Tuesday, June 19, 2018, 2:15pm
Writer, classicist, and stand-up comic Natalie Haynes makes a strong case for reading ancient Greek and Roman literature in the modern age.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018, 11:00am
A hip hop super-producer and pioneering beat-maker, J Dilla died at just 32 years old. He worked right up until the end, and his mother was there for every bit of it.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 3:20pm
Dan Pink has written several books about motivation, work and behavior. His most recent, called “When,” is all about timing. He says people facing an ending seems to push people in new directions.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 12:30pm
TPakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid sets his newest novel, "Exit West," in a world of permanent mass migration, in a city ripped apart by civil war. He told Steve Paulson he modeled it on his own city — Lahore, Pakistan.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018, 11:55am
You wouldn’t think a novel about trees would become a major literary event. But Richard Powers' "The Overstory" is overturning a lot of conventional thinking. It’s been called "visionary" and "monumental." And though human characters shape the plot of this 500-page epic, the real heroes are trees.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018, 2:55pm
"Poetry helps me clear out that clutter that's doing nothing but rattling around and making noise." says Tyler Knott Gregson, who has been composing new poems by typewriter daily for years and posting them on Instagram.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018, 1:30pm
Author Angie Thomas poured her emotions into her debut young adult novel. "The Hate U Give" has become a best-selling novel, nominated for a national book award and soon to be a film. Thomas talks about how writing the book has changed her, and how teenagers give her hope.
Thursday, March 1, 2018, 4:15pm
When they weren’t committing mass murder, many of the noteworthy authoritarian leaders of the 20th century wrote books. Terrible books. Journalist Daniel Kalder read all of them.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018, 1:55pm
Astrology, the Myers-Briggs test, and even Buzzfeed place you into the same archetype as thousands of other people. So why turn to them? It comes down to crafting a personal narrative using archetypes.
Monday, February 19, 2018, 4:25pm
Chloe Benjamin is superstitious. So when her second novel, "The Immortalists," debuted at No. 7 on The New York Times bestseller list, she was thrilled for the typical reasons, but also enamored with the luck, mystery and religious overtones of becoming "Number Seven."
Monday, February 19, 2018, 1:35pm
The Doomsday Clock, the historical (some might say hysterical) tracker of how close we are to a human-made catastrophe, has just advanced by 30 seconds.
Friday, February 2, 2018, 7:25am
A new museum of fascism is scheduled to open in Predappio, Italy — the birthplace of Benito Mussolini. The town is already a pilgrimage site for neo-Fascist groups. Journalist Ilaria Maria Sala says the Mussolini museum has sparked controversy.
Tuesday, January 9, 2018, 3:20pm
Lisa McGirr, historian and author of " The War on Alcohol ," thinks speakeasy nostalgia ignores a big part of the history lesson that the Prohibition offers us.
Thursday, December 21, 2017, 7:30pm
For years, women in science have battled discrimination, boys’ clubs and gendered stereotypes. Now they’re blowing the whistle on sexual harassment, and some eminent career scientists are being held accountable.
Friday, September 29, 2017, 1:15pm
Acclaimed NPR music critic Ann Powers' new book " Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music ," explores how popular music has shaped American ideas and beliefs. The sprawling history illuminates the ways in which music allows people to communicate emotionally and...
Thursday, September 28, 2017, 12:55pm
Alexander Weinstein talks with Doug Gordon for "To The Best Of Our Knowledge" about how he believes these futuristic technology or actions are more closely rooted in today than we might realize at first glance.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017, 6:00am
Chuck Klosterman makes a case for why someone's bad ideas say more about their personality than any of the successes they've had in life.
Friday, September 8, 2017, 5:00pm
It's a rite of passage to find our parents embarrassing, particularly as we start to carve out distinct identities in those early years away from home. For Jeannette Walls, the moment was a bit more extreme.
Thursday, September 7, 2017, 11:20am
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the digital technology that's entered our lives or feel pressured to keep up with your email and Facebook posts? Well, you're not alone. Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff says this technology has changed our relationship to time — that we're living multiple digital...
Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 11:00am
Although humanity has tried everything from poisons and gases to helicopters and engineered epidemics to wipe coyotes out, coyotes have thrived in the United States.
