Explore every episode of the podcast The Culture Books podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The State of the Art, 5, The State of the Art Chapter 4 | 03 août 2026 | 01:16:01 | |
The Culture thinks about HR, and Sma hangs out with Linter. We also have a chat about Sugar and Elon's interview with The Economist which takes The Culture's name in vain. If you haven't seen the interview it's at: https://youtu.be/XuoqKYxDHVc?si=c3__ae_Mw1BMPHm3 | |||
| The State of the Art, 4, The State of the Art Chapter 3 | 25 juin 2026 | 00:45:27 | |
Get ready for a deep dive into the Paris and Berlin of the late 1970s, and relive the drunken holiday hookups of your youth. | |||
| The State of the Art, 3, The State of the Art Chapter 2 | 10 janv. 2026 | 00:46:29 | |
Sma takes a museum tour and we come to grips with the memory of our own past. | |||
| The State of the Art, 2, The State of the Art Chapter 1 | 15 déc. 2025 | 00:22:08 | |
The triumphant return of Diziet Sma and we're taking the show to Planet Earth folks! | |||
| The State of the Art, 1, A Gift From The Culture | 30 oct. 2025 | 00:42:29 | |
One of the earliest Culture works, we get to know a world eerily like that of BladeRunner and a Culture renegade in more trouble than they can handle. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 29, End Notes | 09 juin 2025 | 00:25:29 | |
At journey's end we can look back and discuss the costs of victory and defeat. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 28, Remembrance, Fourteen | 17 avr. 2025 | 00:42:57 | |
We find out who Zakalwe really is... | |||
| Use of Weapons, 27, Remembrance, I | 03 mars 2025 | 00:51:21 | |
Possibly the most infamous chapter in science fiction history. Zakalwe receives a present. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 26, Remembrance, Thirteen | 04 févr. 2025 | 00:23:03 | |
Zakalwe has a breakdown followed by an even more terrible day, but we get the standout quote of the book. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 25, Remembrance, II | 06 janv. 2025 | 00:39:32 | |
Zakalwe takes the slow road to the stars, and almost doesn't make it. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 24, Remembrance, Twelve | 06 nov. 2024 | 00:35:33 | |
Finally we get to see Zakalwe doing what he does best; soldiering. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 23, Remembrance, III | 20 sept. 2024 | 00:30:44 | |
Zakalwe goes to the snow! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 22, Remembrance, Eleven | 11 août 2024 | 00:35:55 | |
Zakalwe ruins a lot of nice people's holidays like the total jerk he is. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 21, Remembrance, IV | 05 juil. 2024 | 00:50:11 | |
Zakalwe takes us on a tour of life on a Culture GSV! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 20, Remembrance, Ten | 30 mai 2024 | 00:24:06 | |
Zakalwe throws away his weapon, has a philosphical discussion, and fixes for a fight | |||
| Use of Weapons, 19, An Outing, V | 26 avr. 2024 | 00:36:26 | |
This is Zakalwe's brain on drugs! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 18, An Outing, Nine | 05 avr. 2024 | 00:36:52 | |
Zakalwe gets in a lot of fights, but his love of the old plasma rifle finally pays off! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 17, An Outing, VI | 17 mars 2024 | 00:22:34 | |
Zakalwe tries his hand at writing poetry in an idyllic rural setting, but it's not as nice as he'd hoped. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 16, An Outing, Eight | 05 mars 2024 | 00:34:28 | |
Zakalwe plays James Bond again, Diziet gets distracted, and our hero goes to an interesting party which he does not enjoy. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 15, An Outing, VII | 28 janv. 2024 | 00:33:54 | |
As a flashback from the worst day of Zakalwe's life we get the origin story! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 14, An Outing, Seven | 06 janv. 2024 | 00:26:38 | |
Agent Zakalwe makes a big splash while trying to play the part of James Bond. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 13, An Outing, VIII | 02 janv. 2024 | 00:40:09 | |
Zakalwe gets stuck in a storm, takes a long hard look at himself, argues with an idiot, and sees some very strange things. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 12, An Outing, Six | 07 déc. 2023 | 00:31:05 | |
Zakalwe spends a lot of time being rude to GSV minds, but does receive a lovely gift! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 11, An Outing, IX | 17 nov. 2023 | 00:25:39 | |
Zakalwe falls in love, and dreams about the ghost of the real Zakalwe. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 10, The Good Soldier, Five | 24 oct. 2023 | 00:20:09 | |
Zakalwe seems suspiciously happy to run away from his problems, but they have a nice time at the beach. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 9, The Good Soldier, X | 01 oct. 2023 | 00:21:17 | |
We find out what happened to Zakalwe on Fohls. It was not nice. | |||
| Use of Weapons, 8, The Good Soldier, Four | 16 sept. 2023 | 00:31:14 | |
Sma and Skaffen recover from a party and go for an island cruise. Meanwhile The Culture goes nuclear around them! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 7, The Good Soldier, XI | 27 août 2023 | 00:25:23 | |
Zakalwe goes to the beach, and we ask, is he a Gary Stu? | |||
| Use of Weapons, 6, The Good Soldier, Three | 28 juil. 2023 | 00:27:28 | |
Skaffen and Sma go to a party on the Xenophobe and have a fight.... | |||
| Use of Weapons, 5, The Good Soldier, XII | 15 juil. 2023 | 00:17:13 | |
Zakalwe has a less pleasant visit to a castle and we ask if any aristocrat can be a good aristocrat? | |||
| Use of Weapons, 4, The Good Soldier, Two | 11 juil. 2023 | 00:20:59 | |
Diziet gets out of bed and the Culture goes to the wild west to see just how scary a drone can be! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 3, The Good Soldier, XIII | 16 juin 2023 | 00:27:41 | |
In which we briefly meet an Ethnarch, and get a good look at just how stone cold cool this Zakalwe cat can be! | |||
| Use of Weapons, 2, The Good Soldier, One | 29 mai 2023 | 00:39:18 | |
We meet Diziet Sma and spend a lot of time on how exactly she likes to bone. And The Culture seems to be putting a lot more resources into this caper than we've seen before... | |||
| Use of Weapons, 1, Slight Mechanical Destruction, and Prologue | 20 mai 2023 | 00:27:13 | |
We start The Big One for Banks fans, a great whiskey is reviewed, and the scene is set for a wild ride with fortunately short chapters! | |||
| The Player of Games, 4, The Passed Pawn | 28 avr. 2023 | 00:27:11 | |
We wrap up Elon Musk's favourite book with a short chapter that ties up a couple of loose ends and really gets into non-binary love. | |||
| The Player of Games, 3, Machina Ex Machina | 09 avr. 2023 | 01:25:11 | |
With apologies for the delay we are back with the third chapter of The Player of Games where we get to see just what rat bastards The Culture can be when they get going. | |||
| The Player of Games, 2, Imperium | 03 janv. 2023 | 01:13:02 | |
Getting deep and dirty into The Player of Games and really wondering what Elon Musk gets into in this tale of cruelty and perversion. Chapter 2, Imperium asks a lot of questions and we do our best to answer them. | |||
| The Player of Games, 1, Culture Plate | 03 oct. 2022 | 00:44:38 | |
The Player of Games begins as we talk about the first chapter of this remarkable book and consider what games are really being played. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 14, Consider Phlebas, and all the other bits | 11 août 2022 | 00:48:10 | |
We come to an end of the journey for the first of The Culture books. Fear not we shall return soon for The Player of Games. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 13, The Command System: Terminus | 28 juil. 2022 | 00:41:27 | |
It's a big episode with a big body count! But finally we finish up in these goddamn tunnels! | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 12, The Command System: Engines | 30 juin 2022 | 00:40:46 | |
We get to learn a lot more about Idirans, and trains, in a chapter that spends a lot of time setting up the finale! | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 11, The Command System: Stations | 09 juin 2022 | 00:41:53 | |
The drone makes some jokes, the Idirans are mean, and Yalson has a big surprise! | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 10, The Command System: Batholith | 26 mai 2022 | 00:46:54 | |
The KFC ventures deep under Schar's World, while through Fal's musings we learn the history of the Culture. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 9, Schar's World | 16 mai 2022 | 00:27:27 | |
The KFC on the CAT finally makes it to Schar's World and Horza's misspent youth catches up with him. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 8, The Ends of Invention | 30 avr. 2022 | 00:47:28 | |
A madcap escape, the arsenal of the end of the universe, a plucky drone, and the immense drag of being a galactic warlord with a young dude hitting on you. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 7, A Game of Damage | 21 mars 2022 | 00:47:47 | |
How much damage can a game do? We finally see the game up close and very personal, Horza and Kraiklyn settle their scores, and the scale and glory of a General Systems Vehicle is revealed. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 6, The Eaters | 12 févr. 2022 | 00:37:19 | |
Horza goes to a very bad place... some might say he's lucky to escape... | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 5, Megaship | 29 janv. 2022 | 00:33:57 | |
In the staggering vastness of the Vavatch Orbital Kraiklyn's Free Company try their hands at maritime salvage. But what is this Damage game Kraiklyn's really thinking about? | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 4, The Temple of Light | 24 janv. 2022 | 00:40:21 | |
Things go as you might expect for Kraiklyn's Free Company in combat. And we finally get a look at the Culture on its own turf. | |||
| Consider Phlebas, 3, Clear Air Turbulence | 14 janv. 2022 | 00:25:16 | |
Horza, floating in deep space, is found, and fights for his life. Is this an allegory for patriarchal capitalism? And who is Yalson? | |||