A little laugh goes a long way. This week, we’re taking a crash course in how to be funny.
From Chicago’s famous Second City, to a humor research lab, this hour's a laugh riot. We also talk with a laughter coach, Canadian comic Mary Walsh, and longtime New Yorker humorist Ian...Read more
Are you afraid of getting old? Most people are, but studies show we're usually happier in our 60s and 70s. Aging often brings wisdom and resilience - and a new creative spark. We celebrate the fine art of aging - and hear about some artists who remade their careers late in life.Read more
President Obama's surrounded by science advisors. So you might figure he doesn't need to know much about physics, but you'd be mistaken. How is a President supposed to assess the risk of a "dirty bomb," or weigh the pros and cons of various energy sources, from solar power to nuclear energy?...Read more
Many of us first met Islam on 9/11 with planes slamming into the World Trade Center – not a very good first impression. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a proper introduction, as we talk with Muslims and Westerners who are redefining our relationship. From a Danish cartoonist with a...Read more
There are people in the world who love books – and there are people who would kill for books. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the pleasures and perils of book collecting. We’ll go on the road with veteran book buyers Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. And, we’ll meet...Read more
How do you win friends and influence people if you're an immigrant from Leningrad who's bullied at school? You write your way to friendship. That's what Gary Shteyngart did. We meet him in this hour as we explore creative writing. Also, the connection between alcohol and creativity. And how...Read more
"Every time a bell rings, an Angel gets its wings." At this time of year you're likely to hear that line over and over again, as Jimmy Stewart plows through "It's a Wonderful Life." But he's not the only one who's seen an angel - in or out of the movies. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Photographers capture heartache and agony. What does it mean for them? And what does it mean for us, those viewing the photos? Do these images create empathy? Compassion? Or something else?Read more
DEVO co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh talks about his visual art exhibition, "Myopia," and Joshua Wolf Shenk lays waste to the myth of the lone genius as we explore the creative process.Read more
Every person on earth is unique and special, but some people – maybe one in a hundred – are autistic. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we get to know a few autistic people with Asperger's Syndrome. We'll hear what it's like to try to live in the world when you have visionary...Read more
Every sixty seconds, 259 new people show up in the world's cities. No one is building housing for them. No government is planning for them. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll explore the evolving city in a world of a billion squatters, with another billion on the way.Read more
Would you be surprised to know there are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in human history? An estimated 27 million people live in bondage. On this To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new abolitionists – including a reporter who risked his life to document the global traffic...Read more
Imagine a relative who thinks sex is like a handshake. Who organizes orgies with the neighbors, doesn't mind if their partner sleeps around and firmly believes females should be in charge of everything. Actually, those ARE your relatives. They're bonobo apes and they share...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
They weren’t exactly the Marx brothers, but Groucho had more in common with Karl Marx than you might think. Both had minds that were lightning fast, and both were professional provocateurs. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’ll reassess these two legendary figures – the...Read more
It’s a mob scene in Madison, Wisconsin as novelist Mark Winegardner reveals the new Godfather. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge our yearly stage show at the Wisconsin Book Festival. Guests also include singer/songwriter Jane Siberry and the humor writers from The Onion.
This...Read more
East Meets West
Part Four
Imagine growing up in Pakistan. Islam is a way of life. You get up every morning at 4:30 to pray. Then when you're 18, you move to the American Midwest, Iowa, to attend college. That's the story Kumail...Read more
It’s Art & Craft week at TTBOOK, but we’re not gluing macaroni to cardboard.
From the halls of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, to MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms; from a craft studio on the coast of Maine, to "outsider artists" at the Venice Biennale... w...Read more
We explore music and memory in this hour -- Kurt Cobain's lasting impact 20 years after his death; insidious and infectious earworms; and the retro worldly music of Pink Martini.Read more
With the elections approaching, candidates and campaigns are working hard to get out the vote. But what would it take to get people politically involved all year round? This hour we explore a few ways, whether it's by using games to make the political process more fun, or mobilizing activists...Read more
American companies generate a lot of wealth. But Americans aren't seeing much of it. Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff says that's because today's corporations are obsessed with one thing -- growth. We'll find out why our economy's operating system is broken and how we can fix it, as we rethink...Read more
Political animosity between the right and the left is off the charts. Social scientists say we're living in one of the most polarized periods in history and that conservatives and liberals don't just disagree anymore. They hate everything about each other. It's time to de-...Read more
Born 200 years ago, Charles Darwin was a revolutionary figure, and yet polls show that more than half of all Americans still don't accept his theory of evolution. So, is Darwinian evolution compatible with faith in God? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what Darwin himself thought...Read more