The Turkish writer and Nobel laureate says his favorite novel — the 800-plus-page Russian novel bursting with characters living the life of imperial Russian society — is a complex miracle of a book.More
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Interviews By Topic
Paul Stamets may be the most passionate mycologist on the planet. He tells Steve why new medicines and technologies derived from mushrooms might save life as we know it.More
The author of "Another Brooklyn" recommends a James Baldwin novel she says belongs on everyone's bookshelf.More
Father-daughter beatboxers Nicole Paris and Ed Cage take vocal percussion from the cradle to the stage.More
Famous for his smash hit "Don’t Worry Be Happy," Bobby McFerrin is way more than that song. McFerrin talks to Steve about an eight-year project called "Vocabularies."More
Here’s a very short taste of the power of music. It’s the Finnish acapella group Värttinä.More
Famed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro recommends “Prayers for the Stolen,” by Jennifer Clement —a harrowing tale about young children who are abducted in the midst of Mexican drug wars.More
Singer/songwriter Tori Amos tells Steve Paulson that her new album, "The Beekeeper," is all about reclaiming representatives of the sacred feminine tradition who weren't afraid of their own sexuality.More
Producer Charles Monroe-Kane's son goes to a school with a 13.8% non-vaccination rate. So why aren't his neighbors vaccinating their kids? Charles went out searching for the answer.More
British novelist Zadie Smith tells Steve Paulson why she admires writers who don’t sound just like her. Her book “On Beauty” owes a lot to E.M. Forster...More
Long before Timothy Leary's study of LSD, psychiatrist Stanislav Grof launched his own investigation of psychedelics. Since then he's devoted his life to exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness.More
Cultural critic Stanley Crouch tells Steve Paulson that Americans have some pretty messed up ideas about what it means to be authentic.More
How does a suburban dad with three kids find meaning in Thoreau's "Walden"? Tom Fate says Thoreau helps us examine a basic question: How much is enough?More
In 2008, journalist Anand Gopal travelled to Afghanistan to speak with civilians, warlords and Taliban fighters about the US-led war in the country. In his book, "No Good Men Among the Living," he argues the distinction between America's allies and enemies in the country isn't always clear.More
In this look behind the scenes, producer Veronica Rueckert and Anne Strainchamps remember our interview with Amy Wallace-Havens, the sister of the late David Foster Wallace. More
In 2005, David Foster Wallace addressed the graduating class at Kenyon College in California. Anne Strainchamps looks back at this recording and what it's come to mean to her and her family.More
Why have some parents started second guessing their pediatrician’s advice, to the point that measles is showing up in Disneyland? Historian Arthur Allen explains how we got here.More
Tucker Malarkey has written a novel called "Resurrection" about the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels in Egypt in 1945.More