Richard Holmes is fascinated by what he calls "The Age of Wonder." The subtitle of his book is "how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and the terror of science," and he tells Steve Paulson about how Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" came directly out of the scientific climate of the time.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
How's this for a novel premise? Owen Lerner is a pediatric psychiatrist. One day, he's struck by lightning. He survives but he has a new obsession -- with barbecue. That's the premise behind Mary Kay Zuravleff's novel, "Man Alive!" She talks about its inspiration and the book's themes.
Alfred Russel Wallace is the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution through natural selection, even if Charles Darwin gets all the ink.
About a year ago, independent producer Karen Michel moved from Brooklyn to Pleasant Valley, New York, near the Hudson River. She prepared this piece as a way of getting to know her new neighbors
Mark Barrowcliffe wasted his youth playing Dungeons and Dragons. Now he's turned his obsession into a book.
Lars Svendsen talks with Anne Strainchamps about boredom's long, long history. Or maybe it just seems that way.
Jean Auel is the author of the phenomenally successful “Earth’s Children” series of books. Auel tells Anne Strainchamps about the extensive hands on research that informs her work.
Mukoma Wa Ngugi is a poet and English professor who writes crime novels set in his native Kenya. He says the crime genre lets him write truthfully about race, class and violence in cities like Nairobi.
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