Welcome to Great Books + Great Voices

Welcome to “Great Books, Great Voices” a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection and conversation one book at a time. My name is Diamond-Michael Scott and I am your global book ambassador and show host. Joining me in this episode is Laura Meckler, an award winning journalist and author of the book “Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest For Racial Equity.” In her book she tells the story of this decades-long pursuit in Shaker Heights, Ohio, uncovering the roadblocks that have threatened progress time and again—in housing, in education, and in the promise of shared community. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to “Great Books, Great Voices” a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection and conversation one book at a time. My name is Diamond Michael  Scott  and I  am your global ambassador and show host.Featured in this episode is Mike Ward,  Chief Information Officer of ThriftBooks. The company started in 2003 with a pick-up truck of used books stashed in a storage unit. Their first book sold was the beloved children's classic, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. Today, ThriftBooks is the world's largest online independent used book seller, operating with state-of-the-art automation and advanced analytics in a safety-first environment. Their primary customer web and mobile destination is their brand home, ThriftBooks.com. They also continue to sell on Amazon, eBay, Abe, and other commerce sites where booklovers gather.In this episode, I speak with Mike about the emerging intersection of AI and the book world.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to “Great Books, Great Voices,” a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection and conversation one book at a time. My name is Diamond-Michael Scott and I am your global book ambassador and show host. My guest today is Joe Keohane, author of a fascinating book called, “The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World. “ In it he offers a timely exploration into the transformative potential of engaging with strangers. He is a veteran journalist who has worked at or written for everyone from Esquire, to GQ, to The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Entrepreneur, Wired and so forth, on everything from politics, to travel, to social science, business, and technology.  In The Power of Strangers, Joe took a deep dive into why we don’t talk to strangers, why we should, and how we can—drawing on hundreds of academic studies, books, and interviews.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to “Great Books, Great Voices” a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection and conversation one book at a time. My name is Diamond-Michael Scott and I am your Global Book Ambassador and show host. My special guest for this episode is Jonathan Eig, author of a new book entitled “King: A Life” the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr — and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. Prior to this book which was released in 2023, Jonathan produced a bestseller on the famed heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali called  “Ali: A Life” which I had the good pleasure of reading back in 2018.🔥 Just this week Eig's book on King Jr., was named the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography, a category that honors "a distinguished and appropriately documented biography by an American author." This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to “ Great Books, Great Voices, a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection, and conversation, one book at a time. My name is Diamond-Michael Scott and I am your global book ambassador and show host. In recent months, I have had the good pleasure of getting to know brand strategist Kevin Perlmutter. Kevin is an advisor, speaker, and soon to be author of a book on brand strategy. His revolutionary approach to brand strategy  diverges from traditional models by prioritizing emotional engagement over mere persuasion. Filled with rich insights, he highlights the critical role of emotional connection in creating enduring brand strategies for businesses. In this episode, we’ll talk about his method, termed "Limbic Sparks," which focuses on generating instinctive emotional responses that forge deep connections between brands and their audiences. This, he says, helps to ensure a lasting customer relationship rather than a fleeting interaction.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Great Books, Great Voices, a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection, and conversation one book at a time. My name is Diamond-Michael Scott and I am your Global Book Ambassador and Show Host. My guest today is Megan Hottman. Megan is a lawyer, cycling enthusiast, advocate, adventurist, public speaker, author, group fitness instructor, business owner and entrepreneur, and commercial real estate landlord… to name a few of her “titles.”  She is multi-faceted and multi-passionate.  She has been quoted as saying: “Putting me at a desk all day long and making me choose just the ONE THING would not work for me.” Megan is also a book reader extraordinaire who is into book genres ranging from peak health to business.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

George W Gibbs, JrGreat Books, Great Voices, a weekly podcast where we aim to ignite a new world of community, connection, and conversation one book at a time. My name is Diamond-Michael Scott and I am your Global Book Ambassador and Show Host. My guest for this episode is Leilani Henry, author of the book The Call of Antarctica: Exploring and Protecting Earth's Coldest Continent. Using diary entries from Gibbs' expedition, Leilani  through her book “The Call of Antarctica” takes readers on a journey to the rugged Antarctic landscape to learn its history, its present, and the importance of protecting its future.Leilani is the daughter of George W. Gibbs, Jr., the first person of African descent to go to Antarctica. In this episode recounts her father’s expedition while educating readers on the incredible geography, biodiversity, and history of the continent.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Our guest for this episode is Andrew (Andy) Carlson, author of the book “The Progressive Worldview” The History of Progress From The Scientific Revolution to the Twentieth Century.” After earning a Ph.D. in philosophy at Penn State with an emphasis on ethics, Andrew Carlson decided it was time to stop thinking about doing the right thing and start doing it. He took a job cooking at a downtown Denver soup kitchen and remained there for over three years. Shifting gears, Andrew moved into the building trades, spending the next twenty years restoring historic homes and buildings. Throughout this period, Andrew never stopped thinking, reading, and writing about what it means to do the right thing, particularly from a progressive standpoint. In this episode Andy talks about what it means to be a progressive, not just in the narrow political sense but in your philosophy, your belief system, your worldview. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Our guest today is Francis Pring-Mill, author of the book In Harmony with the Tao: A Guided Journey into the Tao Te Ching Born in Oxford, England, and now living in Vancouver, Canada, Francis has been fascinated by the Tao Te Ching since discovering a copy at a secondhand store while a teenager.In his book, In Harmony with the Tao, he applies skills developed as a professional facilitator, course developer, instructor and communicator to offer the reader a guided journey into a densely written sacred text.This amazing read which I’ve personally taken the time to enjoy will appeal to anyone interested in understanding the ideas contained in the Tao Te Ching and in applying them to daily life in the modern world. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to “Great Books, Great Voices,” a weekly podcast where we aim to “Ignite a New World of Community, Connection, and Conversation, One Book at a Time.” Our guest for this episode is  motion picture, television and Broadway producer Julian Schlossberg, a man who has spent 60 years in show business. Over the years he’s worked as a producer, director, distributor, exhibitor, radio host and record executive. In his new audiobook, Try Not To Hold It Against Me, Schlossberg tells of negotiating with Al Pacino, Burt Reynolds and Lillian Hellman, hosting the syndicated radio show, Movietalk, interviewing stars like Jack Nicholson, George Burns, Bette Davis and Bob Hope, experiencing the paranormal with Shirley MacLaine and Betty Hill, restoring Orson Welles’ masterly film Othello, partying with Barbra Streisand and Liza Minelli, testifying in a lawsuit against The Beatles and interviewing over 140 major figures for his series Witnesses To The Twentieth Century.With a foreword by Academy Award winner Elaine May— Try Not To Hold It Against Me gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look at the rarely seen but crucial work of a producer. Schlossberg recounts the trials and triumphs of work and play as a theater, film and TV producer and radio host. It’s a one-of-a-kind autobiography read by one of entertainment’s true insiders. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/subscribe