I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen, wherever you get your podcast.

Yeah, I was like, whoa, this is some Hamlet shit.

From WBEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and this is the Nerdat Book Club. It's just like a regular book club, except in podcast form. This month's pick is David Yun's version zero. It's a techie, thrillery novel about a dude named Max who works at a social media company named Ren. It's the company that everyone belongs to, which everyone hates, and I'm sure you can already imagine what the real-life analog for that might be. When his bosses ask him to

help design a way to collect even more data from Wren users, he has concerns, and then he gets

fired. So he and his buddies cook up a way to get back at the industry. There's a

love triangle and a reclusive billionaire and a lot of scheming. I want to leave it at that for now.

I am very excited to introduce you to our guests today. With us, we have Elise Hugh. She's a host

at large for NPR who also served as NPR's Bureau Chief in Seoul and has done a lot of reporting

on tech and culture. Elise, hey. Hey there. So excited to be here. Oh my gosh. So excited to have you.

We also have Samir Pondia. You might remember his book members only was a nerd at book club pick

last August. In addition to writing, he teaches in the Asian American Studies Department

at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Hey, Samir.

Hey, Greta. How are you?

I'm good. How are you? Thank you so much for doing this.

Yeah, I'm very excited for this chat.

So here is your spoiler warning. If you haven't read the book yet and that stresses you out, get out here.

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