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If Books Could Kill

If Books Could Kill

By: Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri
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The airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds© 2025 If Books Could Kill Art Literary History & Criticism Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • "In Covid's Wake" Part 2: Wrong About The Right
    Jun 19 2025

    Last episode we met two Princeton political scientists who are bad at virology. Today we learn that they are also bad at political science.

    Where to find us:

    • Peter's newsletter
    • Peter's other podcast, 5-4
    • Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

    Sources:

    • Lawrence Wright’s “The Plague Year”
    • Jonathan Howard’s “We Want Them Infected”
    • How the Pandemic Defeated America
    • COVID-19: examining the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions
    • US State Restrictions and Excess COVID-19 Pandemic Deaths
    • Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions
    • Policy Interventions, Social Distancing, and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission
    • The Impact of Vaccines and Behavior on US Cumulative Deaths
    • Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates
    • Report for the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry
    • The Effectiveness Of Government Masking Mandates
    • School closures during COVID-19
    • COVID-19–Related School Closures
    • The Effects of School Closures on COVID‑19
    • Higher COVID-19 Deaths with Later School Closure in the United States
    • Reopening America’s Schools
    • Reading literacy decline in Europe
    • DeSantis vs. Newsom
    • Red States Have Seen Less Learning Loss
    • Political partisanship and mobility restriction
    • Republicans Aren’t New To The Anti-Vaxx Movement
    • KFF poll on anti-vaxx beliefs

    Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • "In Covid's Wake": Lying About Lockdowns
    Jun 17 2025

    Two political scientists look back at a deadly pandemic and ask, "could we have done even less?"

    Where to find us:

    • Peter's newsletter
    • Peter's other podcast, 5-4
    • Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

    Sources:

    • Lawrence Wright’s “The Plague Year”
    • The 2019 WHO report
    • 30‐day mortality following COVID‐19
    • COVID-19: examining the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions
    • Policy Interventions, Social Distancing, and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in the United States
    • What we can learn from Sweden
    • A review of the Swedish policy response to COVID-19
    • How Sweden approached the COVID‐19 pandemic
    • The first eight months of Sweden’s COVID‐19 strategy
    • The Swedish COVID-19 Response Is a Disaster
    • Excess mortality in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Comparing drivers of pandemic economic decline 2020
    • How Sweden approached the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Comparisons of all-cause mortality between European countries and regions
    • Jonathan Howard’s “We Want Them Infected.”
    • Deaths: Leading Causes for 2021
    • Stay-at-home orders associate with subsequent decreases in COVID-19 cases and fatalities in the United States
    • Did the Timing of State Mandated Lockdown Affect the Spread of COVID-19?
    • US State Restrictions and Excess COVID-19 Pandemic Deaths

    Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

    Show More Show Less
    58 mins
  • Bonus: The Lab Leak Goes Mainstream
    Jun 5 2025

    By popular demand we are releasing last month's Patreon bonus episode on the main feed! We chart the transformation of the lab leak from an unfounded theory promoted by right-wing cranks to an unfounded theory promoted by liberal journalists.

    Where to find us:

    • Peter's newsletter
    • Peter's other podcast, 5-4
    • Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase


    Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 21 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
I don’t normally listen to podcasts but saw a friend recommend this so I gave it a listen and I’m so glad I did! It’s so entertaining and both hosts are hilarious, engaging and very knowledgeable. I just genuinely enjoyed listening to them and learned so much about these books that really shocked and fascinated me. Please keep this series going!

I laughed, I seethed, I learned, I was in awe…

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writing words so I can submit my review without having to think anymore about this

cutting, funny but really insightful

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I love the tone and content of this podcast; the hosts have great chemistry, it's clever, well-researched and hilarious; and even though they have a capital P Position on the works, you genuinely feel they try to be fair in critiquing them. I also love how contemporary the show is (I am sure this will age well). Binge listening at the moment, and discovering works I might not otherwise have considered. Love love it.

Like being on the couch listening to your bestbuds

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