Anne Strainchamps sat down with the great Turkish writer Elif Shafak. Her latest novel, “The Architect’s Apprentice,” is an epic tale set in the height of the Ottoman Empire. It has bloodshed. It was palace intrigue. It has romance. And, yes, it has architecture.
Shafak’s tale centers around a 16th century mosque architect named Mimar Sinan. Though a character in her novel, Sinan was also a real person – considered to be the greatest architect in the Islamic World.
Renowned British paleontologist Simon Conway Morris believes human-like intelligence was the inevitable outcome of the appearance of life on earth.
We hear a round-up of some of the latest research into happiness, from economist Richard Layard, and psychologists Robert Biswas-Diener and Sonja Lyubomirsky.
When you talk about Japanese popular culture, there's one name that towers above all others. Literally. Godzilla. The giant green lizard recently became an official Japanese citizen. William Tsutsui knows all there is to know about this larger-than-life movie star; he's the author of "Godzilla on My Mind."
Jazz pianist and cognitive scientist Vijay Iyer just won a MacArthur "genius" award. He's also landed a job at Harvard teaching music. He tells Anne Strainchamps how he incorporates science into his music.
William Staples tells Steve Paulson about the latest in psychographics and biometrics and why civil libertarians are worried.
Journalist Samuel Freedman says that American Jews are free to assimilate to whatever extent they choose, but this very freedom has caused new tensions and divisions within the Tribe.
Writer Stephen Kuusisto is blind. He talks of what he remembers about visiting the seashore and a stable in Finland as a child.
