Cheerful Book Club

This is the final of our Cheerful Book Club pilot episodes. We’re joined by Billy Bragg to chat about his new book, ‘The Three Dimensions of Freedom’. Billy talks about politics in the age of social media, the importance of accountability, and finding principles to guide the kind of society we want.

Here’s the second pilot of Cheerful Book Club from last year. Geoff and Ed chat to Reni Eddo-Lodge about her best-selling book, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’. They discuss why the book was needed, the impact of structural racism in Britain and what Reni’s learnt since writing it.

Season 1 of Cheerful Book Club is over… But don’t worry, we’re bringing you our original pilot episodes for those who missed out. Here Ed speaks to Elizabeth Day about her best-selling book ‘How to Fail’. They swap notes on attitudes to failure, our inability to talk about it and learning to cope with when things don’t go to plan. 

Here’s something we recorded with two fab guests before the current public health crisis began. Christiana Figueres, architect of the Paris Agreement, and Tom Rivett-Carnac, her political strategist at the UN, are here to talk about their book, ‘The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis’. It’s an honest but incredibly inspiring conversation about where we’re at, the choice we face on the climate emergency, and the actions we can all take to avoid the worst for the planet.

Special guest co-host Sarah O’Connor joins us for this conversation with economist Emily Oster. Emily chats about Cribsheet’ - her data-driven guide to parenting, covering everything from breastfeeding to screen time. We talk through the big myths, how gender drives research, and the best parenting advice she ever got.Cheerful Book Club is brought to you by VINTAGE books (https://penguin.co.uk/vintage).

We’re ripping up the rules and venturing away from non-fiction this week. The wonderful Ian McEwan is here to chat through the themes of his latest novel, ‘Machines Like Me’. Ian talks about artificial intelligence, moral dilemmas and what really makes us human.

This week we’re chatting to American broadcasting royalty Rachel Maddow about her new book, ‘Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth’. Rachel talks about the power of the fossil fuel industry, the state of politics on both sides of the pond, and why ice fishing helps her to unwind.Follow Cheerful on TwitterLike Cheerful on FacebookCheerful Book Club is brought to you by VINTAGE books.

Ed’s very excited about this episode! This week we’re speaking to Michael Lewis, author of a tonne of bestsellers including Moneyball, The Big Short and new book The Fifth Risk. Michael talks about the problems of markets, Donald Trump’s attitude to government, and why stories can be the best way to explore big ideas.