Novelist Jonathan Carroll talks about his book “White Apples.” It’s the story of a man who finds out he’s already dead, and the afterlife is right here.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
You know that the first settlers called Manhattan "New Amsterdam"? But the Dutch didn't just bring their sailing prowess and placenames with them. Russell Shorto thinks that liberal Dutch ideas about politics and society came too, and shaped the New World.
Judith Thurman tells Steve Paulson that Colette was a great writer who personified “the new woman” and led exactly the life she wanted, despite society’s outrage over her career choices and sexual behavior.
Former casting director Joanna Merlin talks with Jim Fleming about the auditioning process. Her book is “Auditioning: An Actor-Friendly Guide.”
So, what is gender anyhow? Philosopher Judith Butler has been unpacking our notions of "he," "she" and "we" for the past 20 years. She stopped in to help us take stock of the state of gender in the North America.
Linguist John McWhorter says all six thousand contemporary languages evolved from a single source and that there’s no such thing as a pure language.
How will we react, the day we hear the news that scientists have found life on another planet? Science fiction writer Orson Scott Card has dreamed up many first contact scenarios. His classic science fiction novel, "Ender's Game" is all about the consequences of a first contact gone badly wrong. He's just published a long-awaited sequel.
Christian Rudder, the founder of OKCupid, thinks cupid’s arrow may just be an algorithm.
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