How do you join a revolution? Egyptian artist Bahia Shehab says she was too quiet to shout in the streets during the uprising in Cairo,...More
Exploring the Deeper End of Ideas
Arts and Culture
For three decades, MIT professor Sherry Turkle's been looking at the ways we interact with machines. She believes our digital devices are taking a toll on our personal relationships.More
Nate Staniforth spent thousands of hours learning the craft of stage magic. But he was really looking for wonder. And he says real magic is not smoke machines or stage tricks; it's creating a moment of genuine astonishment.More
We’re starting to see a new kind of fiction: climate fiction. Lidia Yuknavitch’s “The Book of Joan” is one of the most stunning examples. It’s the story of a near-future where Earth is decimated and the last few survivors are stranded in space.More
If climate change is the most urgent problem facing humanity, why are there so few novels about it? Acclaimed novelist Amitav Ghosh believes that’s a big problem. He says climate change is less a science problem than a crisis of imagination.More
James Gleick, a science writer with a special interest in the cultural impact of technology, recently sat down with Steve Paulson to talk about the cultural history of time travel and its enduring appeal.More
Alyson Richman is the author of six historical novels. Her latest is called "The Velvet Hours" and it was inspired by a recent newspaper story in the Paris press.More
How A Novel About “Monster Dogs” Can Help Us Rethink Our Relationship with Our Own Canine Companions
Kirsten Bakis first wrote her story of biomechanically-enhanced, hyper-intelligent dogs 20 years ago, and it’s been a cult favorite ever since. So why create a post-modern Frankenstein story with dogs at the heart of the tale?More
The trailblazing author passed away this week at the age of 88. She was known for marrying the tropes of science fiction and fantasy to big ideas drawn from spirituality, economics, sociology and beyond. That eclectic mix made for impactful and relevant stories that transcended genre.More
What do you do when your buddy in high school turns out to be the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer?More
So can we empathize with people who become monsters? Derf Backderf — whose teenage self appears in Meyers' film — certainly thinks so.More
Paul Beatty, the Booker Prize Winning Author of “The Sellout"" recommends "The Nazi and the Barber,” a novel by Holocaust survivor Edgar Hilsenrath. More
During basketball camp in Fargo, North Dakota, cultural critic Chuck Klosterman made an enemy — for life. And maybe that was a bad idea.More
A couple of years ago, journalist Gay Talese published “The Voyeur’s Motel,” the true story of a motel owner who spent more than 30 years spying on his guests while they had sex. The case is now the subject of a Netflix documentary called “Voyeur.”More
Alissa Quart recommends Elena Ferrante's "Days of Abandonment" and Elizabeth Hardwick's "Sleepless Nights."More
Robert Sutton talks with Anne Strainchamps about his book, "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't."More
Geoffrey Nunberg talks to Jim Fleming about his book, "Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, The First Sixty Years."More