As the Books Editor of Paste Magazine, Charles McNair cares deeply about what we read. But McNair is concerned that we're only reading a handful of the artists available to us, thanks to what he calls a kind of geographic hegemony of taste-making. In other words - we're all reading the same books because a handful of respected critics on the East and West coasts tell us to.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Dave Edmunds is a guitarist, singer and producer. He doesn’t have a lot of name recognition outside the industry, but has worked with stars from kd lang to Paul McCartney.
We hate mosquitoes.
But why? I mean, yes --- West Nile, dengue, malaria, Zika…not to mention ruined picnics, sleepless nights, and bites you scratch until they bleed … Those are logical reasons to dislike mosquitoes. But admit it – they also just creep you out.
Jeffrey Lockwood gets at the psychology in his book “The Infested Mind.” He’s an entomologist who once had a truly horrific encounter with a swarm of grasshoppers. He was left traumatized. Afterwards he wondered why we all fear and loathe insects so much.
Lockwood told Rehman Tungekar the answer is deep deep in our psyches.
Information, information everywhere... where's knowledge? David Weinberger from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society says knowledge lies in the links between data and info.
Eileen Kane revisits her experience as a young, newly married, trainee anthropologist studying the Paiute Indians of Nevada.
Clark Strand is the author of "How to Believe in God," and a contributing editor at Tricycle: A Buddhist Review.
Ben Folds is a singer/songwriter from North Carolina who recently joined forces with Nick Hornby, the critically-acclaimed novelist from England.
Nick Bostrom's Dangerous Idea? Societies should limit the development of harmful technologies while promoting beneficial ones.
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