ANNE: Last week we asked where you find magic. Here are two places I’m finding it right now:
“The Philosopher’s Flight,” a thrilling new historical fantasy by ER doctor turned novelist Tom Miller. It’s set in World-War-I-era America where magic and science have blended into an arcane, female-dominated “empirical philosophy” used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and yes, fly. In this book, women who fly aren’t witches — they’re elite members of the US Sigilry Corps, charged with safeguarding the nation. Is it too late for me to learn to fly?
Also wrapping my mind around talking trees. For real!
STEVE: I’m reading “Limits of the Known” by David Roberts, a longtime mountain climber and risk-taker. He recounts his own death-defying adventures and those of others who’ve explored some of the remote spots on the planet. And he’s now confronting a new peril — throat cancer.
CHARLES: It’s gloomy outside here in Wisconsin. Snow on the ground but rainy. And dark. It’s the dark I hate the most. For that February crappiness, I turn to poetry. I was recently halted, pleasantly so, by Yrsa Day-Ward’s new book of verse called “Bone.” It starts like this:
intro
I am the tall dark stranger
those warnings prepared you for.
She has my attention now. The book continues:
panacea
you told me I seemed haunted.
It was three a.m. and you could still smell
the storm clouds under my skin.
You can’t quell depression by making
love.
But we tried.
But we tried.
Oh, we did.
We try, don’t we? We try. Winter can be tough. But always remember this:
untitled 2
Seize that loveliness.
It has always been yours.
Here are the words.
HALEEMA: I have the problem that most journalists do — I’m addicted to my phone, and I tell myself I have to be because of my work. But let’s be honest, checking my phone after I brush my teeth, when I’m cooking, or while I’m doing laundry, and isn’t making me much more productive. So I’m reading about breaking up with my iPhone. #selfhelp
MARK: There's not enough space here to fully explain how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies work at a technical level here (and I don't think listeners want me to try) but even without knowing how hashes and mining rigs work, the explosively volatile value of these digital currencies has created some fascinating studies in unintended consequences that I've been catching up on recently, including making it virtually impossible for gamers to build new PCs to play the latest games — the crypto speculators are buying up the parts they need in bulk — and now cryptomining operations are even looking at "borrowing" your computer's processing power via browser plugins as an alternative way for websites to make money. In 2018, the internet — especially the economy of the internet — is only getting weirder.
SHANNON: I'm reading Naomi Alderman’s novel “The Power,” in which teenage girls and women suddenly find they have a current of electrical energy running within them that they can use to change the world. Alderman, who lives in England and is also a video game designer, calls it “feminist science fiction.”