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Episode Archives
Whatever happened to psychoanalysis? It used to be the most influential science of the mind, but today its founder, Sigmund Freud, just looks like a sex-obsessed old man. Analyst Adam Phillips says we got Freud all wrong; he remains a radical thinker if we know how to read him. This hour...Read more
In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, choosing the life you want. Colette’s biographer talks about how the great French writer stayed saucy and sexually active into old age. Kay Redfield Jamison takes a look at the end of life - a view of the suicide epidemic. And...Read more
Hear that? It's the soothing sound of silence. We'll have much more, including "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking"; one man's quest for absolute silence; and John Cage's 4'33."
And if you are looking to contribute your neighbor story,...Read more
Back in 1933 novelist James Hilton wrote of an earthly paradise hidden in the Himalayas. He called it Shangri-La. But Hilton didn't invent the idea. Myths about Shangri-La go back centuries, and they pop up in a variety of places from Tibet to Kashmir. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Maybe it hits you the first time you get a mailing from AARP – all of a sudden, getting older isn't just about other people. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we spend time with some people who've chosen to face the rest of their lives in some unusual ways. Poker columnist James...Read more
Do you ever think about the way you think? Lately, we've been doing a lot of thinking about what we think about when we think about thinking. Join us as we explore the life of the mind.Read more
The way we think about animals often defies logic. In America, dogs may sleep on our beds, but in Korea, they often end up on the dinner plate. Some people may be horrified by a pet boa constrictor's appetite for live mice, but a cat that roams outside is a far deadlier killer. And...Read more
When you think of great movie musicals, what comes to mind? “Singing in the Rain” with Gene Kelly swinging from a streetlight in the middle of a torrential downpour. How about “A Hard Day’s Night” - with images of hysterical fans mobbing the Beatles at a train station. According to Roger...Read more
Imagine sipping tea with a militant Muslim and listening to how he set off a series of bombs in a crowded marketplace, trying to kill as many people as possible. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, an anthropologist describes her visit to a militant training camp in Pakistan. ...Read more
Ten years after the War on Terror began, militant Islamic teenagers are still blowing themselves up in crowded streets. What makes someone willing to become a human bomb? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, how religious radicalization works and new techniques for...Read more
Racial sensitivity and political tolerance are clearly good, but is it possible to take them too far? This hour, a look at how we talk about touchy subjects -- whether political correctness is about safety or censorship.Read more
China Mieville’s new novel, “Embassytown,” features sentient beings famous for their unique language and a woman who’s a living simile. Ursula K. LeGuin says that “Embassytown” is “a fully-achieved work of art.” We’ll meet China Mieville, as we explore the language of science fiction. Also...Read more
Ever want to chuck everything and just live your dream? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we meet several people who are doing just that. One of them's a hot young actor, starring in a smash Broadway musical. Another is a middle-aged husband and father who published a small magazine...Read more
Ever wonder what it’s like behind on the scenes on TTBOOK? Being in studio while the energy and imagination of Sherman Alexie bounces off the wall? Or watching E.O. Wilson, one of the world’s preeminent biologists unfold the beauty of his mind and the ideas that keep him in love with the world...Read more
"Let me say this as plainly as I can" President Obama said recently, "By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end." Obama's plan will bring home some 150,000 troops. But what are they coming home to? Their divorce rate is triple the national average. Alcoholism, four times the...Read more
"Beowulf" is the oldest story in the English language, but for centuries no one knew it existed. The manuscript was buried in an ancient monastery, written in a language no one understood. Even after it was discovered few scholars read it as serious literature, but that all changed with J.R.R...Read more
Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and...a trip to the mall? Like it or not, a trip to the mall is an American rite of passage. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge a look at the great American pastime - shopping. From the Mall of America to the latest new strip mall, Americans spend more...Read more
As a boy in northwest Ohio during the 1930's, Donald Richie spent a lot of time watching movies about exciting new worlds. So it seems only fitting that Donald Richie went on to live in a different world. For the past 50 years he’s lived in Japan, and has established a reputation as one the of...Read more
Peggy Orenstein didn't want children. At least she didn't think so. Children killed careers and turned smart, professional women into drones. Well, that's what Orenstein was afraid of, anyway. But after a death in the family, she changed her mind. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, to...Read more
Dan Janzen is one of the world’s leading tropical biologists. He’s spent forty years working in the Cost Rican jungle, and there’s one creature that fascinates him above all others - the moth. Janzen has found nine-thousand different species of moth in Cost Rica. In this hour of To the Best...Read more
Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part Four: Can Islam and Science Coexist?
Islamic culture was once the center of the scientific world. During Europe's Dark Ages, Baghdad, Cairo and other Middle Eastern cities were the key repositories of ancient...Read more
We’re exploring love by the numbers, this week. 36 questions, 40 first dates, and 43 equations – it’s all part of the new mathematical science of love.Read more
Jesse Gilmour was fifteen-years-old and he was flunking every subject at school. So what did his father, David Gilmour, do? He told Jesse that he could drop out and that he wouldn't have to work or pay rent. All he had to do was watch three movies every week with his dad. Movies that his...Read more