We talk with John Janovy, Jr., author of our February book, Life Lessons from a Parasite. John is one of the world's preeminent experts on parasites, a best-selling author, and an artist. In this fun and wide-ranging conversation, we discuss parasites, of course, but we also talk about what it means to be a decent human being, how to evaluate ideas and words we're exposed to, how the Vietnam War changed John's approach to teaching, and the fundamental importance of curiosity. We learn about John's early roots in the outdoors and his love of painting. John also tells us about the tapeworm in Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s brain. A jam-packed episode, for sure!

Our book for January is Life Lessons from a Parasite by John Janovy, Jr. John is one of the world's pre-eminent parasitologists. In his book we learn all about parasites -- the minuscule life forms that live inside other organisms. We learn about the scientists that study them. And, we are introduced to how theories about parasites and infections help us understand how infected words and ideas become parasites in our modern-day life. Linny's traumatic experience in high school biology was a challenge for her in reading about dissection, but both Linny and Nancy learned a lot about parasites and then enjoyed discussing the generalizations into how words and ideas travel through populations.

James Clear's bestselling book, Atomic Habits, tells us that tiny changes can yield remarkable results. Clear writes, "The quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you'll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible." Linny and Nancy discuss their initial attempts to implement what they learned from this book. Not surprisingly, they took two very different approaches. Nancy, ever the planner, created an entire system. Linny, the free spirit, embraced good habits as they presented themselves. They share these new habits and early results.