In the bonus, we continue our discussion with Steve Johnson from Dictionary.com. We look at the books he reads when he's not working on new words, from a novel set in the world of 18th-century Italian opera to the story of how clashing views on germ theory shaped the fate of President James Garfield.
In the bonus, we continue our discussion with Steve Johnson from Dictionary.com. We look at the books he reads when he's not working on new words, from a novel set in the world of 18th-century Italian opera to the story of how clashing views on germ theory shaped the fate of President James Garfield.
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[Computer-generated transcript]
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Mignon Fogarty: Greetings Grammarpaloozians, I am here with Steve Johnson from Dictionary.com. We just did the main episode all about their big new massive word drop with new words. If you haven't listened to that already, go check it out. And now we're going to get Steve's book recommendations, and with the holidays coming up that's especially helpful to me, I know always at this time of year. Steve, thanks for being here.
Steve Johnson: Yeah, thank you.
Mignon Fogarty: Yeah, so what books do you have to recommend for us?
Steve Johnson: Yeah, so in my day-to-day life, I focus a lot on new words or recent words. But in my spare time, I actually am a very big history buff and I particularly love historical fiction. I like historical nonfiction as well. So those are going to be my recommendations because that's just what I read.
Mignon Fogarty: Super.
Steve Johnson: So right now, one of the books that I've been rereading is actually a novel by Anne Rice called "Cry to Heaven." And so it was written, I believe, in 1982, so it's a much older one. And it's a historical novel that's set in the world of 18th-century Italian opera. And one of the reasons that I'm rereading it is because there is an upcoming movie adaptation by Tom Ford, as a star-studded cast, so it has like Nicholas Hoult, it has Colin Firth, Adele is going to be making her acting debut. And so it's going to be like a really big movie that's coming out. But I think it's interesting because it's about a young Venetian nobleman who's forcibly castrated and enters the world of castrati, so these opera singers who were castrated to preserve their voice. And so you get this kind of tale that has a lot of revenge, a lot to deal with music, a lot to deal with ambition, a lot to deal with identity. And I think that one of the things that kind of resonates with me with the book is that you have this story about someone who's forced into a situation where they're given this identity or this label, you know, that they didn't ask for. And so it really delves deep into kind of what that means when you have like a word or a term that affects how society sees you and like you have to grapple with like how you see yourself and who you are.
Mignon Fogarty: Wow, that sounds fascinating. If you were giving that book as a gift, who would you give it to?
Steve Johnson: I think that anyone that is interested in music and opera is going to be obviously a clear choice, but just because of how vivid and rich the settings are, I would say that if you just really like really descriptive, vivid imagery in any kind of books that you read, I would recommend it for those individuals.
Mignon Fogarty: Okay, what's your second choice?
Steve Johnson: So my second choice is a novel that I first read when I was a student. It's called "The French Mathematician." It's by Tom Petsinis. And so it's the fictionalized account of a mathematician named Évariste Galois. And so he was a mathematician in the early 19th century and his work helped establish group theory in math. And so with this, I think one of the reasons that I like it is because you think of something like a mathematician and everyone has, you know, it might conjure up a different image, you know, for different people, but even though it deals with like the story of a mathematician, it's like remarkably dramatic. And it's really about kind of like genius, obsession, politics, and mortality kind of wrapped into one, and really that feeling that you have when you know you've done something extraordinary, but you can't convince others around you to listen, and that kind of frustration. And so for this one, I think it's especially people that are like maybe young, like I think that that's why it appealed to me when I was a student, because I had that drive, that ambition, and the world is new and there's just so much that's going on in the world around you and when you're trying to establish your professional self with like the realities of the world and all that that comes into play, I think that it's just pretty remarkable as a story.
Mignon Fogarty: Wow, these are great. Okay, I'm so excited. What's your third one?
Steve Johnson: My third one is actually, it's not fiction, so it's narrative nonfiction. It's called "Destiny of the Republic." It's by Candice Millard, and it's the story of President James Garfield and his assassination and everything that happened with it. So I like this one because I think Garfield was just a president I didn't know anything about. I knew that he was assassinated, but I didn't really know that much about just how remarkable he was as a person, someone that reluctantly became president, he didn't want to be president, he wasn't really running and he was just kind of like voted in. And so you get a lot of the story about the background, you get this person that's like working at the White House while like also working on like math equations and stuff like that. But then you also have what's going on at the time. And so Alexander Graham Bell ends up inventing something to help remove the bullet from him when he was like actually shot, and so you have like all of this stuff with like technology and like people that you've heard about in history at the same time that all come together, and it's interesting to see what happens there and then like just the failures of science because there's like a difference between communication with like germ theory in the U.S. versus Europe. And so things that could have had a better outcome that like turned like really tragic. So you learn a lot just about what was going on and how even viewpoints of things like science can actually dramatically alter the course of events.
Mignon Fogarty: Amazing. You know, I actually I have to get a gift today probably for someone that I usually get like narrative nonfiction, like science or history books.
Steve Johnson: It's so good, yeah. It's like one of—I got it because I was just like saw the cover, I was just like, "Oh, this looks interesting." I picked it up and it was one that I couldn't put down. It's just really engaging. So if you like any kind of things, especially presidential history, like I could not recommend that more.
Mignon Fogarty: Thank you. You just made my day easier. [Laughs] Well, thank you, Steve Johnson from Dictionary.com. In the main episode, we talked about all their new words they just released. It's very exciting and we always love the new words. And Steve, it was great to meet you. This is the first time I've met you.
Steve Johnson: Yeah, I know, it was very great to meet you. Thanks for having me on.
Mignon Fogarty: You bet. Where can people find you online?
Steve Johnson: Oh, I try to like—I am not anywhere online. I try to stay off-grid when it comes to that.
Mignon Fogarty: Lucky you!
Steve Johnson: Yeah. LinkedIn is generally where I'm reachable, though.
Mignon Fogarty: Okay, don't go find him. Leave him alone. Just go to Dictionary.com. Okay, thanks, Steve.