Are you ready to get stupidly excited about maths?
No?
Granted—it’s not a state most of us ever find ourselves in. But trust me, it’s time to get your brainbox psyched for some equational madness.
Why?
Because once you’ve wandered in the mind-expanding labyrinth that is Benjamin Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World, you’ll be ripping down posters of Paul Mescal and pinning up hot, secretive snaps of Marcus De Sautoy.
And don’t think my incredible guest for this episode will do anything to sway you against my excitement, the brilliant Joe Dunthorne is as bowled over by this book as I am.
Indeed, welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.
As you may well know by now, in each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books and culture to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.
There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.
If you enjoy the show and would like to help us (and get your hands on a coveted Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge), you can become a supporter of the library by upgrading your subscription.
But either way, please do like and share the show—it all helps.
In this episode, as I say, my very special guest is the author and poet, Joe Dunthorne. We discuss his pick for the library, the 2020 novel When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut.
About Joe
Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea. He is the author of three novels and one collection of poetry, including Submarine, which has been translated into fifteen languages and made into an acclaimed film directed by Richard Ayoade, and Wild Abandon, which won the 2012 Encore Award. Children of Radium is his first work of non-fiction. He lives in London.
About Benjamin
Benjamín Labatut was born in Rotterdam in 1980 and grew up in The Hague, Buenos Aires, and Lima. He has published two award-winning works of fiction prior to When We Cease to Understand the World, which is his first book to be translated into English. Labatut lives with his family in Santiago, Chile.
Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode
Order When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut and Joe’s new book Children of Radium from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.
Some more insight into Benjamin Labatut’s process in a Guardian interview here.
Find Joe on Instagram here.
Find Glenn on Instagram here.
Find The Library of Lazy Thinking on Instagram here.
About the Library
The Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. If you’d like to support the library and get access to everything here, you can become a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge). All support goes back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.
About Glenn
Glenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My writing has been published in Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I write about books and interview other writers and artists here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, I am currently working on my first novel about a man who accidentally kidnaps a pig. Brave/insane agents: hit me up.
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