Reverend Jamie Coots was a snake handler and Pentecostal preacher in Middlesboro, Kentucky. He died this past Saturday, when the rattlesnake he was handling during a church service bit him.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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What happens to your digital self when you die? Currently, Facebook lets users "memorialize" their pages, giving family members a virtual space to post rememberances. Religious studies professor Candi Cann believes new digital tools like these are changing the way we mourn, by letting anyone share their stories about someone who's died, and preserving social connections to departed loved ones.
Have you heard about "sacred economics"? It's Charles Eisenstein's viral idea, that we need to get our economic systems back in line with our values.
Looking for the extended interview with Eisenstein? Here it is.
If you like novels about computers and the history of technology, then you must know Neal Stephenson's work. The author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle talks with us about his new novel -- a fast-paced thriller about the world of hyper-gaming. It's called "Reamde."
Author John D'Agata and fact-checker Jim Fingal talk about the boundaries of literary nonfiction as chronicled in their book, "The Lifespan of a Fact."
Matthew Crawford is a philosopher and mechanic talks about why manual work matters.
Paleontologist Peter Ward tells Steve Paulson that big carnivores are unlikely to survive outside zoos but creatures that can survive around humans - like rats and coyotes - will thrive in the future.
Michael Gates Gill told us in his first book how Starbucks saved his life. He's back with "How to Save Your Own Life" – a series of life lessons.
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