Tom Shippey, author of “Tolkien: Author of the Century,” talks with Steve Paulson about the great fantasy writer’s life, the origins of hobbits, and Tolkien’s motivation for writing fantasy.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne called their Wisconsin home Ten Chimneys. Jim Fleming takes us to visit the property.
Simon Winchester talks about the enormous volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883. The tidal waves killed almost forty thousand people, and the resulting social chaos gave rise to the first incidents of Muslim clerics fomenting violent uprisings against Westerners.
Reinhold Messner is arguably the world’s greatest living mountaineer. He’s climbed 14 of the world’s tallest peaks, and if that isn’t impressive enough, he was the first to climb Mt. Everest alone and without supplemental oxygen. He recounts some of these adventures in a new book called “Reinhold Messner: My Life at the Limit.” Steve Paulson caught up with him and asked how he got hooked on climbing.
Russ Parsons tells Jim Fleming that french fries should be crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and shares the secrets of fried spinach and Tuscan potato chips.
William Christenberry never intended to cross the path of the pain of others with his photos. He takes photos of simple buildings, mostly in Hale County, Alabama.
In this EXTENDED and UNCUT interview, Sarah Lewis talks about the upside of failure.
Steven Kaplan is an American and an expert on bread. So expert, that he tells the French what they’re doing wrong and they love him for it!
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