Andrew Sullivan is not a Republican, but he calls himself a conservative. He does not believe in using religion to ground political ideals. But he himself is a person of faith. And he endorsed John Kerry, although Ronald Reagan is one of his heroes. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Right after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair magazine, declared “irony is dead.” Only a few months later Carter said, with a nudge and a wink, “I meant to say IRONING is dead - not irony.” This time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll look at the rise of...Read more
How much time do you spend thinking about the future? Oh sure, you’ve probably got plans for the weekend or are thinking about how your kids are doing in school.
But how much time to do we spend – as a nation, a global community – thinking about what our lives might look like in 50 or 100...Read more
Julian Barnes is one of England’s most celebrated novelists. He’s fascinated by the ways our minds play tricks with memory, especially as we age. It’s the subject of his Booker Prize winning novel “The Sense of an Ending” – one of several new books that explore the minefield of memory. We...Read more
Oh, city living. The crush of people, the crowd of buildings, the empty lots, the garbage-strewn slums.
More than half of us will be living urban by 2050. How will we manage?Read more
Apocalyptic thinking is everywhere, from predictions about Christian “end times” to the 2012 Mayan prophecy about the end of the world. So what’s going on? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’ll talk with renowned religious historian Elaine Pagels about the lasting impact of the...Read more
How much time do you spend thinking about the future? Oh sure, you’ve probably got plans for the weekend, maybe you’re looking for a new job or thinking about how your kids are doing in school.
But how much time to do we spend – as a nation, a global community – thinking about...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
What do Hip-Hop and traditional Delta Blues have in common? Down in the bijous and hollers of Mississippi - a lot more than you think. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new revolution in Roots Music. Also, the debate over what’s authentic country music. And, we’ll talk to Nora ...Read more
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments...” “Because I could not stop for death…”
First lines. Classic poems. But poetry’s no anachronism. It’s pulsing and swelling and beating new rhythms.
From online verse to the new US Poet Laureate, from poetry...Read more
If chocolate be the food of love, eat on! In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why chocolate may be the next big health food. It's our Valentine’s Day special: two best-selling romance writers share tricks of the trade. And, listeners share their true stories of love at first sight...Read more
Lynne Truss created a sensation in Britain with a book whose title is a punch line: it’s a punctuation joke that says a panda is a black and white mammal and it “Eats, Shoots and Leaves.” Rules for punctuation and a good life, in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.Read more
Lace up the hiking boots and grab the bug spray! Spring is here and we're heading Into The Woods. Learn how to read a forest. Unlock the meanings hidden in leaf and bole, twig and soil. And celebrate the woods in fairytale, myth, story and song.Read more
Lilydale, New York isn’t your average small town. In Lilydale, people say ghosts walk the streets and the neighbors can talk to the dead. No, this is not fiction. 20-thousand visitors a year travel to Lilydale to consult the largest community of mediums in the world. Is it all a gigantic...Read more
Rising sea levels, brutal storms and droughts, record temperatures...is there anything we can do about climate change? As world leaders gather at the Paris Climate Summit, we consider a range of proposals - from geoengineering and new green technology to a post-carbon economy. Read more
It’s the only musical instrument that’s played without being touched – the theremin. You’ve probably heard its eerie sound in movies like Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” or on the Beach Boys’ hit “Good Vibrations.” In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the intriguing life of the instrument’s...Read more
Let boys be boys. It's a hard thing to do today with concern over violence in schools and the seeming violence of boys' play. But what if, thanks to our culture of fear, boys are slipping through the cracks? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we take a look at the inner world of...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
When it comes to religious practice, we don't always end up where we started. For some people, the journey away from their childhood religion is filled with serious, personal strife. For others, spiritual loss can be less dramatic or even – dramatically funny. In this hour of To the Best of Our...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
Dave Soldier has an unusual hobby. He teaches elephants to play music instruments...in an elephant orchestra. Ben Kilham does something else that’s unique. He raises orphan bear cubs and then releases them into the wild. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, some remarkable stories...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
The most mysterious musical instrument in the world lives inside your body. Your voice. You can’t see it, can’t touch it, and yet – it expresses all of who you are. On this episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll explore they mysteries of the voice. We’ll hear from soprano Renee...Read more
It's a post-apocalyptic novel that's been compared to Stephen King's "The Stand" and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." It covers a vast time span and features a different kind of vampire, known as "virals." It's called "The Passage" and it's one of this summer's hottest books. We'll meet the author...Read more