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.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Mead McCormick is one of 100 finalists for the Mars One program, a private venture that hopes to start a colony on Mars by 2027. She talks to Anne Strainchamps about what attracted her to the project, what she imagines it will look like, and her fears about the blackness of space.
Marvin Minsky tells Steve Paulson he believes machine intelligence is very like human intelligence and that one day people may choose to back themselves up into computers.
Celtic historian John Matthews tells Steve Paulson that Merlin probably was a real person and that wizards are related to our ancient shamans.
Cosmologist Paul Davies talks with Steve Paulson about the anthropic principle and proposes that we live in a "participatory" universe - a premise he explores in his book, "Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life."
Novelist Peter Carey talks about the trip he describes in his book “Wrong about Japan: A Father’s Journey with His Son.” Carey took his then 12 year old son Charley to meet directors of Japanese anime films and creators of manga comics
Merritt Ierley talks with Anne Strainchamps about the domestic technology (central heating, indoor plumbing, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers) that makes American homes the most comfortable in the world.
When John Schwartz’s son, Joseph, was born seventeen years ago, John and his wife were feeling pretty good about their parenting… helping their son Sam and their daughter Elizabeth through the challenges of childhood..
But as Joe grew into toddlerhood, the Schwartzs noticed that he was different… not like most of the other boys. They started to wonder if he might grow up to be gay. They also noticed how the social pressure to be a stereotypical boy weighed on Joe…
Pages
