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The best thing about doing this show has been meeting so many fascinating people. Over two hundred shows in the past year! Guests have included scientists, authors, doctors, comics, technophiles, artists, booksellers, educators and others that defy one-word labels: they sell carnivorous plants, freeze people cryogenically, perform laser shows, make art out of ostrich eggs and dolls for movies, invent names for companies, design tiny flying machines and board games and robots, operate isolation tank facilities and Pez museums, study ants and spiders, babies and brains, earthquakes and termites, and I, for one, want to know more about it.

Seriously.


Previous Guests have included...

Authors
Scientists
Comics
Technophiles
Producers
Booksellers & Educators
Artists, Musicians, Activists

 

 

Authors

William Gibson
Neuromancer

All Tomorrow's Parties

Count Zero

Mona Lisa Overdrive

Chuck Palahniuk
Fight Club

Invisible Monsters

Survivor: A Novel

Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer-prize winning author of
Mr. Spaceman

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

Tabloid Dreams

They Whisper

Herbert Gold
Daughter Mine

She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me

The Man Who Was Not With It

Ianthe Brautigan
You Can't Catch Death: A Daughter's Memoir

(about her relationship with her father, poet and novelist Richard Brautigan)

Robert Wright
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny

The Moral Animal : Why We Are the Way We Are : The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information

Matthew Klam
Sam the Cat and Other Stories

Mark Lindquist
Never Mind Nirvana

Carnival Desires
Sad Movies

Robin Marantz Henig
The Monk in the Garden : The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel,
A Dancing Matrix : How Science Confronts Emerging Viruses

John Conroy
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture

Belfast Diary: War As a Way of Live

Thomas Sanchez
Day of the Bees

Adriana Trigiani
Big Stone Gap

Christopher Bram
The Notorious Dr. August

Father of Frankenstein
(basis for the movie Gods and Monsters)

Liza Dalby
The Tale of Murasaki

Alistair MacLeod
No Great Mischief

Wyn Wachhorst
Thomas Alva Edison : An American Myth
The Dream of Spaceflight: Essays on the Near Edge of Infinity
(foreward by Buzz Aldrin)

Jack Boulware
San Francisco Bizarro: A Guide to Notorious Sights, Lusty Pursuits, and Downright Freakiness in the City by the Bay

Laurence Shames
The Naked Detective

Welcome to Paradise

Florida Straits: A Novel

Tim Brookes
A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow: An American Hitchhiking Odyssey

Signs of Life : A Memoir of Dying & Discovery

Charles Baxter
The Feast of Love

Julia Alvarez
In the Name of Salome: A Novel

Chris Bohjalian
Trans-Sister Radio

Vikram Seth
An Equal Music

Stephen Harrigan
The Gates of the Alamo: A Novel

Jeff Shaara
Gone For Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War

Howard Bahr
The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War

Kenn Harper
Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Oren Harari, prof. of management, USF, consultant and author of
Beep! Beep! Competing in the Age of the Road Runner

Jules Tygiel
Past Time: Baseball as History

Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy

Steven Saylor
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry

Thomas Lynch, poet/undertaker/author of
Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality

Bill Fitzhugh
Cross Dressing

The Organ Grinders

Pest Control: A Novel

Tim Gallwey
The Inner Game of Work

Nancy Cobb
In Lieu of Flowers: A Conversation for the Living

Irene Lamberti
Spirit in Action : Moving Meditations for Peace, Insight, and Personal Power

Sy Montgomery and Dianne Taylor-Snow
Journey of the Pink Dolphins : An Amazon Quest

Edvard Radzinsky
The Rasputin File

Wayne Johnston
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

Mikki Halpin
The Geek Handbook: User Guide and Documentation for the Geek in Your Life

Peggy Orenstein
Flux: Women on Sex, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World
and Schoolgirls : Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap

Martha B. Hopkins
Second Chances: A Travel Narrative of Southern Africa

Ryan Omega
The Anime Trivia Quizbook

 

 

Scientists

Brian Greene
physicist/mathematician/author of
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

Ken Croswell
astronomer/author of
Magnificent Universe

Planet Quest: The Epic Discovery of Alien Solar Systems
The Alchemy of the Heavens : Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way

www.ccnet.com/~galaxy

Dan Werthimer
chief scientist of the SETI@home project

Roger Gilbertson
Mondo-tronics and the Robot Store
www.mondotronics.com
www.robotstore.com

Greg Munson
co-founder of Battlebots

Rick Murdoch
former CEO of biotech firm CellPro and author of
Patient Number One: A True Story of How One CEO Took on Cancer and Big Business in the Fight of His Life

Dr. Dan Kindlon
child psychologist and author of
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

Dr. William S. Pollack
Real Boys' Voices
, Real Boys:Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood

Dr. Daniel Amen
neuroscientist, founder of the Amen Clinic, and author of
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

Ron Hipschman
webmaster of the Exploratorium

Charles Carlson
Director of Life Sciences at the Exploratorium

Dr. Mark Levy
Forensic Psychiatrist
www.lawandpsychiatry.com

Dr. Douglas Long
Manager of Bird and Mammal Collections, California Academy of Sciences
www.calacademy.org

Keith Garcia
of the Lucidity Institute founded by Stanford sleep researcher Stephen LaBerge

Dr. Pamela Palmer
Dir. of Pain Management at SFSU and advisor to The Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation

Robert Abbott
fisheries scientist and natural resource planner

Dr. Robert Kloner
Prof. of Medicine, USC and Dir. of Research at the Heart Institute of Good Samaritan Hospital, author of Mind Cure

Kirsten Vanstone
Morrison Planetarium
www.calacademy.org

Jim Yount
American Cryonics Society
www.jps.net/cryonics

Dr. Wally Sampson
one of the founders of the Bay Area Skeptics, and editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine
www.baskeptics.org

Norm Gershenz
entomologist, Dir. of the Center for Ecosystem Survival, SFSU
www.savenature.org

Norm Sperling
astronomer and skeptic
www.everythingintheuniv.com
www.baskeptics.org

Patrick O'Reilly
psychologist specializing in cults, Chairman of the Bay Area Skeptics
www.baskeptics.org

Paul Hewitt
physics teacher and author of the best-selling textbook
Conceptual Physics

www.conceptualphysics.com

Martin Goldstein, D.V. M.
veterinarian and author of
The Nature of Animal Healing: The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat

Robert Nadeau
Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
www.seismo.berkeley.edu/seismo/homepage.html
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov

Linda Seekins
seismologist, U.S. Geological Survey

Ben Macri
Physics and Automotive Mechanics instructor, CCSF

Brad DeLong
neurosurgeon

Geoffry Goodrich
laser technician, Arcturus Engineering

Daniel Sabsay
inventor, pres. of East Bay Skeptics Society
www.eb-skeptics.org

David Wall
physics instructor, City College of SF

Seth Prosterman
clinical sexologist

Roe Gallo
nutritionist, author of Perfect Body

 

 

Comics

Brian Regan

Rick Overton
comic/actor/Emmy-award winning writer for the Dennis Miller show.

Greg Proops
comic, host of Comedy Central's Vs. and a regular on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Tom Rhodes
www.rhodesworld.com

Tom Sawyer
owner/manager of Cobb's Comedy Club, San Francisco

Felicia Michaels
comic and independent film-maker

Doug Stanhope

Mike Larsen
television writer and comic

Doc Barham
comic and paranormal reporter

Clark Taylor
comic and screenwriter

Kevin Kataoka
comic/internet writer

Jim Short
Australian for beer

Mike Spiegelman
writer for Berkeley Systems and game tester for Sega

Bruce Cherry
comic and head writer for Flipside.com

Robert Mac
comic and leader of FOOT! tours

Sabrina Matthews
www.sabrinamatthews.com
www.lesbiancomic.com

Harmon Leon
comic/freelance writer

Robert Hawkins
comic

Lord Carrett

Colin Mahan
did all the voices on the Austin Powers Operation: Trivia game from Berkeley Systems

Kurt Weitzmann
comic and writer for Berkeley Systems

John O'Connell
comic and web searcher

Mike Meehan
comic/artist

Dan Rothenberg

Dan Lewis

Joe Klocek

Mike Strong

 

 

Technophiles

David Spark
Sr. Writer at ZDTV
www.davidspark.com
www.zdtv.com

Marc Hershon
Lexicon Branding

and the improvisational comedy troupes
the Start-ups.comedy and the Riffingtons

Michael Gregor
multimedia developer
www.velope.com

Valerie Casey
visual and web designer and teacher
www.valcasey.com

Scott Beale
primary tentacle of Laughing Squid

Mike Wooldridge
web developer, QuickTime VR author, and tech writer.
www.thatguy.com
www.mediacosm.com

Jefferey Modic
Y2K consultant and author of Nothing to Fear
www.trespinos.com

Michael Mitchell
previously a user interface engineer at Scient
now VP of Creative Development at Sherpa Ears

Avi Weiss
Phone.com

Peter Black
creator of Informatica 1.0
www.etronica.com

Dan Conway
Macromedia

Mark Strassman
Macromedia

Chris Hayes
PlayTV
's own Mr. Machine

Alex Amado
web developer and creator of the comic book Nobody

Alison and Caroline Bellach
Snap.com

NetReamer David
Hewlett-Packard
www.hp.com

Dave Dayen and Rebecca Tollen
producers of ZDTV's You Made It

Brian Putnam
PlayTV
's own cameraman and in-house automobile/coffee expert

Larry Stull
associate producer of But Seriously...

Enrico Abruzzo
tech recruiter and swing dancer

 

 

Producers

Mark Steensland and Andy Massagli
producers of the documentary The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick

Adrian Belic
co-producer (with his brother) of the Academy Award nominated documentary Genghis Blues

David Bolt
Studio Miramar
, producer of the PBS series Digital Divide (and author of the book)

Craig Duff
television producer and independent filmmaker

Chris Carlsson
Shaping San Francisco
CDrom and website

Lise Swenson
media artist & director of TILT: Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools

Brent Meeske and Mike Dong
The End of the Road: The Final Tour of the Grateful Dead

Russell Dowden and Sonny Salas
UFOlogists/producers of the SETLAB website and radio show
(the Study of Extraterrestrial Life and Answers from Beyond)

 

 

Booksellers and Educators

Brian Bilby
proprietor of Chelsea Bookshop, SF

Henry Toledano
online bookseller

Ron Blum
proprietor of Kayo Books, one San Francisco's coolest vintage paperback bookstores

David Yaffie
Asst. Principal of a high school in suburban Houston

Lisa Yager
famous sixth grade teache
r

Andrej Diamantstein
teacher of traditional Japanese Swordsmanship
www.iaido.org

Phillip Scott
founder/director of Ancestral Voice Center for Indigenous Lifeways

Alexandra McIntyre
teacher of Transcendental Meditation

Lawrence Gerald
Sir Francis Bacon's New Advancement of Learning

 

 

Artists, Musicians, Activists...

Ron Campbell
actor, star of the one-man show
R. Buckminster Fuller: The History(and Mystery) of the Universe

Dr. Brody Culpepper and Rusty Blazenhoff
BigRig Industries
www.bigrigindustries.com

Jesse Reklaw
creator of the comic strip Slow Wave, author of Dreamtoons
www.nonDairy.com/slow/wave.cgi

Darick Robertson
comic book artist and co-creator of Transmetropolitan

John Marr
creator of the 'zine Murder Can Be Fun

Dan Sullivan
creator of Infection The Game
www.earwig.net

Sebastian Melmoth
prankster and head dog steward of DoggieDiner.com

Lynda Williams
physics teacher and science performer
www.scientainment.com

Joe Gizmo
science songwriter/performer

Stevie B
www.freestyleradio.com

Toby and Charlie
The KGB

Hopechild , SF band

20 Minute Loop

James Combs

Amy Ventura
producer, Mod Songwriters and Poetry series

Dan Dion
photographer

Michael Phillips
Project to Label Gene-Altered Food

Julie Light
Corporate Watch

Julia Carter
The Drug Peace Campaign

Chris Conrad
Hemp Activist

Mikki Norris
Human Rights and the Drug War

Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Marilyn Milos
NOCIRC - the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers

Debby Dunn
San Francisco Recycling Program

Nina Grossman and Yan Wirengarden
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Needle Exchange Program

Lynette Anderson
The Floatation Center
(ala Altered States! I actually went in and tried it. I didn't devolve or anything, but I'm going again.)
www.floatationcenter.com

Bob Steiner
magician and member of The Bay Area Skeptics
www.baskeptics.org

Rynn Lemieux
science fiction writer

Gary and Nancy Doss
Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia

Peggy Vincent
egg artist

 

 

 

 
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