Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Science Quickly’s summer reading series continues! Host Rachel Feltman chats with Scientific American books editor Bri Kane about the magazine’s Summer Reading Challenge and swaps recommendations—from queer physics memoirs and Pompeii history to ecohorror, sci-fi adventures and other books you won’t want to put down. They also discuss what makes a great summer read, what the joys of reading communities are and how listeners can participate in the challenge for a chance to win prizes.
0:00 Introduction
0:58 Summer Reading Challenge
1:37 Entangled States by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
2:42 What Makes a Great Beach Read?
3:46 The Lost Voices of Pompeii by Dr. Jess Venner
4:52 Bingo Card Details
5:59 Ecohorror Picks
8:13 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
11:31 Outro & How to Join the Challenge
Join our Summer Reading Challenge
sciam.com/readingchallenge
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: scientificamerican.com/getsciam
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
Science Quickly’s summer reading series continues! Host Rachel Feltman chats with Scientific American books editor Bri Kane about the magazine’s Summer Reading Challenge and swaps recommendations—from queer physics memoirs and Pompeii history to ecohorror, sci-fi adventures and other books you won’t want to put down. They also discuss what makes a great summer read, what the joys of reading communities are and how listeners can participate in the challenge for a chance to win prizes.
0:00 Introduction
0:58 Summer Reading Challenge
1:37 Entangled States by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
2:42 What Makes a Great Beach Read?
3:46 The Lost Voices of Pompeii by Dr. Jess Venner
4:52 Bingo Card Details
5:59 Ecohorror Picks
8:13 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
11:31 Outro & How to Join the Challenge
Join our Summer Reading Challenge
sciam.com/readingchallenge
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: scientificamerican.com/getsciam
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
