Episodes

  • Escaping Punitive Spirituality with Brian Recker
    Dec 22 2025

    Host Joshua Turek is joined by guest Brian Recker, author of the new book "Hell Bent" (How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love). They discuss the books Brian read while researching his own, which details redefining his own spirituality and Christian beliefs. Discussing masculinity and softening the world, the two detail their own unique paths toward similar conclusions.


    Books Talked About Include:

    Debt by David Graeber

    Hell Bent by Brian Recker

    Adam’s Return by Richard Rohr

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel by Renate Wind

    A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn

    the will to change bell hooks

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

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    57 mins
  • Mutual Aiding with Political Commentator Lily Eagle
    Nov 24 2025

    Political commentator Lily Eagla joins host Joshua Turek to discuss mutual aid, retraining the offline world back into your brain, and books that radicalized her.


    Sign up for Joshua's weekend Zoom Poetry workshop now for the Dec6&7 gathering!


    books

    mutual aid by dean spade

    Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

    The Year of Living Biblically

    Our American Israel

    100 years was on palestine by rashid kalidi

    the autobiography of malcolm x

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

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    49 mins
  • Resurrecting Collections with writer/director Larry Charles
    Nov 11 2025

    Guest Larry Charles and host Joshua Turek talk SF and LA noir, science fiction grounded on Earth, Larry's new memoir Comedy Samurai . They talk personal growth, the transformative power of literature and how reading can serve as both a source of pleasure and a means of preserving sacred knowledge.


    for Josh's poetry books, they're on sale until the end of the year, signed copies available domestically at joshuaturek.com


    Books Talked About Include:

    Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson

    City of Night by John Reshy

    crime writers: edward bunker, jim thompson, david goodis, raymond chandler, dashiell hammet

    The Woman Chase by Charles WIliford

    The Ripley Books by Patricia Highsmith

    In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes

    The Motel Life by Willy Vlauten

    The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg

    Service by John Tottenham

    Ablutions by Patrick Dewitt

    Days of the Locust by Nathaniel West

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

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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Confronting Reality w/ author Yasha Levine
    Oct 30 2025

    Guest Yasha Levine and Host Joshua Turek discuss everything from technofeudalism to pistachios.


    San Francisco! For tickets Nov 1 to see Yasha's new documentary at Roxie Theater with live Q&A hosted by Joshua Turek here


    For Josh's poetry books and his weekend Zoom workshop on Nov 8 & 9 visit his site


    Books Talked About Include

    Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord

    Surveillance Valley - Yasha Levine

    The Image - Daniel Boorstijn

    Neil Postman - Amusing ourselves to death

    Raven Rock

    Dead Cities - Mike Davis

    Moderan - David Bunch

    Shadow of the torture - Gene Wolf

    The Dying Earth Series - Jack Vance sci fi

    Cadillac Desert

    The American Genocide

    The End of th Myth

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

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    1 hr and 42 mins
  • The Beauty of the Ordinary with filmmaker Maddy Power
    Oct 16 2025

    Recorded remotely from Bad Animal Books in Santa Cruz, CA. Joshua Turek and Maddy Power Maddy shares her personal experience of losing her home and books in the Eaton Canyon Fire in Alta Dena and the two books she grabbed before evacuating


    To sign up to Joshua's Zoom Poetry Weekend Workshop visit joshuaturek.com


    Books talked about include:

    Werener Herzog's Guide for the Perplexed

    Agnes Varda interviews

    David Sedaris “Theft and Finding”

    bell hooks "The Will to Change"

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

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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • What I'm Reading on My Comedy Tour
    Jul 9 2025

    On a pit stop in Santa Cruz with family between dates on my comedy tour (Get your tickets to my San Diego show Friday and L.A., SF, Eureka, next week then Seattle and Portland) before heading up the west coast. I get into a little of what I'm reading, my favorite bookstores so far on this trip, and why I took this podcast off of Spotify (hint they're evil). Come to my shows if I'm in your city!

    All my shows

    7/11 San Diego

    7/16 L.A.

    7/18&19 SF

    7/20 Eureka

    7/25 Seattle

    8/15 Portland

    8/21-23 Boise

    8/27 Tulsa

    8/28 Kansas City

    8/29 New Orleans

    9/6 Tucson

    Books Talked About:

    The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

    Meet Me in the Bathroom

    Perfect Victims - Mohammed El Kurd

    Our American Israel - Amy Kaplan

    One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Omar El Akkad

    Blue Desert - Charles Bowden


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

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    13 mins
  • Field Trip to The Strand Bookstore in New York City
    Jun 24 2025

    Officially on my comedy tour across the United States during particularly distressing times. It took six nights and five days but the morning after my first headlining show at Rodney's in Manhattan I managed some time to visit the staple bookstore of NYC "The Strand". CHICAGO my show at Zanies is tonight! Tickets are getting low. You can use discout code TUREK10 for $15.75 tickets here. The rest of my tour is here with more dates and cities to come so follow my bandsintown to get notified for when I come to yours. Tour dates below.

    6/24 CHICAGO

    6/27 PHILADELPHIA

    6/29 DALLAS

    7/11 SAN DIEGO

    7/16 L.A.

    7/18&19 SF

    7/20 EUREKA

    7/25 SEATTLE

    8/15 PORTLAND

    8/21-23 BOISE

    8/27 TULSA

    8/28 KANSAS CITY

    8/29 NEW ORLEANS

    9/6 TUCSON

    9/18 TAMPA

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

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    9 mins
  • Infinite Jest Digest with podcaster Cam George (Talking Talk Tuah)
    Jun 16 2025

    Comedian Cam George of Talking Talk Tuah now Talking Talk podcast discusses being mystified by Infinite Jest and encountering this red flag memed book with new eyes.


    Joshua's U.S. comedy tour starts this Saturday in New York City. That's Saturday night June 21 at Rodney's on the Upper Eastside. Followed by Chicago on Tuesday June 24 at Zanies. Philadelphia June 27. Dallas June 29 and more. Get tickets now! For all things Joshua Turek go to joshuaturek.com


    Books Talked About Include:

    Infinite jest

    sound and the fury

    all the pretty horses

    blood meridian

    lonesome dove

    confederacy of dunces

    hunger games

    girl with the dragon tattoo

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

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    58 mins