How do we prevent baby boomers from bankrupting Social Security? Satirist Christopher Buckley has an idea - get the boomers to commit voluntary suicide...for tax incentives.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
From Mandeville, LA, listener Sophia Derbes sent us this ghost story, called "The Lake."
It's a sad fact that the number of suicides has exploded in recent decades. Writer Jennifer Hecht, who's lost two friends to it, makes a philosophical argument against suicide.
Shortly before he was three, Ron Suskind's son was diagnosed with a rare form of autism that left him withdrawn and silent. Years later, the family used Disney films to draw him out. Ron Suskind writes about it in his book, Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism.
Jim Fleming talks with Anna Quindlen about writing newspaper columns and writing novels. Quindlen believes both forms deserve respect.
Neil Gaiman is famous for his mythic fiction - from old gods haunting American back roads to children raised by ghosts. He talks about how our lives are shaped and scarred by childhood experiences.
In 1969, Frederic Whitehurst was a military intelligence officer burning documents in Vietnam. Then he stumbled on the remarkable diary of North Vietnamese Dr. Dang Thuy Tram. Defying orders, he saved her diary, which later became one of the bestselling books in Vietnamese history.
Alan Hirsch is a neurologist and psychiatrist in Chicago. He's matched up personality profiles with people's junk food choices.
Pages
