Ear Read This

About Ear Read This

Edinburgh based book podcast. Critical appreciations of classic and modern literature. Interviews with academics, authors and perfomers.

Publisher

Ash Caton

Category

arts · history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Sept 2018

Latest episode

3 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 165 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   3 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   12 Poems about Seagulls

   Host [Host Name] explores twelve poems about seagulls, featuring works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and other notable poets, offering a deep dive into avian themes in verse.

2. 

   9 Oct 2025

   ‘Verses written at the Hermitage of Braid, near Edinburgh’ (1771) by Robert Fergusson

   S3E104 Today, Ash broadcasts from the Hermitage of Braid in Morningside, to talk about a poem Robert Fergusson was inspired to write on a visit there in 1771. Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound. @earreadthis earreadthis@gmail.com facebook.com/earreadthis

3. 

   5 Oct 2025

   “Of Course, Merlins are Different”: Frank Rennie on A Magical Raptor

   S3E103 Today, Ash interviews Frank Rennie, Professor of Sustainable Rural Development at the University of the Highlands and Islands and author of numerous books, including this year's The Merlin. Tune in to find out more about this elusive and magical raptor, from it's earliest fossil records to the environmental challenges facing it today. To order a copy of Frank's book, click here: https://pelagicpublishing.com/products/the-merlin?srsltid=AfmBOoru3v7wQ8u2l2OQCbduNIgIR89n-s7Ux3KMqtydFKeq9hWvm8zw Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound. @earreadthis earreadthis@gmail.com facebook.com/earreadthis

Inside a recent episode

12 Poems about Seagulls

Published 3 Aug 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] What seems to me different about this poem is its emphasis on loneliness. The gull is immediately understood by the speaker as being lost and aimless, a sad spectacle without a mate and without a home. But we might interpret this as an anthropocentric bias coming into play. The human speaker judges the goal by how well it measures up to a human standard of security and happiness, having a mate and a home. perhaps missing the fact that a seagull's natural state is solitary and ever-roaming, floating over the ocean's billows, cleaving the keen air with its breast. In some of the other poems we've looked at, there's been a note of horror and self-disgust at our human effect on the seagull, at what the seagull has learned from its own observations of us. at how its violent and uncouth behaviour in our cities and our seaside towns is a damning reflection of our own worst tendencies and tastes. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

214,552

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

21 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 58 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

48

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

85

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Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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