LRN No.15: extra gift

Plus: events, dear boy, events

What is the most personal thing a criminal could ever steal? Your wedding ring? Your phone? What about your genetic code?

I was back channeling Steven Toast at the BBC this week, recording the voice over to an extra special bonus episode of The Gift which lands on BBC Sounds on 8th February, and BBC Radio 4 at 4pm on 12th February.

The bonus episode - called Hacked - tells the story of how the data of a million Ashkenazi Jews was apparently stolen from at-home DNA testing behemoth 23andMe in October, and put up for sale on the dark web. (Loyal subscribers will remember I wrote about this when I first heard about it in LRN No.7.)

LRN No.7: your genes belong to them

When I dug a little deeper, I realised that this might not have actually been an antisemitic attack at all - and far more people than Ashkenazi Jews might have had their data stolen. Can information as sensitive and personal as your DNA ever be kept safe once you’ve sent it off to a corporation to store in their database?

You can read all about it here. And if you’re subscribed to The Gift it will drop into your feed wherever you listen to podcasts.)

In other news, I’m really excited that I am going to be in conversation with the BBC legend that is Maryam Moshiri on 20th March at Waterstones Gower Street, talking all things The Price of Life. (I may or may not wear my rude necklace for this.)

There are lots of other book events in the pipeline, in Edinburgh, Hay, Falmouth and beyond. I try to keep the events page on my website updated, so do check in if you’re interested in coming and saying hello.

Things that have caught my eyes and ears:

• Thanks to my dear friend, the psychiatrist Dr Rick Adams, for introducing me to this important academic analysis that finds extreme heavy metal guitar skills are linked to intrasexual competition but not mating success. One of those studies that tells us what we already knew, but in glorious detail

• Was lucky to read an early copy of Madhumita Murgia’s Code Dependent, which tells the human stories of how AI is already changing our lives

• Was enlightened and terrified by Margaret Atwood’s animated monologue on democracy in the FT

• Like everyone else on the planet, I loved Series 2 of Jon Ronson’s Things Fell Apart

• For some reason, I also listened to the audiobook of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Be Useful. I have now learned that if I am in search of new ideas, I should take a walk - or smoke a cigar in a jacuzzi