Share

cover art for Jon Turk on "Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wildnerness in Samburu

In Lieu of Fun: #DogShirtTV

Jon Turk on "Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wildnerness in Samburu

Season 3, Ep. 549

Wherein we are joined by Ben's uncle, Jon Turk, to talk about his new book.


While tracking a lion with a Samburu headman and then, later, eluding human assailants who may be tracking him, Jon Turk experiences people at their best and worst. As the tracker and the tracked, Jon reveals how the stories we tell each other, and the stories spinning in our heads, can be moulded into innovation, love and co-operation — or harnessed to launch armies. Seeking escape from the confusion we create for ourselves and our neighbors with our think-too-much-know-it-all brains, Jon finds liberation within a natural world that spins no fiction.


Set in a high-adventure narrative on the unforgiving savannah, Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu explores the aboriginal wisdoms that endowed our Stone Age ancestors with the power to survive – and how, since then, myth, art, music, dance, and ceremony have often been hijacked and distorted within our urban, scientific, oil-soaked world.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 343. Monologue Envy with Mike Pesca

    01:02:33||Season 4, Ep. 343
    Wherein Ben and Mike Feinberg welcome Mike Pesca to discuss the art of the podcast monologue and public speaking more generally.
  • 342. Birthright

    01:00:22||Season 4, Ep. 342
    Wherein Ben, Anastasiia Lapatina, Jonathan Rauch, and the Greek Chorus discuss yesterday's Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship.
  • 341. AI Optimism, AI Pessimism

    01:02:07||Season 4, Ep. 341
    Wherein Ben and Mike Feinberg discuss the paradoxical effects of AI development on human society.
  • 340. Antigone and AI

    57:44||Season 4, Ep. 340
    Wherein Ben, Alicia Wanless, and the Greek Chorus follow up on Sunday's book club discussion of Antigone and debate the philosophical implications of AI ownership.
  • 339. Psychology and International Relations

    59:44||Season 4, Ep. 339
    Wherein Ben, Mike Feinberg, and Anastasiia Lapatina discuss the architects of the Iraq War and how they live with themselves.
  • 338. Prayers of Hate

    01:01:07||Season 4, Ep. 338
    Wherein Ben, Holly Berkley Fletcher, Mike Feinberg, and the Greek Chorus discuss how various evangelical Trump administration figures are praying publicly for the deaths of their enemies.
  • 337. A Year of Signalgate with Shane Harris

    01:02:14||Season 4, Ep. 337
    Wherein Ben, Holly Berkley Fletcher, and the Greek Chorus welcome Shane Harris to discuss various intelligence failures in the Trump administration.
  • 336. Betting On Everything

    01:00:43||Season 4, Ep. 336
    Wherein Ben, Holly Berkley Fletcher, and Alicia Wanless discuss the effects of online prediction markets.
  • 335. Throat Stabbing

    59:56||Season 4, Ep. 335
    Wherein Ben, Mike Feinberg, and Holly Berkley Fletcher discuss conspiracy theories, old movies, upcoming Special Military Operations, and who stabbed Mike in the throat.