{"podcast":{"title":"Best of the Spectator","slug":"best-of-the-spectator-45373","podcast_index_feed_id":45373,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb","website_url":"https://audioboom.com/channels/4905579-best-of-the-spectator","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/1784644240973-f772404a-63ed-4eb8-95e0-a70bfba0b3ab.jpeg","author":"The Spectator","episode_count":2753,"summary":"Home to the Spectator's best podcasts on everything from politics to religion, literature to food and drink, and more. A new podcast every day from writers worth listening to. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-21T02:21:32.640045+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373"},"episode":{"title":"The Book Club: James Marriott","slug":"the-book-club-james-marriott","published_at":"2026-09-02T23:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/the-book-club-james-marriott","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373","url":"https://shows.acast.com/best-of-the-spectator/episodes/the-book-club-james-marriott","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/e/6a9707273e79af5f4879fdae/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=KEg69y8v5LhOTKVwKjUiAfIgt8B7KVa4mHlZEUjNlQ8","summary":"In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by The Times columnist James Marriott, whose new book is The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-literate Society . Are we witnessing the end of the reading age? James explains why literacy has shaped not just our culture but the way we think – and why its decline could have profound consequences for politics, democracy and public life. They discuss how television, TikTok and short-form video have transformed our attention spans, whether AI will further erode the status of writing, and why the readers of the future may become a new cognitive elite. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith is joined by The Times columnist James Marriott, whose new book is The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2486,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/the-book-club-james-marriott/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/the-book-club-james-marriott.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}