Zia Hassan had a life-changing conversation with a 9-year old boy in a Washington backyard. A conversation that 2.5 million people around the world have watched on YouTube. Zia tells us about the boy he calls "The Philosopher."
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Steve Paulson profiles savage literary critic Dale Peck. A collection of Peck’s reviews is called “Hatchet Jobs.”
Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist who's written books on consciousness, memes and Zen Buddhism. She says her daily practice of meditation has revealed truths that have eluded the scientific study of consciousness.
You can also listen to the EXTENDED interview, and read the extended transcript.
Recently hundreds of Evangelical leaders met with Donald Trump. One prominent Evangelical who did not attend is Michael Gerson, the former speechwriter and top aide to President George W. Bush. Gerson believes it's time to reframe the conservative agenda and he warns his fellow believers to beware “The Mark of Trump.”
Music critic Yuval Taylor tells Steve Paulson that authenticity in music is a complicated business.
Tom Wolfe talks with Steve Paulson, and explains why he's so fascinated by the connection between sex and social status.
Everyone thinks The Arabian Nights is a collection of stories and folktales from the Middle East. In fact, some of the most famous were written by Europeans, who fell in love with the tradition and wanted more.
As the daughter of a child psychologist, writer Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew weary of the simple solutions offered by popular self-help books. So maybe it was only natural that she wanted to understand why people liked them so much. To find out, she read hundreds of books and articles, journeyed to conferences headed by self-improvement icons, and even conquered her fear of flying along the way.
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