99% Invisible

If you're one of the millions of Americans struggling with your tax forms today, you're not alone. Even Albert Einstein allegedly found income taxes to be "the hardest thing in the world to understand." But how did our tax system become so complicated?I've Got 1099 Problems...Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus...

John Green uncovers how the world’s deadliest curable disease still thrives—and why everything, from cowboy hats to colonial borders, traces back to tuberculosis.Everything Is TuberculosisSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Take a whirlwind tour of Memphis with the city’s most enthusiastic historian, uncovering duck parades, telecom turf wars, and a street named after a single day in 1934.A Walking Tour with Mr. MemphisSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting...

In 1991, one of the strangest buildings in America opened — a 32-storey, stainless steel pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.The Great American PyramidSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

A group of artists explored the back hallways of a mall in Providence, RI, and found the perfect place to build a private hangout. We interviewed the group's leader Michael Townsend a few years back, and he's now the subject of a new documentary called Secret Mall Apartment. Plus, mall history with Alexandra Lange.For showtimes and more information, visit secretmallapartment.com.The stories in...

When global trade reshapes a city, who pays the price—and who fights back?Alexis Madrigal’s new book is called The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City.Beautiful West Oakland, CaliforniaSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple...

After we finished up The Power Broker, a bunch of people were asking us what other books we’d been reading. A group of us got together and presented some of our recent favorites, and the choices were so good and surprising and charming, we're now sharing it widely.Here are the books covered in this episode:Lasha's book: Usha's Pickle Digest by Usha R PrabakaranChris's books: What It Takes by...

A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name—one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world.A Beetle By Any Other NameSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

A film about a struggling architect, a style the world loves to hate—The Brutalist and Brutalism itself share more than just a name. Is it bold vision or concrete failure?The BrutalistsSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

In the heart of Berlin’s Tempelhof-Schöneberg district sits a hulking, crumbling concrete cylinder—an abandoned relic of a Nazi plan to rebuild the city as a grand imperial capital. But this eerie structure isn’t just a forgotten engineering experiment; it’s a lasting monument to one of the Third Reich’s most colossal architectural failures.The Nazi BlockSubscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen...