Karen Russell talks about her new e-novella, "Sleep Donation."
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen is a leading figure in Scandinavian jazz, famous for his meditative, almost prayful music. In his latest recording, he's collaborated with singer Simin Tander to reinterpret Norwegian church hymns and the poems of the Sufi mystic Rumi.
Rebecca Dopart was working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland, in the mid-90s. While there, she fell in love and got married. Just three weeks after her wedding, her father-in-law died. In this story, Dopart recalls how her husband tended to his father’s body.
Roger Ebert won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and is probably the most famous movie critic in America. He talks with Steve Paulson about the movie genre known as film noir.
The common wisdom is that we’re getting more violent all the time. Witness the genocides and world wars of the last century. But cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker says we have it all wrong. And in his 800 page book “The Better Angels of Ourselves” he makes the case for how violence has declined.
White Americans of European descent will make up less than half the population by 2042, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In other words, white people will soon become a demographic minority. Philosopher Linda Martin Alcoff says that shift represents a sea change in how we'll think about American identity. She’s the author of the new book “The Future of Whiteness.” Alcoff told Steve Paulson that before we contemplate the future, we need to grapple with what it means to be white today.
Have you got a nose for the new? Do you make fast decisions, based on incomplete information? Do you lose your temper quickly? Are you bored a lot? Do you thrive in chaotic situations? You might be a born seeker… what Winifred Gallagher calls a neophiliac.
Take the quiz. Are you a neophiliac?
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/the-well-quiz-how-adventurous-are-you/
Susannah Cahalan talks about her book, "Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness."
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