Numbers are so fundamental to our understanding of the world around us that we maybe tend to think of them as an intrinsic part of the world around us. But they aren’t. Humans invented numbers just as much as we invented all of language.

This hour, we look at the anthropological, psychological, and linguistical ramifications of the concept of numbers.

And we look at one philosophical question too: Are numbers even real in the first place?

GUESTS:

• Brian Clegg: Author of Are Numbers Real? The Uncanny Relationship of Mathematics and the Physical World
• Caleb Everett: Author of Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 12, 2017.

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The 2025 winner of The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in a few weeks. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants it.

This hour we look at the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and its status in our world. We learn about past winners, how winners are selected, and ask about its relevance.

GUESTS:

• Jay Nordlinger: A political journalist and music critic. He is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Renew Democracy Initiative, the music critic of The New Criterion, and his Substack is called Onward and Upward. He is the author of Peace, They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World, among other books
• Julie Mennella: Faculty member at the Monell Center. She is a winner of the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize in Pediatrics

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Most of the Western world is organized by alphabetical order, which is so much more than the 26 letters that make up the alphabet.

Alphabetical order is an organizing principle that allows us to save, order, and access thousands of years of humankind’s most precious documents and ideas. Without it, we’d never know what came before us or how to pass on what’s with us. It’s ubiquitous, yet invisible in daily life.

This hour, a conversation about how we order our world and why we do it.

GUESTS:

• Nicholson Baker: A novelist and essayist; his most recent book is Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art
• Judith Flanders: Author of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order
• Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 21, 2021.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Bridgeport’s socialist former mayor, Sneaky Pete and our show on psychics, the possible link between double jointedness and neurodivergence, the state of streaming, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ appearance on The Ezra Klein Show … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

• Harry’s Theme (Lite Pullman) – Vulfmon, Harry Whitford
• Bedlam – Elvis Costello
• Take Me Dancing – Doja Cat, SZA
• Three Little Words – Samara Joy
• Township Medley – Themba Mkhize, SWR Big Band
• 香港之夜 – Teresa Teng
• Chilly Winds Don’t Blow (Bolden. Remix) – Nina Simone, Bolden.

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The singer and songwriter Nick Drake died in 1974. He was just 26, and he remains a bit of a mystery. He recorded three albums but played very few shows. There is no known film or video footage of him.

But his music is maybe more popular now than it’s ever been. It shows up on movie soundtracks, in TV shows, in commercials.

And then there’s Nick Drake’s mother, Molly Drake. It turns out she was an accomplished (and possibly ultimately important?) singer and songwriter, too. But she never released any music or performed publicly in her lifetime, as far as we know.

This hour, a look at the music (and mystery) of Nick (and Molly) Drake.

GUESTS:

• Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
• Howard Fishman: A musician and composer and the author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse
• Will Hermes: Writes about music “and life’s other mysteries,” and he’s a longtime contributor to All Things Considered; he’s the author, most recently, of Lou Reed: The King of New York
• Angie Martoccio: A senior music writer at Rolling Stone

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sophocles' play Antigone was originally performed around 441 B.C.E., but the themes in the play still resonate today. This hour, we revisit the story of Antigone, and ask what it can teach us about compromise, wisdom, extremism, grief, and more.

Plus, a look at how modern productions are exploring new ways for audiences to engage with the ancient Greek tragedy.

GUESTS:

• Elizabeth Bobrick: A Visiting Scholar in Wesleyan’s Department of Classical Studies. She also teaches for Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. Her Substack is “This Won’t End Well: On Loving Greek Tragedy,” and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and Salon
• Bryan Doerries: A writer, director, and translator who currently serves as Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions. He is author of The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today, among other books
• Anna Conser: Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati

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The myth of the great white, exacerbated by the 1975 megahit Jaws, is false. Great whites are not the aggressive creatures still portrayed in popular media. We’re more likely to survive a shark bite simply because sharks don’t like the way we taste. They spit us out if they accidentally mistake us for a seal.

We have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark.

The convergence of globally warming waters off our east coast and the repopulation of seals and great whites after a previous panic nearly wiped them out, means we’ll have to learn to share the ocean.

Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal contraception, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? Besides, whose ocean is it anyway? The fish were there first.

We have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark. Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal vasectomies, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? This hour, a look at our relationship with sharks.

GUESTS:

• George Burgess: Director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator emeritus of the International Shark Attack File
• Greg Johnson: Lifeguard at Nauset Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts
• Sy Montgomery: A naturalist and the author of many books, including The Great White Shark Scientist

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Carolyn McCusker, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 3, 2019.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you feel about your neck? Maybe you only think about it when you’re sore from sleeping wrong or from sitting at a desk all day. But for centuries, humans have worried about their necks, decorated them with jewelry and clothes and ties, and exploited their weaknesses with knives and garrotes and guillotines. This hour, a look at necks — human and animal. Plus, the history and symbolism of the classic turtleneck.

GUESTS:

• Kent Dunlap: Professor of Biology at Trinity College, Hartford, and author of The Neck: A Natural and Cultural History

• Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes The Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 12, 2025.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.