Hello everyone and welcome to Talk Nurdy. Today is Monday, March 20th,

2023 and I'm the host of the show Kara Santa Maria and I am just getting over COVID. I actually had COVID last week when I recorded

the previous exercise episode, Slim with Suzanne Wedlek, and you could probably hear it in my voice pretty badly.

I also had it when I recorded this episode and the next one that comes out,

even though it was a short time time I happen to do a lot of

podcast recordings I'm on the tail end I'm I'm now testing negative I just still have a

little bit of the sniffles and so I apologize if my voice is maybe a little bit deeper and a little bit different

than usual but that would be why. I got a great episode for you this week but before I dive into it I do want to thank those of you who continue to make

talk nerdy possible week after week. Remember, talk nerdy is and will always be 100%

free to download, and that's because I rely on the incredible support of

listeners just like you. This week's top patrons include Daniel Lang, David J. E. Smith,

Mary Niva, Brian Holden, David Compton, Gabriel F. Harameo, Joe Wilkinson, Pasquale

Jalati, Orica Hagman, and so many more. Thank you all so much and if you're interested in pledging your support,

all you've got to do is visit Patreon.com

slash talk nerdy.

All right, so let's talk about this. All right.

So let's talk about this week's episode.

I had the opportunity to chat with a fascinating woman.

She is a science and kind of natural history writer, tons of books and articles, with specifically a focus

on Australian non-fiction and she's won a lot of awards as well.

Her books have won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non Fiction,

the Federation of Australian Writers Award for Excellence in Non Fiction, a Whitley Award for Popular Zoology,

...