The AHCA, Children’s Sleep, and Planets

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• We discussed why Donald Trump’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare failed and the longer history of health care reform in the U.S.
• A recent Los Angeles Times oped wondered why parents insist their children sleep alone. We discussed the history of sleep, including Natalia’s comments on how famous pediatricians like Dr. Spock and Dr. Ferber recommended children be trained to sleep. Neil mentioned the growing attention to adult sleeping, including the popularity of napping pods in Silicon Valley and the attention to sleep in Arianna Huffington’s recent books, Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. Natalia recommended Jonathan Clary’s book, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, and a Public Books review essay by David Henkin for critiques on how capitalism shapes American sleep habits.
• Planets are in the news! We discussed the FiveThirtyEight piece, “Why We Love Stories About Mars,” and a recent proposal from some scientists about redefining what qualifies as a planet. Niki introduced the work of the anthropologist Lisa Messeri who writes about how humans talk about and imagine other planets. Neil and Niki discussed the popularity of science fiction, especially about Mars, including Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Hanya Yanagihara’s book A Little Life.
• Neil discussed the Twitter trending #ThanksForTyping.
• Niki talked about the newly-found memoir of Richard Hickock, one of the killers from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.

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