I'd Rather Be Reading

A podcast about the best nonfiction books hitting shelves today, hosted by journalist Rachel Burchfield.

I'd Rather Be Reading is a arts podcast hosted by journalist Rachel Burchfield, with 328 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

journalist Rachel Burchfield hosts I'd Rather Be Reading, a arts show with 328 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #23

  Erin Claire Jones on Our Human Design Type, Strategy, and Authority—and How It Impacts Our Lives

  Sep 19, 202530 minS16

  <p>We’ve got a special bonus episode of season 16 for you—I’m chatting with Erin Claire Jones, author of the new book How Do You Choose?: A Human Design Guide to What’s Best for You at Work, in Love, and in Life, which came out on May 13. I am big on self-awareness, and I absolutely love learning more about myself and those I love, so I was drawn to this book after hearing Erin describe Human Design in a number of podcast interviews. She is here on the show today to chat about what Human Design is and abou...

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  Episode #22

  Dr. Sparky Reardon on His Legendary Career as Dean of Students at Ole Miss

  Sep 6, 202540 minS16

  <p>As we close season 16, I have a guest today that goes all the way back to season one of the show—well, actually, for me personally he goes back way further than that, but more on that in a moment. Dr. Sparky Reardon was one of my very first guests on season one of I’d Rather Be Reading, and I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode from 2021 if you enjoy this conversation, which I know you will. I have said this on the show before—I am originally from Kansas, and when I moved to Oxf...

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  Episode #21

  Jay Busbee on the Iron Bowl, the Alabama Versus Auburn College Football Rivalry, and How It Shaped the SEC and the South

  Aug 16, 202531 minS16

  <p>The kickoff of college football, blessedly, is just around the corner, something I’ve been waiting for since January and the end of the last college football season. College football is jam-packed with rivalries, and one of the most heated among them is the rivalry between the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers. Both teams are located, of course, in Alabama, where I lived—Birmingham specifically—for nearly 11 years, so this is a rivalry I know well. Their annual matchup every November is called the Iron Bowl, and today on the show I have decorated sportswriter Jay Bu...

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  Episode #20

  Scott Ellsworth on the Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America

  Jul 7, 202524 minS16

  <p>We’ve got a great episode for you today with Scott Ellsworth about his new book Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America, which is out July 15. I told Scott in today’s episode that the subtitle alone sounds like three books—he covers so much ground here, and it’s written in such a narrative format that you will just gobble this book about history up. I am personally partial to history—it’s always been my favorite subject—but even if that’s not you, the way that Sco...

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  Episode #19

  Dr. Michael Norton on the Ritual Effect and the Power of Ritual

  Jul 3, 202529 minS16

  <p>Happy July—so excited to be back with you to talk about one of my favorite books I’ve read lately, Dr. Michael Norton’s The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions, which came out April 9, 2024. We have talked at length about habits on the show, but today, ritual gets its due. Dr. Norton explains what ritual is, and how, in his words, ritual can shift our lives from black and white to Technicolor. We talk about the power of ritual, what the difference is between habit and ritual, how ritual can change...

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