Explore every episode of the podcast the memory palace

This episode was originally released in April of 2018.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• We hear Ferris Wheel by Gabor Szabo from one of his better late sixties records.
• Herman's Malt from Jeff Russo's score to Fargo Season 2.
• David Goes Hunting from Larry Groupe's score to Straw Dogs.
• Double Portrait by Double Edge from the album, U.S. Choice.
• A snippet of Idea of Order at Kyson Point from an album Brian Eno did with Tom Rogerson.
• Bicycles and Flasks by Dan Romer.
• A bit of Il Tamoure dei Bambini from Piero Umiliani's score to Le Isole Dell'amore
• A Naga Swaram-Snake Charmers Melody from Folk Music of India
• Finishes out on Completely Gone from Ludwig Goransson's score to Everything Everything.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Why, Buzzardman, Why? by the great Alabastar DePlume.
• Plantwood (Day) by Lynn Avery and Cole Pulice
• Shut Up World (Extended) from Ben Sollee's gorgeous score to a movie called Maidentrip.

Notes

• I really enjoyed reading Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero by Leigh Montville.
• If you're ever researching old baseball stuff, you want to head over to the site maintained by the fine folks at the Society for Baseball Research. There, you can read about Frank Howard, for instance. 

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Yes/And plays In My Heaven, All My Faucets are Fountains
• Two from Andrew Hewitt's score to Submarine: Jill Tate and Pamphlet
• Plantasia by Mort Gerson
• Steve Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood as performed by Smoke and Mirrors Percussion Ensemble
• Library Chant from Michael Andrews' wonderful score to Me and You and Everyone We Know
• Takahiro Kido's 3-Sized PF

Notes

• If you want to dive super deep into this topic, there's a fantastic history done by Patrick Feaster for the National Park Service. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Migratory Birds by Western Skies Motel
• Artifact 3 by Ryan Teague
• Barcelona by Alex Kozobolis
• Feel First Life by Jon Hopkins
• 
  

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Flashing back a decade to the recording of A Song of Myself Nate did in a hotel room in Phoenix ahead of the 2016 Presidential election. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

This episode was originally produced in July of 2015. 

Music

* Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score.

* The opening loop is from Mr. Knight from Coltrane Plays the Blues, which you should own. 

* The violin piece is Occam II for Violin, a piece by Silvia Tarozzi, played by Pauline Oliveros.

* Next up is Mikuro's Blues from the mighty David S. Ware' mighty Go See the World.

* The amazing orchestral pieces is Triumph by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Nino from Fill the Heart- Shaped Cup 

* Finally, there's 13 Ghosts II by Nine Inch Nails from Ghosts I-IV

This is a special episode commissioned by Aspen Ideas: Health and originally performed at the 2026 festival in Aspen, Colorado. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• The Barr Brothers play Static Orphans

This episode was originally released in 2016 in the days after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It is re-released every year on the anniversary of the incident.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• The Barr Brothers play Static Orphans
• Resavoir plays Facets
• We hear Le mort de l'enfant from Hikaru Hayashi's score to The Naked Island.
• South Seas by David Pike
• Trust in Me from Sould Flutes
• Flowering Jasmine from Gidon Kremer
• Tesko Mi Je Zabrovit Tebe from Branko Mataja. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Two (Duvet and Correspondences) from Laurie Torres' gorgeous album, Après coup.

Notes

• I implore you to get lost in the interactive map at livingnewdeal.org. And then go out in the woods.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• The Skydiver from the great Lalo Schiffrin's score to the quite poor, The Mask of Sheba.
• Charlie Megira plays The Girl Who was Frightened of Ashtrays
• Ellen's Image from the great Lalo Schiffrin's score to the quite excellent, The Fox.
• What if... from Keegan Dewitt's score to the quite charming, Heart Beats Loud.

Notes

• There was a very good article in Cabinet Magazine by Christopher Turner about the Switzer Brothers that includes excerpts from an unpublished autobiography from Bob. 
• I also really enjoyed this one from Liz Stinson about the science and art of Day Glo. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

You can hear Rollercoaster and more of Hrishi's music at Hrishikesh.co. Pre-order his new album wherever you do that sort of thing!

Music

• Halcyon and Photosynteses and Embryo by H. Takehashi
• Intro by Library Tapes
• The Florist Wears Knee Breeches by M. Sage

Notes

• I found Andrew Isenberg's book, The Destruction of the Bison, An Environmental History, completely fascinating.
• If you want to do a deep dive on Madison Grant, I'd recommend Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant by John Peter Spiro.
• If you want to do a deep dive on the Catalina Buffalo, this site is a fun place to start.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Drywall from Johann Johannson's score to Sicario.
• Castle Song by Green-House
• Tea by Resevoir
• La Valse du Progres by Delphine Dora
• Arrival by Domenique Dumont
• Sarah in Bath from Kryzystof Komeda's score to Fearless Vampire Killers
• Thread of Light by Golden Retriever
• In Some Spirit World by Geotic

Notes

• This one was pulled together with tiny threads of information, much provided by the NCRA's website itself. 
• You can find links to three fascinating (really!) studies on the brains of transcribers here, here, & here. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

This episode originally dropped in 2018.

• We start with Facing the Obstacles, from Robert Simonson's score to The Final Member.
• Nice Breeze Isn't It? by Simon Rackham
• The Things Left Unsaid, by Caleb Burhans.
• View from a Balcony by Isorinne.
• 1979 by Deru.
• The Julianna Barwick remix of This Will Destroy You's The Puritan.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Marisa Anderson plays He is Without His Guns
• Bing & Ruth play Broad Channel (Solo Piano)
• Greg Haines plays Peter's Advice

Notes

• You can listen to the full recording here. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Unseen Forces by Justin Walter
• Peperomia Seedling by Green-House
• Ebb Tide by Houston & Dorsey
• Little Miss Echo by Raymond Scott
• Stellify by Francesco Albanese
• Chain Home by Rogerson and Eno
• Luna by Digitonal
• Caroline Shaw plays The Orangery from Plan & Elevation

Notes

The place to start with all of this is here. It'll lead you out to the Bishop Museum's work, the lovely documentary produced by Hawai'ian Public Television, everywhere where you'd want to go. 

With Nate surprisingly sidelined, his friends and fellow Radiotopians at This Day save (This) day. 

Here's the show description: 

In our new series "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we're headed to January 1920 and the first night of Prohibition. Hide your booze! Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the long road to prohibition, going back decades, and the political forces that led to the ban of alcohol.

Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Starting off the year with a new tradition: the first annual Public Domain Theater, in which Nate reads an important work of American literature that entered the public domain on January 1st of a given year. First up, the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Sincerely Yours by LLLL
• Across the Other Side by Infinite Scale
• Sunset by Resavoir
• Mammoth by Golden Brown
• Unassigned by Vernon Spring
• Swimming by Explosions in the Sky
• Pure (Ride the World) by The Brendan Eder Ensemble
• Le Tunnel by Sylvain Chauveau
• Floating Away by Lullatone

Notes

• There's a ton written about Emma Rowena Gatewood but so much of it, including this story, owes a huge debt to Ben Montgomery's book, Grandma Gatewood's Walk, which excavated the story of her life with her husband. Besides that, it is wonderfully written. Totally recommend it. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• The Lady With the Golden Stockings from the Sun Ra Arkestra
• The Sage from the Chico Hamilton Quintet
• Falling in Love with a New York Pigeon by Birb
• Bocherini's fourth quintet as performed by the Ensemble of St. Martin of the Fields
• From a Dream by Oregon
• Jaybird from the great Charlie Parr
• Pool of Love by Les Baxter
• And House Tuner Theme from Will Bates' gorgeous score to The Sound of Silence.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

Buy the audiobook wherever you get audiobooks (like libro.fm!)

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Audio excerpted courtesy of Random House Audio from THE MEMORY PALACE by Nate DiMeo, read by a full cast. Excerpt read by Nate DiMeo, © 2024 Nate DiMeo, ℗ 2024 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Kara-Lis Coverdale's A480
• Palimpsest from Will Bate's score to The Sound of Silence
• Harriett Smith and Robert Martin Meet in the Rain from Isobel Waller Bridge's score to Emma.
• The Play from Dan Romer's score to (the terrific) Station Eleven.
• Cutting Branches from a Temporary Shelter from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
• Sustainable from H. Takahashi.

Notes

• There's a particularly good article by Colin Dickey about Jacobs and The Crypt in American Scholar. 
• You can read all 1100 pages of Jacobs' autobiography here, if you haven't already.

On Sunday, October 26th, 2025, Nate DiMeo of this here show, The Memory Palace, and his friends and colleagues at his fellow Radiotopia show, This Day, will be holding a good, old-fashioned teach-in in defense of history and museums currently targeted by the Trump Administration. Readings and lectures from sun-up to sundown on the National Mall in Washington D.C. 

Learn more here. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• On-ness by Tom Rogerson and Eno.
• Etude by Joep Beving
• Ebb Tide by Houston & Dorsey

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

This episode was originally released in October of 2018.

Music

• We start with the very English, Voluntary No. 4 in b-flat Minor, by Margaret Phillips.
• Hear Nero’s Nocturne from Chilly Gonzales.
• Some of The Stars vs. Creatures by Colleen.
• Abide with Me from the Thelonious Monk Septet off his Monk’s Music album.
• Walzer fur Robert by Anne Muller off of Erased Tapes Volume 5.
• Evening at Eight by Keith Kenniff.
• and Berceuse by Alexandra Streliski.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• A couple by C. Diab: Tiny Umbrellas and Crypsis
• The beginning of Cats Cradle (Iris) by Hannah Epperson
• Dawning and Wind by Shida Shihabi
• A couple from Ceeys: Neighbour II and Union

Notes

• I really enjoyed reading both Lew Irwin's Deadly Times: the 1910 Bombing of the L.A. Times and America's Forgotten Decade of Terror, and Bread and Hyacinths: the Rise and Fall of Utopian Los Angeles, by Lionel Rolfe
• As an, at this point, long-time Angeleno, I highly recommend visiting the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

While Nate takes a little summer break, he reads you two poems. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Music

• Joy, by Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma
• The Cradle by Frederico Albanese

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

Notes

• Go to adoptastation.org and pitch in.
• Listen to the incredible documentaries by Lloyd Newman, LeAlan Jones, and David Isay, at David's (Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded) Storycorps.org

Music

• Herbert's Story from Mark Orton's score to Nebraska.
• Kyu from Sylvain Chaveau
• Smygkatt by Shida Shahabi
• Roedelius plays Rolling

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Jobs, Winter Memory, and Slow Flood by Dark Dark Dark
• Carla et Roger aux sports l'hiver from the score to Le bel age by Georges Delareau
• Mt Baker by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
• All Creatures will Drink Joy by American Cream Band
• Every High (Piano Solo) by Kyson
• Vals Efter Lasse I Lyby by Lofoten Cello Duo

Notes

• You can read The President's Daughter here. 

.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

This episode was originally released in 2016 in the days after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It is re-released every year on the anniversary of the incident.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

On June 13th, 2025, I'll do a special, one-night-only live show at the Tribeca Audio Festival in New York City, joined by two of the audiobook's readers: Carrie Coon and Lili Taylor! www.thememorypalace.us/events.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Pale by Akira Koresuma
• The Things Left Unsaid by Caleb Burhans
• VIII. Juliet by Matthew Bourne
• Dream House III: After Dust from Mary Ellen Child's beautiful album, Ethel.
• Here I Am, Two Warships, by Spirituals

Notes

• You can listen to the whole, original recording here, and an enhanced, speed corrected version, here. 
• One of the best places to learn about Herb's life is this documentary. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

During mid-May, 2025, I'm doing a Midwestern book tour, with stops in Minneapolis, Cincinatti, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Find out more at www.thememorypalace.us/events.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• That Moment by Antonymes
• Nocturne by Sololi
• Watching it Unfold by Lawrence English

Notes

• You can access the self-produced history of the Sophie Bibb Chapter of the UDC here.  
• The Alabama Encyclopedia site does a nice job with some of this stuff. 
• You might want to check out Caroline Janney's book, Burying the Dead but Not the Past: Ladies' Mermorial Associations and the Lost Cause. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

During mid-April, 2025, I'm doing a southern book tour, with stops in San Antonio, Houston, Gainesville, Montgomery, New Orleans, and Oxford. Find out more at www.thememorypalace.us/events.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Hallway Rug and a bit of Watering Plants by Omni Gardens
• Dripping Icicles from Lalo Schiffrin's great score to The Fox.
• Girl Talk by the Howard Roberts Quartet
• Jules et Therese from the score to Jules et Jim
• Franz Waxman's main title theme to Woman of the Year
• Your Love from the legend, Frankie Knuckles
• Then we go back and forth between Joe Morello's Timeless and Lara Downes playing Leonard Bernstein's Big Stuff.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

During mid-April, 2025, I'm doing a southern book tour, with stops in San Antonio, Houston, Gainesville, Montgomery, New Orleans, and Oxford. Find out more at www.thememorypalace.us/events.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• La Copla from Atahualpa Yupanqui
• Yes, Brick by Brick and Waende by Caeys
• Space in Between by Federico Albanese
• Kieke by Shida Shihabi

Notes

• My favorite work on Mays is James Hirsch's glorious biography, Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend. I also recommend John Klima's Willie's Boys, about the Black Baron's 1948 season.
• If you're looking to get more context for the city during those years, I'd recommend Diane McWhorter's history, Carry Me Home. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Two from Lambert: Fremd and The Open
• Plantasia from Mort Garson's amazing, ridiculous album of the same name.
• Two from Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans' score to Christine: Paranoia and Newsroom. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Pockets of Light by Ludomyr Melnyk
• All in Circles and Janvie by Shida Shahabi
• Between Trees by Akria Kosemura

Notes

• There are a million things to read about Stonewall, but the thing that I feel like deepened my understanding enough was The New York Public Library's The Stonewall Reader. Particularly the audiobook. Couldn't recommend it enough.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Order Eliza McGraw's wonderful new book, Astride: Women, Horses and a Partnership that Changed America. 

This episode originally aired in February of 2021. 

Music

• Unsayable by Brambles.
• Kola - Lighthouse Version by amiina
• A Nearer Sun by the Westerlies
• Duet, a Steve Reich composition, performed by Daniel Hope.
• Reading a Wave by Arp
• April by Kanazu Tomoyuki
• Latent Sonata by Brian McBride

Notes

• The oral history mentioned in this episode is available through the Smithsonian Instittion’’s archives.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Order Eliza McGraw's wonderful new book, Astride: Women, Horses and a Partnership that Changed America. 

Music

• Hallogallo from Neu!, basically one of the best songs there is. 

Notes

• There is a lot written about Bessie, including some wonderful children's books. The best thing I read about her was in Ann Farrar (a journalist and biker herself)'s book Hear Me Roar: Women, Motorcycles, and the Rapture of the Road. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Sincerely Yours by LLLL
• Across the Other Side by Infinite Scale
• Sunset by Resavoir
• Mammoth by Golden Brown
• Unassigned by Vernon Spring
• Swimming by Explosions in the Sky
• Pure (Ride the World) by The Brendan Eder Ensemble
• Le Tunnel by Sylvain Chauveau
• Floating Away by Lullatone

Notes

• There's a ton written about Emma Rowena Gatewood but so much of it, including this story, owes a huge debt to Ben Montgomery's book, Grandma Gatewood's Walk, which excavated the story of her life with her husband. Besides that, it is wonderfully written. Totally recommend it. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

Buy the audiobook wherever you get audiobooks (like libro.fm!)

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Audio excerpted courtesy of Random House Audio from THE MEMORY PALACE by Nate DiMeo, read by a full cast. Excerpts read by Ryan Reynolds and Betsy Brandt, © 2024 Nate DiMeo, ℗ 2024 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Berceuse by Felix Rosch.
• Low Tide by Johnny Nash
• Ultraviolet by James Heather

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

This is a special bonus episode of the podcast sharing a particularly good interview I did with the folks at Atlas Obscura. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

This is a special bonus episode of the podcast sharing with you my extremely fun appearance on the wonderful podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out. You can watch it on Youtube, including the dynamite animation from my friend, Arthur Jones, here. 

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Two versions of Good Morning Melody by Lullatone.
• Peter Maxwell Davies plays his own composition, Farewell to Stromness.
• Dominique Dumont plays Gone for a Wander

Pre-order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

This episode was originally released in October 2019.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Pre-order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Riverside by Ann Annie
• Walking to Town by Lullatone
• Alice Lake by North Americans
• Gone for a Wander by Domenique Dumont

Notes

• The definitive source on Ferminia Sarras (as far as definitive can be in her case) A Mine of Her Own: Women Prospectors in the American West, 1850-1950 by Sally Zanjani.

Pre-order The Memory Palace book now, pal. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Pure (Ride the World) by (the extraordinary) Brendan Eder Ensemble
• Violette... from Philippe Sarde's score to Violette et Francois
• Merry-go-Round and People on Sunday by Domenique Dumont
• Dane by Nils Frahm
• Two different versions of Debussy's Passepied, the piano one is performed by Seong-Jin Cho, the synth one by Isao Tomita
• Love from Matthew Herbert
• Memorial Park from Bernard Herrmann's score to Obsession.
• Phantom Signals by Tvarvargen

Notes

• There's plenty written about Ken Allen, but I particularly appreciated Jason Hribal's book Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Music

• Swiming by Explosions in the Sky
• Walking Song by Kevin Volans and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble
• I Walk on Guilded Splinters by Johnny Jenkins
• Seduction by the Balanescu Quartet
• Lunette by Les Baxter and Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman
• Running Around by Buddy Ross
• September by Giles Lamb

Notes

• This episode was pieced together from a ton of little fragments but I wanted to steer folks to a couple of resources in particular: this excellent article from a few years back in the Toronto Star by Katie Daubs, and this documentary from filmmaker, Amy Nicholson, that primarily uses the Zipper as a way to talk about changes at Coney Island but has some great details from Harold Chance and his sons. 

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.  I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. 

Notes

• Read about the change in policy here. And the article that helped prompt the policy change here. 

Music

• Pipeline by H.Takahashi
• Sad Seine by Lambert
• Dance PM by Hiroshi Yoshimura