Michael Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for his literary criticism in the Washington Post Book World. Among his collections of essays is Classics for Pleasure.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Ahhh, the sound of grizzly bears fighting over salmon in a tidal pool. Incredible! When you listen to those grizzly bears you are listening to one of the greatest, if not thee greatest, resource American has. It’s land. William Cronon says our land IS who we are. So it makes since, that in the 19th century a bold and visionary invention was created: the National Park. Cronon told Steve Paulson that National Parks are America's greatest invention.
So, there’s a serious proposal on the table. Should we genetically engineer disease-carrying species of mosquitoes out of existence? The technology exists and some pretty prominent scientists think we should.
Let’s check in with Sonia Shah. She’s a science journalist who writes about pandemics and pathogens and the social history of disease. She wrote one of the best histories of malaria – a book called “The Fever”, and she has a pretty different perspective on the kill or be killed debate.
Cancer patient Katie Paul has ovarian cancer and describes how the disease has changed her life.
We hear a clip from the 2007 film "When Nietzsche Wept" which introduces the concept of "eternal recurrence."
As Jim prepares to step out of the hosting chair, he welcomes Anne as the new TTBOOK host and reflects on his long career in radio. We also hear listeners' letters to Jim.
Mark Strand is the former Poet-Laureate of the United States, and the author of “Hopper.” He talks about Edward’s Hopper’s classic painting, “Nighthawks.”
Visionary computer scientist Jaron Lanier talks about his new book, "Who Owns the Future?"
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