Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen is a leading figure in Scandinavian jazz, famous for his meditative, almost prayful music. In his latest recording, he's collaborated with singer Simin Tander to reinterpret Norwegian church hymns and the poems of the Sufi mystic Rumi.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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So, is it society, nurture if you will, that creates the monsters among us or is it our nature? Enter the Fierce People - the indigenous Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon.
Benjamin Percy's new novel"The Dead Lands" is a wilderness thriller set in a post-apocalyptic landscape. The descendants of Lewis and Clark reprise their ancestors' epic cross-country journey in search of a new beginning.
If climate change is the most urgent problem facing humanity, why are there so few novels about it? Acclaimed novelist Amitav Ghosh believes that’s a big problem. He says climate change is less a science problem than a crisis of imagination.
For writer and educator Parker Palmer, solitude is essential to recharging and gaining new perspective on life. He's just returned from a week-long retreat in the winter woods of Wisconsin, and stopped by our studio to talk about what what he gains from being alone.
Ruth Padel is an acclaimed British poet and a direct descendent of Charles Darwin. She’s now written “Darwin: A Life in Poems,” having grown up hearing stories about her famous ancestor.
The common wisdom is that we’re getting more violent all the time. Witness the genocides and world wars of the last century. But cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker says we have it all wrong. And in his 800 page book “The Better Angels of Ourselves” he makes the case for how violence has declined.
Satish Kumar, a former Jain monk and follower of Ghandi, tells Steve Paulson that the secret to a stress-free life is to take it at a walking pace.
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