Film director Rodney Ascher recommends Paul Schrader's 1988 movie, "Patty Hearst."
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Music historian Will Friedwald is the author of “Stardust Melodies.” He talks with Steve Paulson about the history of the song “My Funny Valentine” and we hear lots of different interpretations.
Elizabeth Lunbeck talks about her book, "The Americanization of Narcissism."
Tom Lessl conducted a study of the Darwin fish emblem some people slap on their cars. He says that it seems to have little to do with evolution but represents a rejection of fundamentalist Christianity.
Today, the Dutch philosopher Spinoza - father of the Enlightenment - is revered, but in the mid-17th century, he was branded a heretic by his Jewish congregation in Amsterdam. Recently, philosopher Steve Nadler was asked if Spinoza should be exonerated. He explains why he said no.
According to one estimate, the average young person spends about 8 hours a week playing video games. While many parents are worried about all that screen time, there's an emerging body of research that suggests some social and psychological benefits to gaming. And now there's a new generation of educators who want to bring video games into the classroom, not only to make it more fun, but also more effective. Journalist Greg Toppo writes about their efforts in "The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter."
Ry Cooder made history with the record album “Buena Vista Social Club.” He’s been back to Cuba several times to make music and has a new album called “Mambo Sinuendo.”
Neuroscientists say that about a quarter of our mental energy is dedicated to maintaining our narrative identities. Julian Keenan says there's got to be an evolutionary benefit for all that "self".
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