Adam Valen Levinson joins us this awkward week to discuss his book the Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah. Also, office anxieties, downgrading your charisma for her, and pseudo-active digits.

Links for this episode:

• The Abu Dhabi Bar MitzvahAdam's book. "Written on four continents over seven years, The Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah (W.W. Norton, 2017) is the hard-won first book by journalist, sociologist, comedian and sometime trumpeter Adam Valen Levinson. For Adam, "Nine Eleven" was enough to shroud the Middle East in fear, and to imbue it with the sort of curiosity where a kind of love comes from."
• Adam Valen LevinsonAdam's web site, where you can learn more about him, his book, and other projects.
• The Global Humor ProjectParticipate in Adam's Global Humor Project by reacting to wordless cartoons.