In one of his most personal books, Sacks recalls his childhood in wartime London and the important role chemistry played in his life. He explains how he was comforted by the rigor and orderliness of science.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Nick Bostrom is a philosopher at Yale. In his paper “The Simulation Argument,” he makes the case that life as we know it may be a computer simulation being run by our descendants.
We present two takes on the question of whether or not the world's supply of oil is drying up. Princeton's Ken Deffeyes says production has peaked. Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg says that's just crying wolf.
The massive protests in Ferguson, Missouri are on our minds this week. We explore the racial conflict and police violence with sociologist Alice Goffman.
Singer/songwriter Lisa Germano played violin for rock artist John Mellencamp. Her own album, “Geek the Girl” contains a song, “The Psychopath,” based on her experiences with an obsessed fan.
Joan Didion, who died last week at the age of 87, helped shape a highly personal brand of nonfiction that came to be known as the New Journalism. Her early essay collections "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" (1968) and "The White Album" (1979) influenced generations of writers. Her later memoirs, "The Year of Magical Thinking" and "Blue Nights," chronicled the deaths of her husband and daughter. In 2011 Didion talked with Steve Paulson about illness and growing old in the wake of the death of her daughter, Quintana.
Marti Leimbach is an autism activist and successful novelist. She talks about her own experiences trying to get help for her autistic son.
Lucy Kaylin tells Steve Paulson that the average age of American nuns is seventy, and that many orders are folding.
Pages
