Tom Shippey, author of “Tolkien: Author of the Century,” talks with Steve Paulson about the great fantasy writer’s life, the origins of hobbits, and Tolkien’s motivation for writing fantasy.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Anthropologist Scott Atran has spent a decade interviewing jailed suicide bombers and jihadist military leaders. He says religious terrorists are motivated by the many of the same human values celebrated in every culture: brotherhood, loyalty, and the dream of a better world.
Jason Padgett was a hard-partying guy until a traumatic brain injury turned him into a math genius. Now, he sees complex geometric designs everywhere he looks.
As far as questions of neurology, perhaps no creature is more mysterious and amazing than the octopus. In this EXTENDED interview, science writer Sy Montgomery talks about what she discovered when she met Athena, an octopus at the New England Aquarium.
Stephen Asma tells Jim Fleming how today’s public institutions grew out of the bizarre private collections of people like Peter the Great.
Shiva Bidar-Sielaff tells Anne Strainchamps that just translating the words isn’t enough in the case of patients from different backgrounds and cultures.
Walter Hamady is the proprietor of the Perishable Press Limited, and among the most celebrated American printers of fine, limited edition books.
Sandor Katz is the guru of the fermentation revival. He explores the roots of our culture in all things cultured.
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