A Book in the Mind of A Consumer

Brendan Curry

Director of the Trade Group, W.W. Norton

Brendan Curry has spent 24 years at W.W. Norton—the largest and oldest employee-owned publishing company. Norton is renowned for nonfiction and higher education publishing. In this episode, we discuss the rise and recent challenges of serious nonfiction, exploring how political upheaval, cultural fatigue, and fragmented digital media environments have reshaped readers’ engagement with big-idea books.

INTERVIEWED ON: July 8th, 2025

Books discussed:

The Color of Laws by Richard Rothstein

This “powerful and disturbing history” exposes how American governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Times Book Review).

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

It was the storm of the century, boasting waves over one hundred feet high—a tempest created by so rare a combination of factors that meteorologists deemed it "the perfect storm." In a book that has become a classic, Sebastian Junger explores the history of the fishing industry, the science of storms, and the candid accounts of the people whose lives the storm touched.

Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt

Introducing us to Marlowe’s transgressive genius in the form of a thrilling page-turner, Stephen Greenblatt brings a penetrating understanding of the literary work to reveal the inner world of the author, bringing to life a homosexual atheist who was tormented by his own compromises, who refused to toe the party line, and who was murdered just when he had found love.

Replaceable You by Mary Roach

From the New York Times best-selling author of Stiff and Fuzz, a rollicking exploration of the quest to re-create the impossible complexities of human anatomy.