Dean Koontz discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was a senior in college, and has been writing ever since. Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. Many of his books have been made into films.

Dean Koontz lives in Southern California with Gerda and their golden retriever, Elsa. Dean and Gerda share a deep love of dogs. His new book is The Friend of The Family, which is available at https://www.deankoontz.com/book/the-friend-of-the-family/.

1. What quantum mechanics tells us about the strangeness of the universe. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26635393-200-what-does-quantum-theory-really-tell-us-about-the-nature-of-reality/

2. What’s wrong with the dictum “Write what you know.” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/02/dont-write-what-you-know-write-what-you-feel-bestselling-authors-offer-tips-on-world-book-day

3. The true nature of dogs. https://www.thedogwitchwholehealthandbehaviour.com/blogs/understanding-the-true-nature-of-dogs

4. Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon https://www.caymus.com/caymus-california-cab/

5. The music of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwo%CA%BBole

6. Creme Brulee is just a pudding. Yes it is. https://thecookful.com/creme-brulee-caramel/

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Ryan Gingeras discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Ryan Gingeras is a professor in the Institute of Regional and International Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School and is an expert in modern Eastern European and Middle East history. He is the author of seven books, including The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire and Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912–1923, which was shortlisted for numerous book prizes. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to history and politics in publications such as Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Policy . He currently lives with his wife and children in the Santa Cruz Mountains. His new book is Mafia: A Global History, which is available at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Mafia-A-Global-History/Ryan-Gingeras/9781398531673.

1. Mafias should be seen as significant historical figures in the making of modern history.
2. Mafias are not as old as you think.
3. The laws that "made" mafias a global phenomenon are also not as old as you think.
4. Al Capone set the mold for the modern gangsters worldwide.
5. Coppola's The Godfather marked the critical moment in the making of modern mafias.
6. Mafias are more integrated into the workings of the modern world than ever before.

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Stuart Jeffries discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Stuart Jeffries was born in Wolverhampton in 1962. He was educated in Dudley, Oxford and London.

Stuart started his journalistic career as a cub reporter at the Birmingham Post and Mail in 1985. He used to edit the Walsall Observer's children's page under the pseudonym Uncle Tom. Later he was the jazz critic of the Morning Star under the pseudonym Lew Lewis. In 1987, he moved to the Hampstead and Highgate Express, where he had many duties, chief among which was interviewing Hampstead lady novelists, which he liked a lot.

In 1990, he started work for the Guardian, working as subeditor, TV critic, Friday Review editor, Paris correspondent and feature writer. In 2010 he took voluntary redundancy and since then has been a freelance journalist and author. His work has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, The Spectator, the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, Prospect, the New Statesman. and the London Review of Books, among others. He is the author of Mrs Slocombe’s Pussy (2000), Grand Hotel Abyss (2016), and Everything, All the Time, Everywhere (2021) and A Short History of Stupidity (2025), which is available at https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=a-short-history-of-stupidity--9781509563494.

1. Several Nazis tried at Nuremberg were judged geniuses according to IQ tests.
2. IQ tests are terrible for establishing a person's stupidity or intelligence.
3. Until 1975 hysterectomies were performed on black women in certain US states to stop them breeding morons.
4. Stupidity has its uses - especially in the office.
5. Donald Trump is more stupid than he thinks he is.
6. What the prostate is.

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