Dean Hamer says that human beings are hard-wired for belief and are genetically pre-disposed to reach beyond their own limitations.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Benjamin Nugent is the author of "American Nerd: The Story of My People." He tells Jim Fleming there are two main categories of nerds and something about their history and the different nerdy subcultures.
Historian Donald Sassoon tells Jim Fleming that the Mona Lisa is a great painting, but that other factors conspired to make it an international icon.
Bob Jacobson attaches no moral value to working. He has a job, but would rather spend his time loafing, and gives some examples of his past jobs.
National Book Award winner Andrea Barrett writes some of the most beautiful fiction we know about scientists. The stories in her new collection, "Archangel" explore the history of knowledge through five linked characters. After reading it, we're awfully glad she gave up biology to write fiction.
TTBOOK's Technical Director, Caryl Owen, provides an essay on her lifelong fascination with sound and technology, and her fear of losing her hearing to the condition known as tinnitus.
Edmund Morris says Theodore Roosevelt was a force of nature - man of towering intellect, boundless physical energy and firm convictions whose greatest achievement as President was his commitment to conservation.
Producer Sara Nics on the story behind this show... how she's tried to come to terms with our narrative selves.
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