Alain de Botton's latest project Is art as therapy. Feeling lonely? Stand in front of the Mona Lisa. Anxious about work? Caspar David Friedrich’s “Rocky Reef on the Seashore” will put everything in perspective. Anne talks with de Botton about his new book, free app, and… upcoming museum shows.
TTBOOK’s Charles Monroe-Kane visits the cornfield in Dyersville, Iowa where they filmed “Field of Dreams.”
Rebecca Goldstein's Dangerous Idea? Teach children to be rigorous critical thinkers.
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.
Benedict Le Vay tells Jim Fleming that many customs still exist in England and are extremely important to the community, even though the reason for them is long forgotten.
Canadian novelist Sheila Heti talks about her new novel, "How Should a Person Be?" It's fiction, but the characters are real people -- they seem to be Sheila herself and her friends. Some of the dialogue is from actual conversations she transcribed. So what is this thing?
Doug Peacock is a legend in wilderness circles. A friend of Edward Abbey, Peacock was a Vietnam vet so traumatized by the war that he escaped into the wilderness once he returned to America. He says grizzlies saved his life.
Dilshad Ali talks about reading the Christian-influenced Narnia tales to her children.
