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Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from The Culture Books podcast podcast

The State of the Art, 5, The State of the Art Chapter 4

2026/08/03

The Culture thinks about HR, and Sma hangs out with Linter. We also have a chat about Sugar and Elon's interview with The Economist which takes The Culture's name in vain. If you haven't seen the interview it's at: https://youtu.be/XuoqKYxDHVc?si=c3__ae_Mw1BMPHm3

The State of the Art, 4, The State of the Art Chapter 3

2026/06/25

Get ready for a deep dive into the Paris and Berlin of the late 1970s, and relive the drunken holiday hookups of your youth.

The State of the Art, 3, The State of the Art Chapter 2

2026/01/10

Sma takes a museum tour and we come to grips with the memory of our own past.

The State of the Art, 2, The State of the Art Chapter 1

2025/12/15

The triumphant return of Diziet Sma and we're taking the show to Planet Earth folks!

The State of the Art, 1, A Gift From The Culture

2025/10/30

One of the earliest Culture works, we get to know a world eerily like that of BladeRunner and a Culture renegade in more trouble than they can handle.

Use of Weapons, 10, The Good Soldier, Five

2023/10/24

Zakalwe seems suspiciously happy to run away from his problems, but they have a nice time at the beach.

Use of Weapons, 9, The Good Soldier, X

2023/10/01

We find out what happened to Zakalwe on Fohls. It was not nice.

Use of Weapons, 8, The Good Soldier, Four

2023/09/16

Sma and Skaffen recover from a party and go for an island cruise. Meanwhile The Culture goes nuclear around them!

Use of Weapons, 7, The Good Soldier, XI

2023/08/27

Zakalwe goes to the beach, and we ask, is he a Gary Stu?

Use of Weapons, 6, The Good Soldier, Three

2023/07/28

Skaffen and Sma go to a party on the Xenophobe and have a fight....

Use of Weapons, 5, The Good Soldier, XII

2023/07/15

Zakalwe has a less pleasant visit to a castle and we ask if any aristocrat can be a good aristocrat?

Use of Weapons, 4, The Good Soldier, Two

2023/07/11

Diziet gets out of bed and the Culture goes to the wild west to see just how scary a drone can be!

Use of Weapons, 3, The Good Soldier, XIII

2023/06/16

In which we briefly meet an Ethnarch, and get a good look at just how stone cold cool this Zakalwe cat can be!

Use of Weapons, 2, The Good Soldier, One

2023/05/29

We meet Diziet Sma and spend a lot of time on how exactly she likes to bone. And The Culture seems to be putting a lot more resources into this caper than we've seen before...

Use of Weapons, 1, Slight Mechanical Destruction, and Prologue

2023/05/20

We start The Big One for Banks fans, a great whiskey is reviewed, and the scene is set for a wild ride with fortunately short chapters!

Podcast reviews

Read The Culture Books podcast podcast reviews

4.5 out of 5

11 reviews

★★★★★

clark999999999 2025/06/11

Love this podcast!

So first off I am a huge fan of Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels and lately I have been looking for some recap podcasts. Sheridan and John do an amazing ...

★★★★★

Juggler9000 2023/07/29

A good time about a great book series

As someone whose read the Culture books a number of times over, this podcast is a great time. I enjoy the books and have some strong (not all great) o...

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