Nerdette

Samin Nosrat is the chef behind ‘Salt Fat Acid Heat,’ a book and a new Netflix series of the same name. She’s also a proponent of articulating your dreams.

"I do think taking a little bit of time, a couple times a year, to articulate your goals and your dreams and your desires is helpful because it helps orient you toward them," Nosrat says.

She also tells Greta about the culinary value of those four primary elements, the importance of embracing your cooking mistakes, and she gives great homework!: Write down your goals in a manifestation journal, "Even if they change or don’t come true, that’s fine. It’s just nice to have a record."

This week, our panelists are the host of the NHPR podcast ‘The 13th Step,’ Lauren Chooljian, and Jonquilyn Hill, who hosts the Vox podcast ‘The Weeds.’ We talk about whether we indulged in Barbenheimer, then recommend some stuff to read, do, and listen to this summer. You can find a list of their recommendations here, at our website.

Then, Aomawa Shields tells us about her circuitous trajectory from acting to astrophysics! Her new book is called ‘Life on Other Planets.’

To find the best podcasts of the year, we talked to two veritable experts in the form: Leah-Simone Bowen, host of ‘Podcast Playlist’ from the CBC, and Nick Quah, podcast critic for Vulture. In order to make it on their lists this year, both Leah and Nick said shows had to really push the envelope in format or reporting.

From heavy investigations to a show that Nick calls “cotton candy sprinkled with more cotton candy,” here are the best podcasts of 2023. For links, pics and more info, check out our website!

• ‘The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks’
• ‘The Retrievals’
• ‘Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas’
• ‘If Books Could Kill’
• ‘Everything is Alive Presents: The Animals’
• ‘Murder on Sex Island’
• ‘Bloodlines’
• ‘Ghost Story’

This week, R. Eric Thomas, TV writer and author of Congratulations, The Best Is Over!, and Alex Abad-Santos, senior correspondent for Vox, joined us to reflect on the end of the writers’ strike and the 20th anniversary of the pumpkin spice latte.

Then, we revel in the best new books coming out this fall! We called up some of our favorite readers and writers to find out what they’re most excited to read.

Here are the titles in order of when they were mentioned in the episode. For links and full descriptions, head to our website!

‘The Woman in Me’ by Britney Spears

‘Same Bed Different Dreams’ by Ed Park

‘How to Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins’ by Helena de Bres

‘Iron Flame’ by Rebecca Yarros

‘Rouge’ by Mona Awad

‘Organ Meats’ by K-Ming Chang

‘A Haunting on the Hill’ by Elizabeth Hand

‘Edith Holler’ By Edward Carey

‘The Reformatory’ by By Tananarive Due

‘The Vaster Wilds’ by Lauren Groff (Nerdette Book Club pick!)

‘Land of Milk and Honey’ by C Pam Zhang (Nerdette Book Club pick!)

‘Roaming’ by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

‘Vampires of El Norte’ by Isabel Cañas

‘The Iliad’ translated by Emily Wilson

‘The Vulnerables’ by Sigrid Nunez

‘Family Lore’ by Elizabeth Acevedo

‘North Woods’ by Daniel Mason

‘The Unsettled’ by Ayana Mathis