Morbidly Curious Book Club Podcast

Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/OneTaste hoped orgasm would change the world. Emerging in the midst of the late-aughts for-profit wellness boom, the company was unwavering in its faith in orgasmic meditation, or OM, a fifteen-minute practice featuring a woman being clitorally stimulated by a clothed, usually male partner. Nicole Daedone, the group’s magnetic and cunning founder, envisioned a world where OM was as widespread as yoga. But Daedone’s vision came with a price: behind the militant loyalty she inspired and her millions of dollars of sales was what former members describe as a cult of manipulation, abuse, and coercion driven by a relentless quest for control. And by the time the FBI showed up at her door in 2023 with an indictment alleging she conspired to commit forced labor, even Daedone herself was no longer safe.About Ellen: She is an award-winning investigative journalist who currently writes for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. She is the author of EMPIRE OF ORGASM, a forthcoming book about OneTaste, a sexual wellness company alleged to be a sex cult. She also hosted two seasons of the podcast Foundering, a narrative audio series from Bloomberg Technology. One season recounts the rise and fall of WeWork; another chronicles the story of OpenAI and examines the trustworthiness of its leader, Sam Altman. EMPIRE OF ORGASM is based on a 2018 investigation she wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek, which explored allegations from former employees and customers that the group operated as a sex cult and exploited its members financially and sexually. Following publication of that piece, the FBI launched an investigation into OneTaste. In 2023, federal prosecutors indicted two company leaders, Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, on forced labor conspiracy charges. In June 2025, a jury found both guilty; they are currently in jail awaiting sentencing. Her new book presents a definitive account of OneTaste for MCD x FSG and is available for pre-order now, with publication set for November 18. She was featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary Orgasm, Inc., which examined OneTaste. Her reporting on the company has been cited by major outlets including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and Slate. Before joining Bloomberg, she was a staff writer at Forbes and a crime reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. She has a particular interest in covering strange and complex subcultures and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.https://www.ellenhuet.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 3! Our March book for the Morbidly Curious Book Club is WHACK JOB: A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James!Join the Book Club, Subscribe to our book box, support our small business here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/This episode is available ad-free for our Patreon members, and releases slightly early! Become a Patreon Pal today, and check out other episodes, along with bonus bits not included for the general public... https://patreon.com/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink"A brilliant and bloody examination of the axe's foundational role in human history, from prehistoric violence, to war and executions, splashed across newspaper headlines and popular culture. For as long as the axe has been in our hands, we have used it to kill. Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology ― one that has been with us since prehistory. And just as early humans used the axe to chop down trees, hunt for food, and whittle tools, they also used it to murder. Over time, this particular use has endured: as the axe evolved over centuries to fit the needs of new agricultural, architectural, and social development, so have our lethal uses for it. Whack Job is the story of the axe, first as a convenient danger and then an anachronism, as told through the murders it has been employed in throughout history: from the first axe murder nearly half a million years ago, to the brutal harnessing of the axe in warfare, and from its use in King Henry VIII's favourite method of execution, to Lizzie Borden and the birth of modern pop culture. Whack Job sheds brilliant light on this familiar implement, this most human of weapons. This is a critical examination of violence, an exploration of how technology shapes human conflict, the cruel and sacred rituals of execution and battle, and the ways humanity fits even the most savage impulses into narratives of the past and present."Rachel McCarthy James was born in Kansas in 1986. She is the daughter of baseball’s Bill James and artist Susan McCarthy. At Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, she studied political science and creative writing. Her first book, The Man from the Train (coauthored with her father) chronicled the serial killer behind the Villisca axe murders. Published in 2017, The Man from the Train was nominated for an Edgar award for best fact crime, and won the Kansas Notable Book award. Rachel lives in Lawrence, KS with her husband Jason, their dog Milly, and three cats – Burger, Frankie, and Lola. Enjoy the episode!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/From viral social media sensation Dr. Zachary Rubin, an in-depth look at both common and surprising allergies, spotlighting patient stories, the history and science behind allergies, common myths, treatment options, and more. Millions of people suffer from various allergic diseases. They're some of the most common but widely misunderstood afflictions today, and Dr Rubin has made it his mission to pull back the curtain and help everyday people understand their allergies and find ways to feel better. In All About Allergies, Dr Rubin explores and explains dozens of allergies and diseases and provides actionable treatment options and information. Sections on the history of allergies, asthma, contact dermatitis, sinusitis, food allergies, anaphylaxis, medication allergies, and more pair with treatment info on medications, immunotherapy, and biologics to equip people with the tools they need to tackle their allergies. Grounded by expert research and propelled by patient stories, science, history, and, of course, Dr. Ru.bin's engaging voice, All About Allergies is the ultimate resource for anyone who's ever felt in the dark about their health.Dr. Zachary Rubin is a double board-certified pediatrician and allergist/immunologist who practices at Oak Brook Allergists in the Chicago area. A nationally recognized medical educator and public health advocate, he shares evidence-based, accessible information on allergies, asthma, and public health with over three million followers under the handle @rubin_allergy. Dr Rubin earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, and his allergy/immunology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Outside of medicine, he enjoys swimming, hiking, hula hooping, and spending time with his wife, daughter, and three German shepherds. All About Allergies is his first book, offering a clear, compassionate guide to managing allergic diseases.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode! Early + ad-free for the Patreon members.Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/About the book: On December 22, 1984, in a graffiti-covered New York City subway car, passengers looked on in horror as a white loner named Bernhard Goetz shot four Black teens, Darrell Cabey, Barry Allen, Troy Canty, and James Ramseur, at point-blank range. He then disappeared into a dark tunnel. After an intense manhunt, and his eventual surrender in New Hampshire, the man the tabloid media had dubbed the “Death Wish Vigilante” would become a celebrity and a hero to countless ordinary Americans who had been frustrated with the economic fallout of the Reagan 80s. Overnight, Goetz’s young victims would become villains. Out of this dramatic moment would emerge an angry nation, in which Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post and later Fox News Network stoked the fear and the fury of a stunning number of Americans. Drawing from never-before-seen archival materials, legal files, and more, Heather Ann Thompson narrates the Bernie Goetz Subway shootings and their decades-long reverberations, while deftly recovering the lives of the boys whom too many decided didn’t matter. Fear and Fury is the remarkable account and a searing indictment of a crucial turning point in American history.About the author, Heather Ann Thompson is a historian and the author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize. She is also the author of Whose Detroit?: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City. Thompson has written about the criminal justice system for myriad publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. She has served on the National Academy of Sciences blue ribbon panel that studied the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States, co-runs the Carceral State Project at the University of Michigan, and has been the recipient of numerous honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, and a Racial Justice Fellowship from the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University. Thompson has also served as a historical consultant for film and television, including on the Oscar-nominated feature documentary Attica.Buy the book today: https://bookshop.org/lists/morbidly-curious-non-fiction-recommendationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/The Trial of Lizzie Borden tells the true story of one of the most sensational murder trials in American history. When Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally hacked to death in Fall River, Massachusetts, in August 1892, the arrest of the couple’s younger daughter Lizzie turned the case into international news and her trial into a spectacle unparalleled in American history. Reporters flocked to the scene. Well-known columnists took up conspicuous seats in the courtroom. The defendant was relentlessly scrutinized for signs of guilt or innocence. Everyone—rich and poor, suffragists and social conservatives, legal scholars and laypeople—had an opinion about Lizzie Borden’s guilt or innocence. Was she a cold-blooded murderess or an unjustly persecuted lady? Did she or didn’t she? The popular fascination with the Borden murders and its central enigmatic character has endured for more than one hundred years. Immortalized in rhyme, told and retold in every conceivable genre, the murders have secured a place in the American pantheon of mythic horror, but one typically wrenched from its historical moment. In contrast, Cara Robertson explores the stories Lizzie Borden’s culture wanted and expected to hear and how those stories influenced the debate inside and outside of the courtroom. Based on transcripts of the Borden legal proceedings, contemporary newspaper accounts, unpublished local accounts, and recently unearthed letters from Lizzie herself, The Trial of Lizzie Borden offers a window onto America in the Gilded Age, showcasing its most deeply held convictions and its most troubling social anxieties.About the author: Cara Robertson began researching the Borden case as a Harvard undergraduate in 1990. She holds a PhD from Oxford University and a JD from Stanford Law School. She clerked at the Supreme Court of the United States, served as a legal adviser to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, and has written for various publications. Her scholarship has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center, of which she is a Trustee. The Trial of Lizzie Borden is her first book.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 2!Join the Book Club, Subscribe to our book box, support our small business here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Early and ad-free for Patreon members! https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubWith a bite, the creature transforms its prey into another raving monster. It's a scenario that underlies our darkest tales of supernatural horror, but its power derives from a very real virus, a deadly scourge known to humankind from our earliest days. In this lively and engrossing investigation, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, Rabid is a fresh and often wildly entertaining look at one of humankind's oldest and most fearsome foes.Bill Wasik is the editorial director of The New York Times Magazine and Monica Murphy is a veterinarian and writer.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 1!Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Early and ad-free for Patreon members! https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubWe are kicking off 2026 and season 3 with the book club’s favorite topic: cults. And trust me when I say, we are in good hands with our January 2026 pick… Today, tarot cards, astrology and crystals are everywhere — on Instagram and TikTok, and sold at upscale boutiques and pricey wellness retreats. Journalist Leah Sottile turns her investigative eye toward the recent surge of New Age influencing American Culture with her latest book, BLAZING EYE SEES ALL: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age. She looks at self-professed gurus like Love Has Won's Mother God and the mysterious channeler Ramtha, who have built devout followings based on their teachings. For more than a century, this pastel-colored world of love, light, and enlightenment has been built upon a foundation of conspiracies, antisemitism, nationalism, and a rejection of science. In Blazing Eye Sees All, Sottile seeks to understand the quest for New Age spirituality in an era of fear that has made us open to anything that claims to bring relief from war, the climate crisis, COVID 19, and the myriad of other issues we face. At the same time, she attempts to draw a line between truly helpful, healing ideas and snake oil—helping us sort through the crystals to find true clarity.Leah Sottile is the author of two books: Blazing Eye Sees All and When the Moon Turns to Blood. Her journalism has been published by The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Outside, the BBC, The Atlantic and High Country News, where she is a correspondent. She is the host of the podcasts Hush, Burn Wild, Two Minutes Past Nine and the National Magazine Award-nominated series Bundyville. She lives in Oregon.Her website: https://www.leahsottile.com/Enjoy the episode!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to an archive episode!Check out our new website: morbidlycuriousbookclub.comEarly and ad-free for Patreon members: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubIn 2024, I launched this podcast to delve deeper into our book club's nonfiction selections by engaging directly with the authors, the experts behind these compelling works. However, the book club has been around since 2021...so there are some 'archive' picks that we need to discuss!In January of 2022, we read CULTISH: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell a,nd it has become a staple in the MCBC, our Bible...if you will.About the book: What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day. Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.About Amanda: Her nonfiction books include Wordslut and the New York Times bestsellers Cultish and The Age of Magical Overthinking. Translated into over fifteen languages, Amanda’s books have been praised by publications including The Atlantic, The Economist, and NPR and spotlit as monthly selections by Barnes & Noble and the Dylan Mulvaney Book Club. Amanda’s podcasts Sounds Like A Cult and Magical Overthinkers have been downloaded over 40 million times and praised by The New York Times, Vulture, and Esquire. Sounds Like A Cult won the 2023 iHeart Radio Award for Best Emerging Podcast.Amanda’s writing has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harper’s Bazaar, among others. Speaking about her work, Amanda has appeared in documentaries including Netflix’s “How to Become A Cult Leader” and HBO’s “Breath of Fire.” She holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in Southern California, where she is at work on her debut novel, Where to Put Your Tongue (Simon & Schuster, 2028).Find Amanda on Instagram @amanda_montell.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Check out our NEW website! morbidlycuriousbookclub.comHere is our 2026 lineup:January "Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age" by Leah SottileFebruary "Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus" by Bill Wasik & Monica MurphyMarch "Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder" by Rachel McCarthy JamesApril "Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist" by Jennifer WrightMay "The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder" by Edward HumesJune "Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains" by Alexa HagertyJuly "Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum" by Antonia HyltonAugust "American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the 21st Century" by Shannon Lee DawdySeptember "Empire of the Scalpel: The History of Surgery" by Ira RutkowOctober "Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séance in Lily Dale" by Earls/Handley-Cousins/Rhodes/MasarikNovember "Expert Witness: The Weight of our Testimony When Justice Hangs in the Balance" by Ann Wolbert Burgess and Steven Matthew ConstantineDecember "Society of the Snow: The Definitive Account of the Worlds Greatest Survival Story" by Pablo VierciThank you for being here with me on this journey. I cannot wait to discuss these titles with you, and chat with these incredible authors! Which title are you most excited for? Have you read any already? Let me know!Cheers!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Season 2 finale!Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Early and ad-free for Patreon members! https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubOur December 2025 pick was “THE UNCLAIMED: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels" by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans!For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters’ fields—a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid. Today, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies. Up to 150,000 Americans now go unclaimed each year. Who are they? Why are they being forgotten? And what is the meaning of life if your death doesn’t matter to others? In this extraordinary work of narrative nonfiction, eight years in the making, sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans uncover a hidden social world. They follow four individuals in Los Angeles, tracing the twisting, poignant paths that put each at risk of going unclaimed, and introducing us to the scene investigators, notification officers, and crematorium workers who care for them when no one else will. The Unclaimed lays bare the difficult truth that anyone can be abandoned. It forces us to confront a variety of social ills, from the fracturing of families and the loneliness of cities to the toll of rising inequality. But it is also filled with unexpected moments of tenderness. In Boyle Heights, a Mexican American neighborhood not far from the glitter of Hollywood, hundreds of strangers come together each year to mourn the deaths of people they never knew. These ceremonies, springing up across the country, reaffirm our shared humanity and help mend our frayed social fabric. Beautifully crafted and profoundly empathetic, The Unclaimed urges us to expand our circle of caring—in death and in life.Their website: https://www.theunclaimedbook.com/Happy New Year, friends! Here's to 2026! Cheers!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!Here is my conversation with Ashley Cullins on her book, "YOUR FAVORITE SCARY MOVIE: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror."Releasing on the 29th anniversary of Scream hitting theaters!About the book: The ultimate story of the Scream movie franchise, featuring interviews from more than eighty key players and an in-depth exploration of the creation and legacy of the films that revived a dying genre. In Your Favorite Scary Movie, entertainment journalist Ashley Cullins examines the making and impact of the Scream films with behind-the-scenes insight from cast, creators, and crew, as well as sharp analysis on how the movies’ special blend of gruesome violence and humorous self-awareness rewrote the horror playbook. This intimate and thorough history includes brand-new interviews from Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Kevin Williamson, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Jack Quaid, Parker Posey, Hayden Panettiere, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Radio Silence, Roger L. Jackson, and so many more. Perfect for fans of Scream, horror lovers, and cinephiles, this is the story of how a little movie about a ghost-faced killer terrorizing high schoolers overcame countless obstacles to become an historic success that still has audiences screaming to this day.About the author: Ashley Cullins is an award-winning entertainment journalist with over a decade of experience. After graduating with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School, Ashley began her career in broadcast news before making the jump to print.Your Favorite Scary Movie is her first book.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!Here is my conversation with Ilise S. Carter on her book, "WHEN WE SPOKE TO THE DEAD: How Ghosts Gave American Women Their Voice."About the book: Ghosts spoke. Women listened. Everything changed. It began with whispers in a dimly lit room. In the 1840s, the Fox Sisters—and the legions of mediums they inspired—ignited the Spiritualist movement that swept through Victorian parlors and presidential campaigns alike. Contacting the dead wasn't merely a parlor trick: It was a political statement, a declaration of self that still echoes. Séances attracted suffragists and scientists, skeptics and charlatans, giving women a voice in a society that often refused to hear them. But as Spiritualism surged, it also blurred the lines between faith, fraud, feminism, and financial opportunity, drawing figures as varied as Harry Houdini, Victoria Woodhull, and even modern self-help gurus into its ever-expanding orbit. From wartime séances to the rise of televangelists, from Victorian ghosts to goop-approved wellness rituals, When We Spoke to the Dead unearths the forgotten roots of today's obsession with manifestation, mysticism, and the power of belief. Exploring America's deep-seated hunger for the unseen—whether through politics, personal empowerment, or grief—this book traces how the supernatural, once condemned as heresy, became the ultimate commodity. Step inside the séance room. The spirits have been waiting.About the author: Ilise S. Carter is freelance writer, consulting copywriter to the beauty industry, and sideshow performer based in New York City. She has written for Allure, New York Times, Racked, Wall Street Journal, and others, with a focus on pop culture. In addition, she’s spent over a decade as a consulting copywriter for beauty brands such as Shiseido, bliss, Laura Mercier, Avon, L’Oréal, and Madame CJ Walker, specializing in brand voice and identity. As her stage persona, The Lady Aye, she has worked as professional sideshow performer (sword swallower, fire eater, blockhead, and pain-proof girl) and MC with acts ranging from Rob Zombie to Cirque du Soleil, and has appeared on TV’s Gossip Girl, Odditties, The President Show, Mysteries at the Museum and Dickinson. Carter holds a BA in American Studies from Barnard College at Columbia University and a Certificate in Film Production from NYU.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Early and ad-free for Patreon members! https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubOur November 2025 pick was “NINE PINTS: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood" by Rose George!An eye-opening exploration of blood, the lifegiving substance with the power of taboo, the value of diamonds and the promise of breakthrough science. Blood carries life, yet the sight of it makes people faint. It is a waste product and a commodity pricier than oil. It can save lives and transmit deadly infections. Each one of us has roughly nine pints of it, yet many don’t even know their own blood type. And for all its ubiquitousness, the few tablespoons of blood discharged by 800 million women are still regarded as taboo: menstruation is perhaps the single most demonized biological event. Rose George, author of The Big Necessity, is renowned for her intrepid work on topics that are invisible but vitally important. In Nine Pints, she takes us from ancient practices of bloodletting to the breakthough of the "liquid biopsy," which promises to diagnose cancer and other diseases with a simple blood test. She introduces Janet Vaughan, who set up the world’s first system of mass blood donation during the Blitz, and Arunachalam Muruganantham, known as “Menstrual Man” for his work on sanitary pads for developing countries. She probes the lucrative business of plasma transfusions, in which the US is known as the “OPEC of plasma.” And she looks to the future, as researchers seek to bring synthetic blood to a hospital near you. Spanning science and politics, stories and global epidemics, Nine Pints reveals our life's blood in an entirely new light. Nine Pints was named one of Bill Gates recommended summer reading titles for 2019.Rose George is the author of The Big Necessity and Ninety Percent of Everything. A freelance journalist, she has written for The New York Times, Slate, and the Financial Times, among other publications. She lives in Yorkshire.Her latest book: https://www.rosegeorge.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Early and ad-free for Patreon members! https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubOur October 2025 pick was “Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places" by Colin Dickey, our 2nd repeat author!"From the author of The Unidentified, an intellectual feast for fans of offbeat history that takes readers on a road trip through some of the country’s most infamously haunted places—and deep into the dark side of our history. Colin Dickey is on the trail of America’s ghosts. Crammed into old houses and hotels, abandoned prisons and empty hospitals, the spirits that linger continue to capture our collective imagination, but why? His own fascination piqued by a house hunt in Los Angeles that revealed derelict foreclosures and 'zombie homes,' Dickey embarks on a journey across the continental United States to decode and unpack the American history repressed in our most famous haunted places. Some have established reputations as 'the most haunted mansion in America,' or 'the most haunted prison'; others, like the haunted Indian burial grounds in West Virginia, evoke memories from the past our collective nation tries to forget. With boundless curiosity, Dickey conjures the dead by focusing on questions of the living—how do we, the living, deal with stories about ghosts, and how do we inhabit and move through spaces that have been deemed, for whatever reason, haunted? Paying attention not only to the true facts behind a ghost story, but also to the ways in which changes to those facts are made—and why those changes are made—Dickey paints a version of American history left out of the textbooks, one of things left undone, crimes left unsolved. Spellbinding, scary, and wickedly insightful, Ghostland discovers the past we’re most afraid to speak of aloud in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark."About the author! Colin Dickey grew up in San Jose, California, a few miles from the Winchester Mystery House, the most haunted house in America. As a writer, speaker, and academic, he has made a career out of collecting unusual objects and hidden histories all over the country. He's a regular contributor to the LA Review of Books and Lapham's Quarterly, and is the co-editor (with Joanna Ebenstein) of The Morbid Anatomy Anthology. He is also a member of the Order of the Good Death, a collective of artists, writers, and death industry professionals interested in improving the Western world's relationship with mortality. With a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Southern California, he is an associate professor of creative writing at National University.Articles: https://newrepublic.com/authors/colin-dickeyWebsite: https://colindickey.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Early + Ad-free for Patreon members: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub"Not everyone has a strong impulse toward morbid curiosity. Why, then, are some of us powerfully drawn to content that portrays evil, violence, and suffering? Is and interest in the darker side of life a sign of a moral bankruptcy? In my experience, this isn't an accurate assessment. I've met with and studied morbidly curious people all over the world, form haunted attractions to horror conventions to university classrooms. Anecdotally and empirically, morbidly curious people are just as moral, empathetic, and kind a anyone else. If you attend a horror convention or an oddities expo, you won't run into a deranged psychopaths waiting to catch you alone in a dark hallway. Instead, you'll find a genuine community of people with skin thickened from years of side-eyes and hushed comments. You'll find people with dark minds but soft hearts." I was asked by the owners of my amazing local bookstore Fred & June's to moderate a conversation with Coltan Scrivner! Why not the Morbidly Curious Book Club chat with the expert in Morbid Curiosity?! I recorded the event as a bonus podcast episode!Purchase the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/705578/morbidly-curious-by-coltan-scrivner-phd/About the book: The leading expert on the science behind morbid curiosity explains our spooky, gory, and macabre fascinations! What makes us peek at a car wreck or binge-watch true crime shows late into the night? Why are some of us drawn to horror movies while others shudder at the thought? In Morbidly Curious, scientist Coltan Scrivner takes readers on a thrilling journey into the psychology of morbid curiosity, uncovering why we can’t resist the macabre. From grisly serial killers to spine-chilling paranormal stories, Scrivner reveals the psychological forces that compel us to explore our darkest fears—and explains how this proclivity is more than just a quirk. It’s a powerful survival instinct, helping us mentally prepare for real-world threats, all from the safety of our imaginations. Blending fascinating insights and cutting-edge research at haunted houses across the world, Scrivner makes a powerful argument for the value of playing with fear and embracing the gruesome. Whether you’re a horror fan yourself or just want to better understand the true crime craze, Morbidly Curious will open your eyes to the hidden benefits of exploring the dark side of human nature.About Coltan! Coltan Scrivner, PhD, is a behavioral scientist and horror entertainment producer. He is the world’s leading expert on the science behind morbid curiosity and the appeal of frightening entertainment. He is also the executive director of the Nightmare in the Ozarks Film Festival and the Eureka Springs Zombie Crawl, one of the largest gatherings of zombies in the world.Enjoy!!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Our September 2025 pick was “In the Mouth of the Wolf: A Murder, a Cover-Up, and the True Cost of Silencing the Press" by Katherine Corcoran.Early and ad-free for Patreon members! Join the Patreon today to get exclusive goodies, including the Morbidly Curious Fiction Edition book club: https://patreon.com/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink“Regina dove in, focusing on the marginalized people who made the news at the time only in positive stories about government handouts that said nothing about the conditions in which the people lived. She interviewed the indigenous, the peasants, and the union workers, all of whom had never had a voice in the traditional press. Regina's reporting was legendary among her colleagues – so much so, that when I first heard of it, I was sure it must be an exaggeration, an assassinated journalist being lionized by her peers. In death, people become at least a small bit mythological. And the quality of journalism in the provinces was marginal at best, the standards by which they reported even more questionable.”Former AP Mexico bureau chief Katherine Corcoran's pulsating investigation into the murder of a legendary woman journalist on the verge of exposing government corruption in Mexico. Regina Martínez was no stranger to retaliation. A journalist out of Mexico's Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Regina's stories for the magazine Proceso laid out the corruption and abuse underlying Mexican politics. She was barred from press conferences, and copies of Proceso often disappeared before they made the newsstands. In 2012, shortly after Proceso published an article on corruption and two Veracruz politicians, and the magazine went missing once again, she was bludgeoned to death in her bathroom. The message was clear: No journalist in Mexico was safe. Katherine Corcoran, then leading the Associated Press coverage of Mexico, admired Regina Martínez's work. Troubled by the news of her death, Corcoran journeyed to Veracruz to find out what had happened. Regina hadn't even written the controversial article. But did she have something else that someone didn't want published? Once there, Katherine bonded with four of Regina's grief-stricken mentees, each desperate to prove who was to blame for the death of their friend. Together they battled cover-ups, narco-officials, red tape, and threats to sift through the mess of lies-and discover what got Regina killed. A gripping look at reporters who dare to step on the deadly “third rail,” where the state and organized crime have become indistinguishable, In the Mouth of the Wolf confronts how silencing the free press threatens basic protections and rule of law across the globe.A little about our author, Katherine Corcoran: She is a former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America and a former codirector of Cronkite Noticias, the bilingual reporting program at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She has been an Alicia Patterson fellow, the Hewlett Fellow for Public Policy at the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and a Logan Nonfiction Program fellow. At the AP, she led an award-winning team that broke major stories about cartel and state violence and abuse of authority in Mexico and Central America. Her columns about Mexican politics and press freedom have appeared in the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, and on Univision Online, among other publications. She is currently codirector of MasterLAB, an investigative editor training program in Mexico City.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Our August 2025 pick was “BRIEFLY PERFECTLY HUMAN: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End" by death doula Alua Arthur.Early and ad-free for Patreon members! Join the Patreon today to get exclusive goodies, including the Morbidly Curious Fiction Edition book club: https://patreon.com/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkReminder: the May episode with Mary Roach is coming in September, and my July episode with Lindsay Fitzharris is coming sometime next year!About the book: "For her clients and everyone who has been inspired by her humanity, Alua Arthur is a friend at the end of the world. As our country’s leading death doula, she’s spreading a transformative message: thinking about your death—whether imminent or not—will breathe wild, new potential into your life. Warm, generous, and funny AF, Alua supports and helps manage end-of-life care on many levels. The business matters, medical directives, memorial planning; but also honoring the quiet moments, when monitors are beeping and loved ones have stepped out to get some air—or maybe not shown up at all—and her clients become deeply contemplative and want to talk. Aching, unfinished business often emerges. Alua has been present for thousands of these sacred moments—when regrets, fears, secret joys, hidden affairs, and dim realities are finally said aloud. When this happens, Alua focuses her attention at the pulsing center of her clients’ anguish and creates space for them, and sometimes their loved ones, to find peace. This has had a profound effect on Alua, who was already no stranger to death’s periphery. Her family fled a murderous coup d’état in Ghana in the 1980s. She has suffered major, debilitating depressions. And her dear friend and brother-in-law died of lymphoma. Advocating for him in his final months is what led Alua to her life’s calling. She knows firsthand the power of bearing witness and telling the truth about life’s painful complexities, because they do not disappear when you look the other way. They wait for you. Briefly Perfectly Human is a life-changing, soul-gathering debut, by a writer whose empathy, tenderness, and wisdom shimmers on the page. Alua Arthur combines intimate storytelling with a passionate appeal for loving, courageous end-of-life care—what she calls 'death embrace.' Hers is a powerful testament to getting in touch with something deeper in our lives, by embracing the fact of our own mortality. 'Hold that truth in your mind,' Alua says, 'and wondrous things will begin to grow around it.'"About the author: Alua Arthur is a New York Times bestselling author Alua Arthur is the most visible and active death doula working in America today. She is a recovering attorney and the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization. Her TED Talk titled, “Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life,” went online in July 2023 and has already received 1.5 million views. A frequent guest on TV and radio, Arthur has been featured on CBS’s The Doctors and in Disney's Limitless docu-series with Chris Hemsworth, as well as in national print media outlets, such as Vogue, InStyle, the Los Angeles Times, The Cut, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. International newspaper features on Arthur include Brazil’s Estadão and Norway’s Årets Avis. She has appeared on dozens of podcasts, and a Refinery29 video feature on Arthur and her work received ten million views across social platforms. She travels the country and world as a keynote speaker, addressing audiences of several hundred to several thousand people at medical and end-of-life conferences, universities, seminaries, senior citizens’ communities, and more.Going with Grace link: https://goingwithgrace.com/about/More videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPQ-UihGYQAAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Our June 2025 pick was “TRAIL OF THE LOST: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail" by Andrea Lankford.Early and ad-free for Patreon members! Join the Patreon today to get exclusive goodies, including the Morbidly Curious Fiction Edition book club: https://patreon.com/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkReminder: the May episode with Mary Roach is coming later this year!"From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author’s quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up with an eclectic group of unlikely allies. As a park ranger with the National Park Service's law enforcement team, Andrea Lankford led search and rescue missions in some of the most beautiful (and dangerous) landscapes across America, from Yosemite to the Grand Canyon. But though she had the support of the agency, Andrea grew frustrated with the service's bureaucratic idiosyncrasies and left the force after twelve years. Two decades later, however, she stumbles across a mystery that pulls her right back where she left off: three young men have vanished from the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile trek made famous by Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and no one has been able to find them. It’s bugging the hell out of her. Andrea’s concern soon leads her to a wild environment unlike any she’s ever encountered: missing person Facebook groups. Andrea launches an investigation, joining forces with an eclectic team of amateurs who are determined to solve the cases by land and by screen: a mother of the missing, a retired pharmacy manager, and a mapmaker who monitors terrorist activity for the government. Together, they track the activities of kidnappers and murderers, investigate a cult, rescue a psychic in peril, cross paths with an unconventional scientist, and reunite an international fugitive with his family. Searching for the missing is a brutal psychological and physical test with the highest stakes, but eventually their hardships begin to bear strange fruits—ones that lead them to places and people they never saw coming. Beautifully written, heartfelt, and at times harrowing, TRAIL OF THE LOST paints a vivid picture of hiker culture and its complicated relationship with the ever-expanding online realm, all while exploring the power and limits of determination, generosity, and hope. It also offers a deep awe of the natural world, even as it unearths just how vast and treacherous it can be. On the TRAIL OF THE LOST, you may not find what you are looking for, but you will certainly find more than you seek."About the author: Andrea Lankford is the author of Ranger Confidential and three trail guides. During her career with the National Park Service, Andrea won several awards for her criminal investigations. After leaving the ranger ranks, the accomplished outdoorswoman thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, kayaked from Miami to Key West, and she and her friend, Beth Overton, were the first to mountain bike the 800-mile Arizona Trail. Andrea is now a registered nurse living in Northern California.As mentioned in the author's note: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/Welcome to another archives episode! Where I speak to a previously selected book club pick author.In 2024, I launched this podcast to delve deeper into our book club's nonfiction selections by engaging directly with the authors, the experts behind these compelling works.Over the years, our club has explored some exceptional books, and today, I got the chance to speak with Sarah Edmondson about her book, "SCARRED: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life," a book we read in 2022!This episode is being released on a special day: around this time marks the 8-year anniversary of Sarah and her husband Nippy leaving the cult!About the book: "Scarred is Sarah Edmondson's compelling memoir of her recruitment into the NXIVM cult, the 12 years she spent within the organization (during which she enrolled over 2,000 members and entered DOS—NXIVM's 'secret sisterhood'), her breaking point, and her harrowing fight to get out, to expose Keith Raniere and the leadership, to help others, and to heal. Complete with personal photographs, Scarred is also an eye-opening story about abuses of power, female trust and friendship, and how sometimes the search to be 'better' can override everything else."Sarah Edmondson is a Canadian actress who has starred in the CBS series Salvation and more than twelve films for the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime. She is also a well-established voice-over artist for popular series such as Transformers: Cybertron and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. In 2005, when NXIVM, a personal and professional development company, promised to provide the tools and insight Sarah needed to reach her potential, she was intrigued. Over her twelve-year tenure, she went from student to coach and eventually operated her own NXIVM center in Vancouver. Questions kept coming up about the organization’s rules and practices, which came to a head in 2017 when she accepted an invitation from her best friend to join DOS, a “secret sisterhood” within NXIVM.In 2019, Sarah published Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life, with Kristine Gasbarre. In this tell-all memoir, she shares her story from the moment she takes her first seminar to her harrowing fight to get out. Her full story as a whistleblower is featured in the CBC podcast Uncover: Escaping NXIVM (downloaded over 25 million times) and The Vow, the critically acclaimed HBO documentary series on NXIVM. Now with the launch of A Little Bit Culty, Sarah and her co-host/husband Anthony “Nippy” Ames are keeping the conversation going by discussing the healing process with the help of experts and fellow survivors.Links:PRE ORDERSCARREDMe in IGALBC on IGEnjoy the episode!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join the Morbidly Curious Book Club Today: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/"There is a common, nebulous understanding among Americans that MLM is off and exploitative. But a shrug goes along with it, too, as one does with Scientology, or other factions of this country's colorful fringe. It is one of our many freak sideshows, falling somewhere between a cult, a crime, and a joke. Something to gawk at, pity, or ignore."Order "Little Bosses Everywhere" here: https://bookshop.org/lists/morbidly-curious-non-fiction-recommendationsWelcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!Here is my conversation with Bridget Read on her book, "LITTLE BOSSES EVERYWHERE: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America."Companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the world’s greatest opportunity: the chance to be your own boss via an enigmatic business model called multilevel marketing, or MLM. They offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and—most precious of all—financial freedom. If, that is, you’re willing to shell out for expensive products and recruit everyone you know to buy them, and if they recruit everyone they know, too, thus creating the 'multiple levels' of MLM. Overwhelming evidence suggests that most people lose money in multilevel marketing, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes. Yet the industry’s origins, tied to right-wing ideologues like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, and teachers—anyone who has been left behind by rising inequality. In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny postwar California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the devoutly religious suburbs of Michigan, where the industry built its political influence, to stadium-size conventions where today’s top sellers preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffett, and President Donald Trump, all while eroding public institutions and the social safety net, then profiting from the chaos. Along the way, Read delves into the stories of those devastated by the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn. A wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, Little Bosses Everywhere exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism’s stealthiest PR campaign, a cunning grift that has shaped nearly everything about how we live, and whose ultimate target is democracy itself."About the author: Bridget Read is a features writer at New York magazine, reporting on housing inequality and the real estate industry for Curbed. Previously, she wrote for The Cut and was a culture writer at Vogue. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.Enjoy!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy