We all love the feeling of getting lost in a good story and seeing the world through a character’s eyes. Recently, psychologists have been studying whether that experience actually changes readers. Novelist and cognitive psychologist Keith Oatley tells us about the latest research connecting fiction with empathy.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Ron Corn Jr. is one of about 20 fluent speakers of the Menominee language. He has devoted his life to saving his language from extinction through the community-based Menominee Language Institute.
The YA novel “Wolf Brother" is part of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series by Michelle Paver. The books are set 6000 years ago and follow the adventures of 12-year old Torak and his wolf companion as they battle great evil to save the world..
Thebe Medupe is an astrophysicist who grew up under apartheid. He talks about the stories he grew up hearing from his village elders and the astronomical legends of the Dogun people in Mali.
Stefan Gates is the author of and a self-described "Gastronaut" – someone who'll stop at nothing to experience a transcendent moment through food, no matter how bizarre.
Art critic, novelist and editor Wendy Lesser reads excerpts from her essay "Hitchcock's Vertigo."
Sherry Turkle discusses the ways in which we are already developing relationships with personal robotic devices from cellphones and iPods to toys like the Furby and My Real Baby.
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.
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