Explore the Future Now: Mind-Blowing Science & Technology Book Picks from The Seen and the Unseen Podcast

"The Seen and the Unseen" is India's premier long-form podcast hosted by Amit Varma. The podcast, which has been running since 2017, features long-form conversations with intellectuals, writers, economists, historians, and thought leaders from India and around the world.  

Amit Varma is a respected journalist and writer, twice winner of the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. The show is known for its rich intellectual content and the diversity of its guests, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in public policy, history, culture, or economics in India today. Here is a categorized arrangement of the provided books into related sections based on their themes related to Science & Technology:

Genetics, Evolution, and Human Nature

  1. Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair
  2. Hacking Darwin — Jamie Metzl
  3. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters — Matt Ridley
  4. The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge — Matt Ridley
  5. The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation — Matt Ridley
  6. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich
  7. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature — Steven Pinker

Nutrition, Health, and Science Critique

  1. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes
  2. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz

Environmental Science and Nature

  1. The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy — Michael McCarthy
  2. The Hidden Life of Trees — Peter Wohlleben
  3. The Genius of Birds — Jennifer Ackerman
  4. H Is for Hawk — Helen Macdonald

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Behavior

  1. Behave — Robert M. Sapolsky
  2. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
  3. The Tell-Tale Brain — V. S. Ramachandran
  4. Enlightenment Now — Steven Pinker

History, Philosophy, and Science Studies

  1. Leviathan and the Air-Pump — Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer
  2. Birth of a Theorem — Cédric Villani
  3. A Terrible Beauty — Peter Watson
  4. Merchants of Doubt — Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway

For readers seeking to dive deeper into the themes discussed on the podcast, the book recommendations serve as a comprehensive guide to engaging with the complex ideas Amit Varma and his guests explore.

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Lyrics of Title Song from Bharat Ek Khoj

सृष्टी से पहले सत्य नहीं था, असत्य भी नहीं अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं, आकाश भीं नहीं था छिपा था क्या कहाँ, किसने देखा था उस पल तो अगम, अटल जल भी कहाँ था सृष्टी का कौन हैं कर्ता कर्ता हैं यह वा अकर्ता ऊंचे आसमान में रहता सदा अध्यक्ष बना रहता वोहीं सच मुच में जानता. या नहीं भी जानता हैं किसी को नहीं पता नहीं पता नहीं है पता, नहीं है पता........... वोह था हिरान्य गर्भ सृष्टी से पहले विद्यमान वोही तो सारे भूत जात का स्वामी महान जो है अस्तित्वमाना धरती आसमान धारण कर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर जिस के बल पर तेजोमय है अम्बर पृथ्वी हरी भरी स्थापित स्थिर स्वर्ग ओर सूरज भी स्थिर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर गर्भ में अपने अग्नी धारण कर पैदा कर्व्यपा था जल इधर उधर नीचे ऊपर जगह चुके वो का एकमेव प्रान बंकर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर ॐ ! सृष्टी निर्माता स्वर्ग रचायता पूर्वज रख्सा कर सत्य धर्मं पलक अतुल जल नियामक रक्षा कर फैली हैं दिशाएं बहु जैसी उसकी सब में सब पर ऐसी ही देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर ऐसी ही देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर......
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Kanpur Coaching Gurus

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Bahadur Shah Zafar - Last Mughal King

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Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West  - Catherine Belton Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West by Catherine Belton | Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People  is less a conventional political biography and more a forensic examination of how money, power, and state institutions fused to produce modern Russia under Vladimir Putin. For readers seeking to understand Putin not just as a man, but as a system, this book is essential reading—even if it leaves you uneasy about where responsibility truly lies.  Origins: Perestroika, Collapse, and the Intelligence State Belton begins the narrative in the early 1990s, just before the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia lagged far behind the West technologically, while Dresden - where Putin served as a KGB officer- had become a hub for smuggling and covert intelligence networks.  During Perestroika , KGB closely monitored the Soviet Union’s...
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