Roman Mars of 99% Invisible

8th December 2020

Roman Mars hosts the radio show and podcast 99% Invisible. It’s a show about the little known stories behind everyday design and architecture. Prefabricated homes. Trash can design. Even those little ramps you see on sidewalk corners: how and why did stuff like that come to be? He just released a new book based on the podcast – it’s called the 99 Percent Invisible City. The book is an illustrated look at how cities work, and why they work the way they do. Roman Mars joins us to talk about life before podcasting, and what decades in radio has taught him. Plus, the COVID-19 Pandemic has affected the design of cities, and which of those changes might be permanent.

Episode notes

 

(Photo: 99 Percent Invisible)

Roman Mars hosts the radio show and podcast 99% Invisible.

It’s a show about the little known stories behind everyday design and architecture. Prefabricated homes. Trash can design. Even those little ramps you see on sidewalk corners: how and why did stuff like that come to be?

He just released a new book based on the podcast – it’s called the The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design. The book is an illustrated look at how cities work, and why they work the way they do.

 

Photo: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Roman is also the founder of the podcast network Radiotopia. He’s worked in podcasts and radio for decades. His career didn’t start out in audio, though. He was originally getting a PhD in genetics, pipetting stuff into tubes, recording data.

Roman Mars joins us to talk about life before podcasting, and what decades in radio has taught him. Plus, the COVID-19 Pandemic has affected the design of cities, and which of those changes might be permanent.

His new book 99 Percent Invisible City is out now.

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

  • Roman Mars

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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Senior Producer

Producer

Maximum Fun Producer

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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