Novelist Jane Hamilton and her husband grow and sell apples on their farm in Wisconsin...
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Mark Dunn's book, “Ella Minnow Pea,” explores what happens when individual letters begin to be expunged from the language. It’s a technical tour de force since the author labors under the same restrictions as his characters.
There's a nagging question at major sporting events: Are the athletes cheating? Steroids, human growth hormones and blood doping techniques are extending the outer limits of performance, and athletes can use them if they want -- unless they're professionals or Olympic athletes. But is doping really a problem? Australian philosopher and bioethicist Julian Savulescu has a simple litmus test: What contribution is coming from the technology and what is coming from the athlete?
The music of avant-garde composer Philip Glass is distinct and memorable. His span reaches across opera and symphonies to film scores and popular music. One cannot exaggerate the influence this world-renowned composer has had on modern classic music. And now, at 78, Philip Glass has given us one more work to ponder: his memoir, called “Words Without Music.”
At the heart of many Americans' fear of black men is an ugly stereotype -- the stereotype of the black criminal. Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad traces some of our current attitudes about race and crime to the late 19th century, when sociologists first began looking at crime statistics.
What's the best piece of reporting you encountered this year? TTBOOK listeners recommend these stories. We'll add new suggestions as they come in.
Joel Kotkin tells Anne Strainchamps how the power of e-commerce is changing where and how we live. He says that knowledge workers choose to live in nerdistans and valhallas.
Novelist Jonathan Lethem talks about the work of Philip K. Dick. Dick is one of Lethem's literary heroes.
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