There's something magical about making words. Ask any parent what their baby's first word was. Chances are they'll remember. Words are what set us apart from all the other animals. And they're endlessly fascinating. In this hour of To Best of Our Knowledge we'll meet a variety of people...Read more
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Episode Archives
One day, an IRS auditor named Harold Crick wakes up to discover a voice in his head – a female voice narrating his life. That's the premise of the film, "Stranger Than Fiction." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll meet the man who wrote the screenplay. Also, the story of Orson...Read more
In 1945 Franklin Roosevelt worked out a deal with the king of Saudi Arabia. America got unlimited access to Saudi Oil, and in return, the U.S. protected the Royal Family against its enemies. Now that special relationship is under fire. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the politics...Read more
Why do we assume more money is better? Maybe if we weren't so focused on how much we have, we'd ask a better question: How much is enough? We explore the relationship between money and happiness, and alternative forms of currency. Also, Great Britain's experiment in Gross...Read more
The Jewish High Holy Days come to an end every fall on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This year, we're thinking about atonement and forgiveness. Whether you're Jewish or non-Jewish, secular or religious, forgiveness is something we all struggle with. Today we explore the path to...Read more
What happens when a Little League game turns into an epic battle to save the world from an evil, shape-shifting Coyote, and the fate of the Universe hangs on an 11-year-old boy? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, kids books for adults. Also, remembering L. Frank Baum, the creator of...Read more
"Music can change the world." It's been said so many times - I wonder if it means anything anymore. Can it? Really, can music change the world? Can a song bring about peace? Or, overthrow a government? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll listen in on the soundtrack to war and...Read more
Woody Allen is an Academy Award-winning film-maker and screenwriter, but he's notoriously media-shy. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Eric Lax on talking to Woody Allen over 36 years. Also, we'll explore how independent screenplays work.Read more
Ok, you choose: endure traditional strict religious strictures and a life of hard labor or, fully indulge in the pleasures of today? Amish youth are given that choice. When they turn 16 they're let loose to experience all the temptations the world. Then, they have to decide between the world and...Read more
Elephants mourning their dead. Chimpanzees dying of grief. And the everyday joy of a dog at play. Biologist Marc Bekoff says the evidence is all around us, if we learn how to see it. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the case for animal emotions. And we’ll spend some time with a...Read more
Eric Liu is on a campaign to restore America's civic joy. To make voting fun again, with late-night dance parties for Miami voters, participatory election street theater in Akron,Ohio; and a giant election scavenger hunt in Philadelphia. He says there's no such thing as not voting: choosing not...Read more
It started as a joke. Danny Wallace put a small ad in a London newspaper. It simply said “Join me” and invited people to send a passport-sized photo. The only problem was, no one knew what they were joining. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of Danny Wallace’s “Join Me”...Read more
Electrons to Enlightenment
Part Five
In the real world where we take out the garbage, we sometimes brush up against wonder and awe. We all look for it in different places. Some of us find it in God, like the great mystic poet...Read more
It's not quite the Manhattan that we're familiar with. "The New York Times" is available in a "War-Free Edition" and there are rumors of an escaped tiger on the prowl in the Upper East Side. This is the setting of Jonathan Lethem's critically-acclaimed new novel, "Chronic City." On this To the...Read more
Imagine living your whole life in excruciating pain, 24/7, and actually choosing to go without any pain medication. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, one man’s permanent pain. And is a teenager slashing her arms with a razor a cry for help or an ancient ritual of sacred pain? Also,...Read more
It’s up for debate whether or not the business of America is business. But like it or not, corporate culture touches us all. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the quirky online marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers from all over the world. But is e-bay really the...Read more
In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge one man’s attempt to apologize for the sins of his family’s past. Also, mizuko kuyo, the Japanese ritural ceremony of apology to aborted fetuses. What does it mean to say “I’m sorry.”Read more
How's your basic knowledge of religion? Can you name the Ten Commandments? The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism? What happens during Ramadan? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll hear an argument for why every American should know the basics of the world's religions. Also, Muslim hip...Read more
Two years ago a professor in Wisconsin checked her mail and found a most unusual letter...from an Iraqi graduate student asking for scholarly advice. Since then professor Susan Friedman has exchanged hundreds of e-mails with academics in Iraq. And she's heard harrowing accounts of academic...Read more
Maybe you watched Elizabeth Taylor strut around Ancient Rome so you think you know who Cleopatra was. Well, the real Cleopatra was far more remarkable - a brilliant woman who spoke nine languages and ruled over the world's most cosmopolitan culture... and yes, also cavorted with both Julius...Read more
Anne D. LeClaire was walking along the beach on Nantucket Sound when she heard a voice. The voice said, "Sit in silence." LeClaire turned to look but there was no one there. Anne D. LeClaire talks about this experience seventeen years ago and how it inspired her to remain silent for two days...Read more
The Meaning of Life
Part Two
Karen Armstrong was a Catholic nun who stopped believing. In this hour of the Peabody Award-winning program To the Best of Our Knowledge, Armstrong shares her story of how she found her way back to God...Read more
The Mississippi River is an American icon. It's a body of water that’s been shaped as much by cultural processes as by environmental ones. From the state lines it draws to its role in literature and the arts, it’s a river that flows deep in the American psyche.
This episode is about the...Read more
For decades, men have written about their first sexual experiences, but there’s almost no literature like that for women. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, memoirist Mary Karr reflects on her first kiss and other rites of passage for girls. Also, Jonathan Kozol describes...Read more