takes place on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota and western Ontario. The protagonist boards the boat, he leaves, he sets sail on Lake Superior, and we follow him. I won’t say anything, but it won’t ruin it, but it’s fascinating and unpredictable, and beautifully written on a sentence level. It’s like a poem on the page. It’s amazing, emotional, profound. It will anger you because it is a book. So beautiful.
Lauren Goode: I don’t know what to say, it just sounds really deep.
Katie Drummond: You are much more complicated than both of us. Sorry, Lauren.
Michael Calore: OK, I mean, not true.
Lauren Goode: I accept this.
Michael Calore: No, I mean, I know I recommend a nerdy book, but you should really read it because it brings you a very keen potential future if you just let the wealthiest people in the world economically grow and run all the basic services we rely on to the point that they just collapse because they no longer need them and that’s the rest of us who we don’t need. Like, it’s a little grim, it’s kind of feels like this is how the world is going, which is why when I read it, the book resonates with me. Yes.
Lauren Goode: I’ll add it to a good reading. Thank you so much.
Michael Calore: certainly.
Lauren Goode: Yes. I almost recommend a philosopher’s book, but I’m going to stick with it now and keep it low profile. Katie is gone and we can take the nerd out, Mike.
Michael Calore: I have no idea. I’m going to see the fool. I have no idea.
Lauren Goode: Welcome to Wired’s LIT Nerd Podcast.
Michael Calore: OK, thank you for listening to this episode Incredible valley. If you like what you hear today, make sure to follow us on our show and rate it on the podcast app of your choice. If you would like to contact us via any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to us at unnyvalley@wired.com. Today’s show was produced by Adriana Tapia. Amar Lal from Macrosound mixes this episode, and Pran Bandi is our New York studio engineer. Mark Lyda is our San Francisco studio engineer. Kate Osborn is our executive producer. Katie Drummond is the global editorial director for Wired, and Chris Bannon is the head of global audio.
