Economists at the University of Warwick in England have calculated the price of happiness. Andrew Oswald tells Steve Paulson that money can buy happiness, but it takes a lot.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
The film “Buzkashi Boys” is a coming of age story set in Afghanistan’s national sport, Buzkashi. It's a game of horse polo played with a dead goat instead of a ball. Plus, a coda from novelist Khaled Hosseini.
From Bloomer, Wisconsin, listener Jonathan Blyth sent us a ghost story called "You Are What You Eat."
In his book "The Ethics of Voting," Georgetown philosopher Jason Brennan argues that we'd be better off if more people stayed home on Election Day. He says citizens don't have a civic duty to vote, and that some of us probably shouldn't vote at all.
Shortly before he was three, Ron Suskind's son was diagnosed with a rare form of autism that left him withdrawn and silent.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.
Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel "The Color Purple." She talks with Jim Fleming about "Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth".
Benjamin Kunkel is not only a bestelling novelist and co-founder of the literary magainze n+1. He tells Steve Paulson why he's also a become Marxist public intellectual.
Alain de Botton talks about his book, "A Week at the Airport."
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