{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Geography","slug":"new-books-in-geography-1058637","podcast_index_feed_id":1058637,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/ohF7dUq3","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/politics-society/geography/","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/04d31562-8508-4b88-ae38-4f4ca8fa3a91/3728a966-daf7-46ee-9655-7a98eaba676d/3000x3000/3d5e577cea5bac9130b94a4d9ab3323a.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":600,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/geography","last_synced_at":"2026-09-19T12:22:21.420261+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-geography-1058637"},"episode":{"title":"Caroline Tracey, \"Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History\" (W. W. Norton, 2026)","slug":"caroline-tracey-salt-lakes-an-unnatural-history-w-w-norton-2026","published_at":"2026-04-03T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-geography-1058637/caroline-tracey-salt-lakes-an-unnatural-history-w-w-norton-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-geography-1058637","url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/politics-society/geography/","audio_url":"https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/04d31562-8508-4b88-ae38-4f4ca8fa3a91/episodes/1564196d-a002-4326-973c-fccefafa07d5/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=04d31562-8508-4b88-ae38-4f4ca8fa3a91&awEpisodeId=1564196d-a002-4326-973c-fccefafa07d5&feed=ohF7dUq3","summary":"Salt lakes are some of the most beautiful and unusual landscapes that you can find on this planet, even as they can be quite alien to people used to fresh bodies of water. They're also uniquely threatened, both by everyday human activity such as farming and industry and by the looming problem of anthropogenic climate change. As the lakes dry up, the consequences to the surrounding ecosystems can be devastating; meanwhile, people who live nearby can suffer from declining air quality, toxic levels of exposure to minerals in the lakebeds, and long-term health concerns. In Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History (W. W. Norton, 2026) that's part memoir and part history and geography, Caroline Tracey describes a series of journeys across North America and Central Asia that brought her close to numerous different salt lakes. She outlines their history, the threats facing them, their ecological and cultural significance, and how people are trying to protect and conserve them. And even as she does the work of telling their history, she also makes clear the effect that these landscapes had on her in developing a greater understanding of her own sexuality and place in the world. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/geography","meta_description":"Salt lakes are some of the most beautiful and unusual landscapes that you can find on this planet, even as they can be quite alien to people used to fresh…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2608,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-geography-1058637/episodes/caroline-tracey-salt-lakes-an-unnatural-history-w-w-norton-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-geography-1058637/caroline-tracey-salt-lakes-an-unnatural-history-w-w-norton-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}