Short and interesting

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 th...

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...

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...

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...

Welcome to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. What if you had a great big book full of every dream there is, so that when you have a dream, you can look up in a book to figure out what it means? In the early 20th century a businessman named Gustavus Hindman Miller set out to do this, and he wrote this book. Did he succeed? Judge for yourself.

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

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Welcome to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. Is there such a thing as free will? Do your choices matter? Can you be held responsible for your actions, good or bad? Weighty questions are covered in a quick and breezy manner in Thomas Nagel’s “What Does It All Mean,” from 1987.

This book published by Oxford University Press, all rights reserved. Why not purchase a copy for yourself? You can do that here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-does-it-all-mean-thomas-nagel/1111620615

Music by Dan Mason. Check ou...

Welcome to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. For Halloween, we’re reading the single best story from Charles MacKay’s 19th “Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” about alchemists throughout history. The notorious Gilles de Rais wanted gold, so he turned to alchemy, and then the devil. He became one of history’s earliest and most notorious serial killers, but as far as we know he never ended up turning lead into gold.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gute...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird books. This week is the game plan for Matthew Hopkins, self-proclaimed Witch-Finder, from 1698. When you go into town to find witches, some villagers will try to stop you. Here’s how you respond to all their arguments and win the debate. Some men really do know everything.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14015

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandca...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird books. Like this declassified memo from the CIA to the FBI about communist brainwashing techniques. Of course, they still work even if you aren’t communist.

This memo dated April 25, 1956 was formerly classified but was approved for release on February 8, 1984. I found this online a few years ago, but I’m currently unable to find a copy via web search … wonder when that changed? If I find it online again, I’ll post a link.

Music by Dan...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. You’ve heard the saying about the three types of falsehoods: there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Well, Darrell Huff wrote “How to Lie With Statistics” (1954) to teach you how it works. A great little dose of skepticism and media literacy goes a long way in 2025.

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 un...

ou’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. Ever wondered how to cook bear, possum, raccoon, squirrel, or woodchuck? Well this week we’ve got some recipes and techniques from “Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking,” circa 1947.

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/<...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. Have you ever wondered how to make MDMA? It’s surprisingly do-able. All you need is a strong working knowledge of chemistry, a fair bit of laboratory equipment, a supply of various chemicals, and a recipe. This week, we’re checking out the recipe.

But not really. For legal reasons we’re not actually going to tell you the recipe for MDMA. Instead, we took what purports to be a recipe, and swapped all the ingredients with some...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. We’ve got some more from “The Lacerta Files” this week, which is a 2004 interview with a purported Reptoid-being whose species lives underground. Adding insult to injury, not only are humans not alone in the universe, they aren’t even alone on this planet – and the so-called “aliens” couldn’t care less what happens to us. Can you blame them?

This appears to have been self-published by an individual named Jimmy Bergman, and translated by Chris Pfeiler. Whether tho...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. Ready for some alien stuff? Well too bad – the Reptoids aren’t aliens, they’ve lived on Earth much longer than us puny humans. You can call them many things – reptillians, ultraterrestrials, lizard-people, little green guys – but “alien” is just not accurate. All this and more in the famous 2004 interview-with-an-alien, “The Lacerta Files.”

This appears to have been self-published by an individual named Jimmy Bergman, and translated by Chris Pfeiler. Whether those are real people or their real names is no...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is a grand yarn from Leon Ray Livingston, a/k/a A-No.1, a/k/a ”The World’s Most Famous Hobo.” This is from his 1914 book “The Ways of the Hobo” which is a fun little book of folk tales told by hobos, to hobos. There’s a certain romance and charm to hobodom, but make no mistake, it’s a life of poverty, abuse, and exploitation. But you’ve got to find some way to laugh through it all.

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. We’re back this week with part two of “How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found,” by Doug Richmond. The “how” is interesting enough, but not enough people are asking “why.” If you’re thinking about destroying your life and disappearing to create a new fake identity somewhere else, one thing you might try first is a little thing called “therapy.”

This work is was published by Loompanics Unlimited in 1986 and is still protected by copyright. We are presen...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. If you want to hear the worst, most depressing advice ever, you’re in luck today. We’re covering “How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found,” by Doug Richmond. Here’s how you can destroy your identity, disappear, and create a new, fake life to inhabit. This might have worked in 1986, but in 2025? Forget about it.

This work is was published by Loompanics Unlimited in 1986 and is still protected by copyright. We are presenting selected excerpts in th...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. We’ve sure got an old weird one for you today! This is a selection from “Democracy is Self-Government” by the esoteric philosopher Harold W. Percival. We’re reading the chapter ‘Money, Or the Idolatry of the Dollar,’ a good old-fashioned rant about how we shouldn’t be slaves to money.

This work purports to be copyrighted 1952 by Harold W. Percival, and copyrighted 1980 by The Word Foundation, Inc., but I believe this is actually in the public domain. I d...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re learning how to “Be Your Own Bodyguard” with this 1999 safety manual published by Peaceful Paths LLC. The best way to keep yourself from being a victim is to identify and avoid dangerous situations. And the best way to do that is to be aware.

This company may be defunct and the following contact information might no longer be effective. But this document states: “This document may be duplicated and distributed freely on the conditio...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is our first look at “Porkopolis” by Alex Blanchette. This book is definitely not an easy read, but it is really fascinating and we strongly recommend it as a first-hand look at an incredibly normal, ordinary, unremarkable part of modern American capitalist life. Today we’re reading an edited-down set of excerpts from the section on artificial insemination of pigs on an industrial scale. Ever wondered how the sausage is made?

This work’s copyright is...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re checking out “Food in War Time” by Graham Lusk, written in 1918, right at the tail end of World War One. Eat your greens, drink your milk, and try to lose some weight.

This book is in the public domain. You can download it for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32472.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podca...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re dipping back into “The Book of Swindles” by Zhang Yingyu (夔衷). Another grab-bag of sneaky schemes and dirty tricks. Beware of eunuchs! This time we’re reading: “Handing Over Silver Before Running Off With It”; “Using Broom Handles to Play a Joke on Sedan Bearers”; “Three Women Ride Off on Three Horses”; “A Eunuch Cooks Boys to Make a Tonic of Male Essence.”

This (Chinese) work is itself public domain, but we’re reading from the English transacti...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re checking out a stone-cold classic: “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville. But don’t worry, we’re only reading Chapter 9 this time; the show is called ‘Short and Interesting,’ not ‘Famously Long and Boring.’

This book is in the public domain. You can download it for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re checking out a tabletop role-playing game about colonizing space – and so much more. It’s called ‘60 Years In Space,’ and it’s as big a repository of brilliant ideas as you’re ever likely to find. Today we’re reading its list of all the different types of governments you might have in your space colonies. Can you think of any other types of government not on this list? I’m not sure I can. Which do you live unde...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re covering fashion – specifically millinery. It’s the 1921 book “Make Your Own Hats” by Gene Allen Martin. Find instructions on how to make a little velvet sailor hat decorated with ribbons and pom-poms, or maybe a classic, Napoleon-style bicorne.

This book is in the public domain. You can downoad it for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19740.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://dan...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is a famous essay – one of the most famous essays in modern ethical philosophy – called “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” written by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer in 1971. When’s the last time you donated to charity?

This is technically subject to copyright law, as Peter Singer is still alive. But this is a very famous academic essay and is widely available. You can read it for free here: https://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil308/Singer2.pdf.<...

Welcome to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week we’re going back to Charles MacKay’s 19th century classic, “Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” for more stories about alchemists. Specifically: Albertus Magnus & Thomas Aquinas; George Ripley; Bernard of Treves; and Nicholas Flamel.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24518

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using cli...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is a “working hypothesis” about the U.S. government’s coverup of UFO activity since the 1950s, by John Lear. Are aliens real? Are they here on Earth? Are they calling the shots? Much to think about.

This is technically subject to U.S. copyright law, but it was “published” by a whistleblower and presumably no rightsholder is in a position to object to its distribution in this manner. Download and read the statement here: https...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is the great French postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard, with excerpts from his 1970 work “The Consumer Society.”

This English translation is copyright of Sage Publications in 1988. Despite its copyright, this is a culturally significant work published with the financial support of the French government. We assume the rights holders do not object to its use in this manner -- we are reciting the text in the spirit of fair use. Check out Sage Publications’ website: https://us...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is our first look at “The Book of Swindles” by Zhang Yingyu (夔衷). This is from sometime around 1617 in Fujian province, China, and catalogs all the various scams, schemes, swindles, and switcheroos one might encounter in Ming dynasty China (or, indeed, anywhere in the world at any time in history.) This time we’re reading: “Pilfering Green Cloth by Pretending to Steal a Goose”; “Robbing a Pawn Shop by Pretending to Leave Goods There”; “An Officer Reprimands a Captured Criminal in Ord...

You’re listening to Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is “The Bacillus of Long Life” by Charles M. Douglas. This is a 1911 work on the health benefits of soured milk and the importance of cleanliness in the dairy industry.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31691

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 a...

This is Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts of interesting writing. This week we’re reading the entirety of a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Soap. Cleanliness is next to godliness, don’t you know.

Being the text on the packaging of an item in U.S. commerce, this content is in the public domain. Nonetheless, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps owns the copyright on this text, with all rights reserved. We are reciting the text in the spirit of fair use. Check out Dr. Bronner’s soap at their website: https://www...

Welcome to the first episode of Short and Interesting – the podcast that reads to you short excerpts from old, weird, interesting books. This week is the first taste of Charles MacKay’s 19th century classic, “Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.” We’re reading a selection of stories from the section on alchemists. Specifically: Geber; Alfarabi; Artephius; and Pietro d’Apone.

Download this public domain book for free from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24518

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com...

Do you like short podcasts about interesting things? Check out this one -- it's called Short and Interesting. We find the best and most interesting bits of old, weird books about all sorts of stuff, and we read them to you. Simple, fun, thought-provoking.

Upcoming episodes include: stories about alchemists; classic scams and swindles; 19th century health crazes; the UFO cover-up exposed; indictments of consumerism; how to make hats; what to eat during wartime; etc. etc. etc.

Follow us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting, and visit our website plutocrat.biz. To discuss copyright, reach us...