Yann Martel's novel "Life of Pi" is an adventure story and also a meditation on religious faith. He says a good religion is like a good story.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Native American writer Sherman Alexie talks with Steve Paulson about his stories, the film “Smoke Signals,” and being Indian in America.
Novelist T. Coraghessan Boyle talks with Jim Fleming about his latest. “Drop City” is set in a California commune in the 1970s, and concerns the activities at one of America’s many private little Utopias.
Journalist and editor Tom Shroder tells Jim Fleming about the remarkable cases he's investigated of children who insist they belong to a family other than the one they were born into.
Are political beliefs predetermined at birth? Encoded in our genes? Political scientist John Hibbing does fMRI studies of liberal and conserative brains and says there are significant biological differences. His message: stop yelling at the other party. They can't help what they think.
Celebrated jazz pianist Vijay Iyer has a Ph.D in music cognition and a penchant for asking big questions - like, what is music? And what does it do for us? Steve Paulson caught up with Vijay backstage before a recent concert, where they talked about improvisation and the parallels between jazz and basketball.
“Should Scotland be an independent country?” That was the question on the September 18th referendum across the nation of Scotland. The NO side won, with 55% against independence. But how do the YES voters feel?
For decades, urbanists have said that ordinary people already know how to solve problems in their communities.
Al Letson says what he's seen around the United States proves that true. Letson's the host of the public radio program, State of the Re:Union.
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