Best Allen Pike Podcasts (2025)

1
423: ‘Sewing Machine Repair Shop’, With Patrick McGee 1:32:42

12h ago1:32:42

1:32:42

Patrick McGee joins the show to discuss his must-read new book, Apple in China -- one of the best books about Apple anyone has ever written. Sponsored by: Factor: Healthy eating, made easy. Get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. Notion: Your notes, docs, and projects in one space. Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a websit…

1
'Diary' by Peter Rose 11:36

2d ago11:36

11:36

This week on the ABR Podcast we present Peter Rose’s final Diary as Editor of Australian Book Review. Peter began editing ABR in 2001 and retired just last month. The May issue was his final issue as Editor, and in his diary entry Rose recalls. Before coming to ABR, Rose was a publisher at Oxford University Press. He has published several books of …

1
422: ‘A Monkey on a Rock’, With Stephen Hackett 2:14:46

4d ago2:14:46

2:14:46

Stephen Hackett, proprietor of 512 Pixels and co-founder of Relay (purveyor of many fine podcasts), joins the show. Topics include: IO (or if you will, io), the new joint venture of OpenAI and Jony Ive’s LoveFrom; the sheer fantasy of “Made in America” iPhones; and Fortnite’s return to the US App Store. Sponsored by: WorkOS: The modern identity pla…

1
'Eucharist' by 2025 Calibre Essay Prize winner Jeanette Mrozinski 31:35

5d ago31:35

31:35

This week on the ABR Podcast, we are delighted to present the winning essay in the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize: ‘Eucharist’ by Jeanette Mrozinski, who becomes the first American essayist to win the prestigious award. Jeanette Mrozinski has worked as a stripper and government bureaucrat, bakery girl and communications director, factory labourer, yoga i…

1
'Little morality plays: Disingenuous angst over cancel culture' by Catriona Menzies-Pike 9:57

25d ago9:57

9:57

This week, on the ABR Podcast, Catriona Menzies-Pike reviews The Cancel Culture Panic by Adrian Daub. Menzies-Pike examines Daub’s claim that fear of cancel culture is a US export – as ubiquitous as McDonald’s and Kentucky bourbon. She writes: ‘Cancel culture is now everywhere … What Daub does in this book is trace the origins of the cancel culture…

1
421: ‘The Ratchet of Flippancy’, With Craig Mod 1:53:11

30d ago1:53:11

1:53:11

Craig Mod returns to the show to discuss his splendid new book, Things Become Other Things. Other topics include creating with AI tools (including programming), social media permanence vs. ephemerality, and more. Sponsored by: Dekáf Coffee Roasters: You won’t believe it’s decaf. That’s the point. 30% off with code: DF. Squarespace: Make your next m…

1
420: ‘The Best Hatched Plan’, With Glenn Fleishman 2:08:24

1M ago2:08:24

2:08:24

Special guest Glenn Fleishman returns to the show for episode 420 on 4/20, but everyone’s sober, I swear. Topics include Trump’s dumb tariffs and Glenn’s smart new edition of his book Six Centuries of Type & Printing. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Notion: Try the powerful, easy-to-us…

1
'Barefoot in the snow: Of poetics and papacy' by Miles Pattenden 11:10

2M ago11:10

11:10

This week, on The ABR Podcast, Miles Pattenden reviews Hope: The autobiography by Pope Francis. It is not every day that a pope writes a tell-all. Pattenden explains: ‘Of Pope Francis’s predecessors, only that preening Renaissance man of letters Pius II Piccolomini contributed to the genre directly.’ Miles Pattenden specialises in the history of th…

1
419: ‘Podcasting Technology Cadence’, With MG Siegler 2:28:58

2M ago2:28:58

2:28:58

MG Siegler returns to the show to talk about the drama surrounding Siri and Apple Intelligence. Sponsored by: WorkOS: The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS — free up to 1 million monthly active users. Check out their latest features from Launch Week. BetterHelp: Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp and get on your way to being your best self…

1
‘“Congratulations Bob”: The Petrov Affair and the Australian public’ by Ebony Nilsson 17:32

2M ago17:32

17:32

This week on The ABR Podcast, Ebony Nilsson unearths the letters that Robert Menzies received from the Australian public during the 1950s Petrov Affair. Letters included everything from warnings to exhalations of relief to expressions of concern for the Petrovs’ dog. Ebony Nilsson is a historian of migration and security during the Cold War and the…

1
'Attention, Please!' A Peter Rose Poetry Special 1:12:49

3M ago1:12:49

1:12:49

This week on The ABR Podcast, we bring you a special poetry feature. With Editor Peter Rose’s imminent departure from Australian Book Review and the publication this month of his seventh poetry collection, Attention, Please! (Pitt Street Poetry), eighteen poets and critics read from Peter Rose’s extensive body of work, dating back to 1990. Readers …

1
418: ‘Putting a Stink on the Letter X’, With Craig Hockenberry 2:42:03

3M ago2:42:03

2:42:03

Craig Hockenberry returns to the show. Topics include Apple’s new hardware this week — M3 iPad Airs, A16 regular iPads, M4 MacBook Airs, and the M4 Max and surprising M3 Ultra Mac Studios. And we go deep on The Iconfactory’s years-in-the-making new app, Tapestry — a universal timeline for the Internet. Exclusively sponsored by: Google Gemini: Chat …

1
‘A Body of Water’, a short story by Else Fitzgerald 18:17

3M ago18:17

18:17

This week on The ABR Podcast we feature a short story from the ABR Archive. The story, ‘A Body of Water’ by Else Fitzgerald, was commended in the 2011 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story prize. It opens in the desolate, quiet space of a former steel town on the Franklin River. Fitzgerald writes: ‘The town hunkers on the southernmost tip of a cruel spi…

1
417: ‘Nothing Is Possible’, With Paul Kafasis 2:00:43

3M ago2:00:43

2:00:43

Special guest: Paul Kafasis. Special topics: Siri/Super Bowl nonsense, “Gulf of Mexico/America” nonsense, the iPhone 16e gets announced, and a veritable Bond villain buys the rights to the James Bond movie franchise. Sponsored by: Listen Later: Turn articles into podcasts and listen on the go, with AI-powered narration. Unofficial but surprisingly …

1
“Subject to his birth”: The biography of a prince' by Christopher Allen 9:00

3M ago9:00

9:00

This week on The ABR Podcast, Christopher Allen reviews James Fairfax: Portrait of a collector in eleven objects by Alexander Edward Gilly. James Fairfax, who was born in 1933 and died in 2017, was born into the ‘greatest press dynasty Australia had yet seen’. Christopher Allen is the national art critic for The Australian. Listen to Christopher Al…

1
‘Joan Mercer’s Fertile Head’, a short story by S.J. Finn 33:18

4M ago33:18

33:18

This week on The ABR Podcast we feature a short story from the ABR archive. The story, ‘Joan Mercer’s Fertile Head’ by S.J. Finn, was commended in the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story prize. (The 2025 Jolley Short Story Prize is now open!) S.J. Finn is an Australian writer based in Melbourne. Listen to ‘Joan Mercer’s Fertile Head’, first publi…

1
‘Let That Sink In!: Fantasy without consequence at Twitter’ by Matthew Lamb 10:53

4M ago10:53

10:53

This week on The ABR Podcast, Matthew Lamb reviews Character Limit: How Elon Musk destroyed Twitter, as told by award-winning investigative journalists Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. Noting Musk’s tendency to favour ‘the virtual over the physical world’, the book gives a ‘blow-by-blow’ account of Musk’s shortcomings while leading X. Matthew Lamb is a wr…

1
‘Citational Justice: A revolution in research practice?’ by Mark Finnane 16:09

4M ago16:09

16:09

This week on The ABR Podcast, historian Mark Finnane asks: ‘who gets the right to speak on matters of research within a tradition of empirical scholarship?’ Mark Finnane is a Professor of History at Griffith University and has published widely on Australian and Irish history. Listen to Mark Finnane’s ‘Citational Justice: A revolution in research pr…

1
‘“Shimmering multiple and multitude”: Keeping up with Judith Wright’ by Georgina Arnott 15:00

4M ago15:00

15:00

This week on The ABR Podcast, Georgina Arnott discusses the dilemmas of writing an entry on Judith Wright for the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Georgina Arnott is the author of The Unknown Judith Wright, editor of Judith Wright: Selected Writings, and Assistant Editor at ABR. Listen to Georgina Arnott’s ‘“Shimmering multiple and multitude”: K…

1
‘The gold standard: The centenary of Francis Webb’ by Toby Davidson 19:28

5M ago19:28

19:28

This week on The ABR Podcast, Toby Davidson marks the centenary of Francis Webb with an essay on the poet. Toby Davidson is the editor of Francis Webb’s Collected Poems and a senior lecturer at Macquarie University. Listen to Toby Davidson with ‘The gold standard: The centenary of Francis Webb’, published in the January-February issue of ABR. See o…

1
‘”Futile rage at nothing”: Sally Rooney’s most ambitious work to date’ by James Ley 12:09

5M ago12:09

12:09

This week on The ABR Podcast James Ley reviews Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. For Ley, it is her most ambitious novel to date. James Ley is an essayist and literary critic. Listen to James Ley with ‘”Futile rage at nothing”: Sally Rooney’s most ambitious work to date’, published in the December issue of ABR. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf…

1
416: ‘A Professional Internet User’, With Vlad Prelovac 2:32:38

5M ago2:32:38

2:32:38

Kagi founder and CEO Vlad Prelovac joins the show to talk about the business of web search, the thinking behind Kagi’s own amazing search engine, and their upstart WebKit-based browser Orion. Sponsored by: Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your f…

1
‘Silent witness: A ‘little life-hymn’ from Helen Garner’ by Jonathan Ricketson 10:48

6M ago10:48

10:48

This week on The ABR Podcast Jonathan Ricketson reviews The Season by Helen Garner. Ricketson explains that The Season is a memoir of Garner watching her grandson ‘Amby play for the Flemington Juniors in the Under-16s, from February to August 2023’. The experience involves an effacement of self, the grandmother on the sidelines rendered a ‘silent w…

1
‘Out of the loop: Relaying information across time’ by Robyn Arianrhod 11:48

6M ago11:48

11:48

On The ABR Podcast this week, Robyn Arianrhod reviews Nexus: A brief history of information networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari. Under the category ‘information networks’, Harari puts oral stories, clay tablets, chalkboards, newspapers, computers and more. Arianrhod writes: ‘Harari aims to illustrate these dilemmas so that we … a…

1
415: ‘A Good Duck Butt’, With Allen Pike 2:32:52

6M ago2:32:52

2:32:52

Special guest Allen Pike joins the show to talk about the state of generative AI and how Apple Intelligence measures up (so far). Also: some speculation on Apple’s pending acquisition of the ever-difficult-to-pronounce Pixelmator. Sponsored by: WorkOS: The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS — free up to 1 million monthly active users. Links: All…

1
‘Where is Nancy?’ Paradoxes in the pursuit of freedom by Marilyn Lake 13:44

6M ago13:44

13:44

This week on The ABR Podcast, Marilyn Lake reviews The Art of Power: My story as America’s first woman Speaker of the House by Nancy Pelosi. The Art of Power, explains Lake, tells how Pelosi, ‘a mother of five and a housewife from California’, became the first woman Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Marilyn Lake is a Professori…

1
414: ‘Annoying Friendliness’, With Joanna Stern 1:54:06

6M ago1:54:06

1:54:06

Joanna Stern returns to the show to talk about our new best friends, AI chatbots, and I chime in with how the Voight-Kampff test got it all wrong. Sponsored by: WorkOS: The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS — free up to 1 million monthly active users. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Memberful: M…

1
'Feeding the beast: On corporate cancel culture' by Josh Bornstein 13:11

7M ago13:11

13:11

This week on The ABR Podcast, Josh Bornstein discusses corporate cancel culture. Bornstein argues that ‘Companies now routinely censor their employees far more repressively than any liberal democratic government does’. Josh Bornstein is an award-winning workplace lawyer and writer. His first book, Working for the Brand: How corporations are destroy…

1
413: ‘Holiday Party 2024’, With Merlin Mann 2:52:16

7M ago2:52:16

2:52:16

This again. Jiminy. Well, once more, let's talk around another election, and try, by doing so, to maybe express something about it. Sponsored by: Tiptop: A new way to pay that combines Instant Trade-In and Pay-in-4 at checkout. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Memberful: Monetize your passion with me…

1
‘Schooled in doubleness’: Paul Giles reviews Tim Winton’s enthralling new novel 14:51

7M ago14:51

14:51

This week, on The ABR Podcast, Paul Giles reviews Juice by Tim Winton. Juice represents a creative sidestep for the four-time Miles Franklin Award recipient, being both his longest novel and his first venture into speculative fiction. Paul Giles is Professor of English at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. Listen to Paul Giles with ‘”…

1
412: ‘His Most Pro Shirt’, With Dan Moren 1:41:42

7M ago1:41:42

1:41:42

Dan Moren returns to the show to discuss this week’s introductions of the first M4 Macs: iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pros. Sponsored by: WorkOS: The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS — free up to 1 million monthly active users. Squarespace: Make your next move. Use code talkshow for 10% off your first order. Memberful: Monetize your passion wit…

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Allen Pike Podcasts

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