Unwind was a bedtime radio show hosted by Anatol on Bus Radio during the first half of 2020.
People tuned in each fortnight for a different bedtime reading—sourced from the public domain—followed by an hour of ambient music: In these anxious times, drift off to readings from literary and philosophical classics, 18th Century love letters, obscure scientific treatises, or a travelogue through the ice-caves of France and Switzerland.
Bus Radio is an initiative of Bus Projects. Who'll broadcast throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, presenting an eclectic mix of talk, music, performance, and co-learning with friends near and far. You can visit their website for information about the great collection of programs: Bus Projects Radio & Unwind on Bus Projects website.
If you’re having trouble viewing the embedded archived episodes you can go access them on the Bus Mixcloud page.
ARCHIVE
Episode 1: ‘Our Bird Comrades’
Aired on 30/4/2020
A reading from the 1907 book of bird observations by Leander S. Keyser (link to book).
Listen to the full episode below, or just the Spotify playlist:
Episode 2: ‘Mars and its Canals’
Aired on 7/5/2020
A reading from Percival Lowell’s 1906 astronomy book speculating about intelligent life on Mars. (link to book).
Recommended reading: Mike Davis’ essay The Coming Desert that discusses 19th Century theories of climate change.
Episode 3: ‘Rambles in Germany and Italy’
Aired on 14/5/2020
Reading from Mary Shelley’s last published work, her 1844 travelogue Rambles in Germany and Italy 1840, 1842, and 1843. (link to book)
Episode 4: ‘Horace’s Odes’
Aired on 21/5/2020
Horace’s Odes 1-20, translated by John Conington (link to book).
Episode 5: ‘The Theatre of Insects’
Aired on 28/5/2020
Reading from Thomas Moffet’s The Theatre of Insects (1658), printed with Edward Topsell’s book The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents (link to book).
Episode 6: ‘Micrographia’
Aired on 04/06/2020
Reading from Robert Hooke’s classic book of microscopic observations, Micrographia (1665). Link to book. Some paragraphs of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s fantastic book Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (2003) are also read from in the introduction.
Episode 7: ‘Paradise Lost’
Aired on 11/06/2020
Book 1 of John Milton’s classic epic Paradise Lost (1667). Link to annotated text.
Episode 8: ‘Somerville’s Recollections’
Aired on 18/06/2020
Reading from the autiobiographic recollections of 19th Century polymath and science writer Mary Somerville (link to book).
Episode 9: ‘Shahnameh’
Aired on 25/06/2020
Reading from the 11th Century Persian epic poem Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) by Ferdowsi (link to text).
Episode 10: ‘Spirit Photography’
Aired on 09/07/2020
Reading The Case of Spirit Photography: with corroborative evidence by experienced researchers and photographers (1923) by Arthur Conan Doyle (link to book).