On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. In 1974, Robert Nozick set out to write a work on libertarian political philosophy. In the process, he went on a tangent and hit on a compelling argument for veganism. Suppose space aliens came down to Earth and started eating all the humans. Does the fact that the aliens are smarter, more advanced, higher beings than humans give them the right to eat us? Probably not, right? Isn’t that pretty much what we do to animals?

If you haven’t read “Anarchy State and Utopia” by Robert Nozick, I’d recommend checking it out. You can of course buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-State-Utopia-Robert-Nozick/dp/0465051006

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

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On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. Happy New Year! Wishing a healthy and prosperous 2026 to you all. And, not for nothing, your health and prosperity would both be enhanced if you were to stop smoking cigarettes. It’s not as difficult to do as you may be led to believe. In fact, if you ask the late Allen Carr, there’s an easy way to do it: the Easyway®.

This is the 1985 book “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking,” by Allen Carr, who went on to found Allen Carr’s Easyway (International) Ltd., and whose advice and methods for stopping self-destructive habits like smoking cigarettes has helped millions of people. This is the time for New Year’s resolutions; if you haven’t given this a thought already, maybe today’s the day. You can buy this book practically anywhere, including here (https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615482155) or check out the website https://www.allencarr.com for more information.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

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On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. Merry Christmas! Have you been good this year? Or have you been bad? What’s the difference? Is there a difference? If you ask Niccolo Machiavelli, author of ‘The Prince,’ he would probably say whether you are quote-unquote “good” or “bad” is irrelevant – but it would behoove you to at least appear to be good. So long as you are not actively hated, you’ll probably be fine.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. In the 9th Century, Arabic polymath Al Jahiz wrote ‘The Book of Misers,’ a collection of stories about greedy people. Sometimes you have such poor table manners and are so uncouth at the table, that we’re still talking about it, behind your back, a thousand years later.

You can read this book on The Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/bookofmisersalbu0000jahi. Or why not buy a copy? https://www.semcoop.com/book-misers-al-bukhala

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. There’s a great big book full of every dream there is and ever was. In 1901, businessman Gustavus Hindman Miller entered a trance and wrote this book through automatic writing. The feat of a powerful psychic, no doubt. Think your guess is as good as his what a dream means? Consider this:

In your dream, a horse in human flesh descends on a hammock through the air, and as it nears your house is metamorphosed into a man, and he approaches your door and throws something at you which seems to be rubber but turns into great bees. What does this mean?

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/926

The author was an interesting historical figure. If you want some more details, you could simply start with Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Hindman_Miller

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. This week is the poetry of Caves of Qud, winner of the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work. This sci-fi far future has many wonders, yet even the most mundane object is still full of deep intrigue. Listen to these descriptions of desks, tables, rocks, tools, creatures, and corpses.

Please buy Caves of Qud on Steam or any other platform. This is a special game and really fun. https://store.steampowered.com/app/333640/Caves_of_Qud/. Or, you could read more of its writing on the wiki, https://wiki.cavesofqud.com/wiki/Caves_of_Qud_Wiki.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. Happy Thanksgiving – why not make a classic midcentury salad from 1969? All you need is water, gelatin, pork, spaghetti, celery, gumdrops, and of course mayonnaise. It’s all here in this absolutely deranged “Salads Cookbook” from 1969. Believe me when I tell you these recipes are utterly demented.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you where to find this book to read, but I did find a copy on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234866473118

And while you’re at it, check out pictures of the Candlestick Salad. People really made these back then, huh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_salad

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. ‘The Prince’ by Niccolo Machiavelli is kind of the perfect book for this project: well-written and highly-specific but with a lot of boring stuff that needs to be cut out. This week we’re just covering one short section about how mercenaries are just no good, and no sane prince would ever hire them.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.