the memory palace

Nate DiMeo

From award-winning public radio producer, Nate DiMeo, comes The Memory Palace. Short, surprising stories of the past, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hysterical, always super-great. For history buffs, fans of public radio shows like This American Life,

  • 29 minutes 22 seconds
    A Story and a Song (A Memory Palace/Song Exploder Crossover Event)

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    You can hear Rollercoaster and more of Hrishi's music at Hrishikesh.co. Pre-order his new album wherever you do that sort of thing!

    Music

    • Halcyon and Photosynteses and Embryo by H. Takehashi
    • Intro by Library Tapes
    • The Florist Wears Knee Breeches by M. Sage

    Notes

    • I found Andrew Isenberg's book, The Destruction of the Bison, An Environmental History, completely fascinating.
    • If you want to do a deep dive on Madison Grant, I'd recommend Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant by John Peter Spiro.
    • If you want to do a deep dive on the Catalina Buffalo, this site is a fun place to start.
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    10 April 2026, 5:18 am
  • 16 minutes 11 seconds
    Episode 242: The Handwriter

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    Music

    • Drywall from Johann Johannson's score to Sicario.
    • Castle Song by Green-House
    • Tea by Resevoir
    • La Valse du Progres by Delphine Dora
    • Arrival by Domenique Dumont
    • Sarah in Bath from Kryzystof Komeda's score to Fearless Vampire Killers
    • Thread of Light by Golden Retriever
    • In Some Spirit World by Geotic

    Notes

    • This one was pulled together with tiny threads of information, much provided by the NCRA's website itself. 
    • You can find links to three fascinating (really!) studies on the brains of transcribers here, here, & here
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    22 March 2026, 5:53 pm
  • 12 minutes 26 seconds
    Episode 122: Hercules

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    This episode originally dropped in 2018.


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    7 March 2026, 6:17 am
  • 12 minutes 59 seconds
    Episode 241: Stay Gold

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    Music

    • Marisa Anderson plays He is Without His Guns
    • Bing & Ruth play Broad Channel (Solo Piano)
    • Greg Haines plays Peter's Advice

    Notes

    • You can listen to the full recording here. 
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    23 February 2026, 7:41 am
  • 20 minutes 41 seconds
    Episode 240: Islanders

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    Music

    • Unseen Forces by Justin Walter
    • Peperomia Seedling by Green-House
    • Ebb Tide by Houston & Dorsey
    • Little Miss Echo by Raymond Scott
    • Stellify by Francesco Albanese
    • Chain Home by Rogerson and Eno
    • Luna by Digitonal
    • Caroline Shaw plays The Orangery from Plan & Elevation

    Notes

    The place to start with all of this is here. It'll lead you out to the Bishop Museum's work, the lovely documentary produced by Hawai'ian Public Television, everywhere where you'd want to go. 


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    6 February 2026, 6:12 pm
  • 42 minutes 53 seconds
    Pinch hitting!

    With Nate surprisingly sidelined, his friends and fellow Radiotopians at This Day save (This) day. 

    Here's the show description: 


    In our new series "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we're headed to January 1920 and the first night of Prohibition. Hide your booze! Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the long road to prohibition, going back decades, and the political forces that led to the ban of alcohol.

    Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

    This Day is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

    Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

    If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

    Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypod

    Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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    16 January 2026, 11:03 pm
  • 3 hours 27 minutes
    Public Domain Theater 2026

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    Starting off the year with a new tradition: the first annual Public Domain Theater, in which Nate reads an important work of American literature that entered the public domain on January 1st of a given year. First up, the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock. 

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    3 January 2026, 12:39 am
  • 19 minutes 38 seconds
    Nate's Favorite Episode of the Year: Emma and the Trail

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com


    Music

    • Sincerely Yours by LLLL
    • Across the Other Side by Infinite Scale
    • Sunset by Resavoir
    • Mammoth by Golden Brown
    • Unassigned by Vernon Spring
    • Swimming by Explosions in the Sky
    • Pure (Ride the World) by The Brendan Eder Ensemble
    • Le Tunnel by Sylvain Chauveau
    • Floating Away by Lullatone

    Notes

    • There's a ton written about Emma Rowena Gatewood but so much of it, including this story, owes a huge debt to Ben Montgomery's book, Grandma Gatewood's Walk, which excavated the story of her life with her husband. Besides that, it is wonderfully written. Totally recommend it. 
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    18 December 2025, 8:05 am
  • 18 minutes 3 seconds
    Episode 239: Blank Pages

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 

    Music

    • The Lady With the Golden Stockings from the Sun Ra Arkestra
    • The Sage from the Chico Hamilton Quintet
    • Falling in Love with a New York Pigeon by Birb
    • Bocherini's fourth quintet as performed by the Ensemble of St. Martin of the Fields
    • From a Dream by Oregon
    • Jaybird from the great Charlie Parr
    • Pool of Love by Les Baxter
    • And House Tuner Theme from Will Bates' gorgeous score to The Sound of Silence.


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    6 December 2025, 1:12 am
  • 17 minutes 53 seconds
    From The Memory Palace Audiobook: Fine New England Granite

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.

    Buy the audiobook wherever you get audiobooks (like libro.fm!)

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com


    Audio excerpted courtesy of Random House Audio from THE MEMORY PALACE by Nate DiMeo, read by a full cast. Excerpt read by Nate DiMeo, © 2024 Nate DiMeo, ℗ 2024 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.

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    26 November 2025, 3:58 am
  • 21 minutes
    Episode 238: The Crypt of Thornwell Jacobs

    Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. 


    Music

    • Kara-Lis Coverdale's A480
    • Palimpsest from Will Bate's score to The Sound of Silence
    • Harriett Smith and Robert Martin Meet in the Rain from Isobel Waller Bridge's score to Emma.
    • The Play from Dan Romer's score to (the terrific) Station Eleven.
    • Cutting Branches from a Temporary Shelter from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
    • Sustainable from H. Takahashi.

    Notes

    • There's a particularly good article by Colin Dickey about Jacobs and The Crypt in American Scholar. 
    • You can read all 1100 pages of Jacobs' autobiography here, if you haven't already.
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    6 November 2025, 5:00 pm
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