Episode Archives

Filter episodes by the year they originally aired.
To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Film-maker David Lynch has been "diving within" through the Transcendental Meditation technique for more than 30 years.  Now Lynch has created a foundation that wants to help students discover their full creative potential through T.M. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, David Lynch...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Think that a TV series based on the Coen Brothers' 1996 black comedy crime thriller, "Fargo," is a bad idea? Then you haven't seen "Fargo," The TV series.  Creator and showrunner Noah Hawley talks about how he transformed the iconic film into the critically-acclaimed, award-winning TV series.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Reading a good book may be the most fun you can have sitting down.  Books can be a hobby or a passion, an interest or an obsession.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, tales from book world.  A former bookseller takes us to Hay on Wye - the Welsh town that’s well on its way to...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Have you ever heard of Dan Rice?  Probably not.  But if you were alive around the middle of the nineteenth century chances are you would know his name.  That’s when Dan Rice made his mark in “the show business.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the life and times of Dan Rice.  And...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Want to learn a second or third language?  You don’t have to slave away in a French seminar – it only takes a minute or two to pick up “ob.”  Next time on tob-oo thob-ah bob-est ob-of ob-our knob-ow-lob-edge.  Or should I say To the Best of Our Knowledge, word games, and secret...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

With shows in Milan, Paris and New York, it's fashion month across the Western World, and people are turning their eyes to runways. But does fashion really matter? Truth is, the garment industry is worth trillions of dollars, and employs millions of people. In this hour, we take a look at the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Albert Einstein died more than half a century ago, but there's still a raging debate over what he thought about religion. He once said "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what exactly did Einstein conclude about...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

American leaders say the fight against Osama bin Laden is not a religious war, but are they right?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the deep divide between fundamentalists and the secular world.  Also, a look at true believers in America - from the Holy Rollers of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In the wake of a number of high profile shootings over the past year, people are talking about policing, racism, and injustice. But there's one issue we don't really talk all that much about: fear.This hour, we take a closer look at negative stereotypes about African American men, how those...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Shhh… I have a secret… Now, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." Classic spy joke – but not so funny when it's true. In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge, we'll go the dark side of secrecy - warrantless wiretapping, secret CIA prisons, "extraordinary rendition,"...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It's time to wish you a Happy 2006 – if you use the Gregorian Calendar. And a Happy 1427 by the Islamic calendar, or a Fruitful 4704 in China, where it's the Year of the Dog. But then, if you accept the Big Bang Theory, let us wish you a Happy 13 Billion, 700 Million. However you calculate it,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

From Soup to Nuts:

Part Three

Meat and Potatoes isn't just what's for dinner. Meat and Potatoes is a way of life. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, food that sticks to your ribs. We'll get into the science of the French fry and...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Pentagon has something new: a microwave mounted on a Humvee that shoots an energy beam cooking everything in its path.  Is this a new weapon in our war on terrorism?  No, it’s the Marines’ “non-lethal” device for crowd control.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more

Doug Gordon heads off to host and produce "Beta" on WPR Next.

TTBOOK staffers share some of our favorite interviews and shows produced by our favorite Canadian. Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The average American spends more time on Facebook than with their pets or exercising -- and that's not counting Twitter, Instagram, or Vine. We're more connected than ever these days, but at what cost?Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Toby Young thought he had it made.  He had a prestigious job at Vanity Fair magazine, a press pass that got him in everywhere, and a suave British accent to boot.  He was poised to take Manhattan.  Then everything went wrong.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, flops, failures and...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Most movie stars will do anything to stay in the limelight.  But Debra Winger didn’t care.  Six years ago, she walked out of Hollywood.  She even taped her retirement card above her mirror so she’d see it every day.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, Debra Winger talks about the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Suppose you drop a family photograph on the subway, is it still yours?  Not if Brian Dunn finds it.  He collects lost photos and makes them his own.  I’m Jim Fleming.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge “Who owns what?”  If there are copyrights are there copy “...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

With the help of a smartphone app, you can now order dinner, hire a driver, or even schedule a housecleaner. Whatever it is you need, there's probably an app for that. But does all this convenience come at a cost? This hour, the rise of the on-demand economy, and how it's changing the nature of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

goggles

“Gifts make slaves, like whips make dogs” is a saying from Greenland’s Inuit culture.
How do you feel when someone gives you a gift? Grateful? Uncomfortable? Indebted?

Our guests weigh in on how major philanthropy could change the world, and the donors themselves. And one woman's...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

Pages