Episode Archives

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Film-maker David Lynch has been "diving within" through the Transcendental Meditation technique for more than 30 years.  Now Lynch has created a foundation that wants to help students discover their full creative potential through T.M. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, David Lynch...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Space, the final frontier. But is science fiction the final frontier when it comes to being a literature of ideas? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll wax philosophical about science fiction with two of the genre's greatest writers -- George R.R. Martin and Ursula K. Le Guin....Read more

spare change

Why do we assume more money is better?  Maybe if we weren't so focused on how much we have, we'd ask a better question:  How much is enough?  We explore the relationship between money and happiness, and alternative forms of currency.  Also, Great Britain's experiment in Gross...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What happens when a Little League game turns into an epic battle to save the world from an evil, shape-shifting Coyote, and the fate of the Universe hangs on an 11-year-old boy?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, kids books for adults.  Also, remembering L. Frank Baum, the creator of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Jewish High Holy Days come to an end every fall on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  This year, we're thinking about atonement and forgiveness.  Whether you're Jewish or non-Jewish, secular or religious, forgiveness is something we all struggle with.  Today we explore the path to...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Couples know the frightening statistic: 50 percent of today’s marriages will fail.  And the real victims are the children.  As they grow up they are more likely to be aggressive or depressed, end up in mental health hospitals, or get divorced themselves.  In this hour of To the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

George Orwell wrote "1984" in response to two of the reigning ideologies of his day - fascism and communism. Does his dystopian story of Big Brother and Doublethink still matter today? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk with actor Tim Robbins, who recently staged a...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In the wake of a number of high profile shootings over the past year, people are talking about policing, racism, and injustice. But there's one issue we don't really talk all that much about: fear.This hour, we take a closer look at negative stereotypes about African American men, how those...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Shhh… I have a secret… Now, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." Classic spy joke – but not so funny when it's true. In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge, we'll go the dark side of secrecy - warrantless wiretapping, secret CIA prisons, "extraordinary rendition,"...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Grim news from Africa is easy to find, but there are good things happening there too.  The creator of the Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency wants you to know all about them.  He calls himself a Utopian writer.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll visit the real Botswana with...Read more

tarot cards

Wouldn't it be great if we could predict the future? We could invest wisely, prepare for social change, and have next season's fashionable footwear.

But in our accelerated world, it seems increasingly difficult to figure out what the next big thing will be. In this hour, are trends a...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It's time to wish you a Happy 2006 – if you use the Gregorian Calendar. And a Happy 1427 by the Islamic calendar, or a Fruitful 4704 in China, where it's the Year of the Dog. But then, if you accept the Big Bang Theory, let us wish you a Happy 13 Billion, 700 Million. However you calculate it,...Read more

Doug Gordon heads off to host and produce "Beta" on WPR Next.

TTBOOK staffers share some of our favorite interviews and shows produced by our favorite Canadian. Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Pentagon has something new: a microwave mounted on a Humvee that shoots an energy beam cooking everything in its path.  Is this a new weapon in our war on terrorism?  No, it’s the Marines’ “non-lethal” device for crowd control.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In India he’s known as the giggling guru.  In America Dr. Maden Kataria is famous in certain circles as the man who founded Laughter Yoga.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the man who’s changing the world with chuckles, chortles and belly laughs.  And, why more and more people...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge one man’s attempt to apologize for the sins of his family’s past.  Also, mizuko kuyo, the Japanese ritural ceremony of apology to aborted fetuses.  What does it mean to say “I’m sorry.”Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It’s up for debate whether or not the business of America is business.  But like it or not, corporate culture touches us all.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the quirky online marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers from all over the world.  But is e-bay really the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Two years ago a professor in Wisconsin checked her mail and found a most unusual letter...from an Iraqi graduate student asking for scholarly advice.  Since then professor Susan Friedman has exchanged hundreds of e-mails with academics in Iraq.  And she's heard harrowing accounts of academic...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

How's your basic knowledge of religion? Can you name the Ten Commandments? The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism? What happens during Ramadan? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll hear an argument for why every American should know the basics of the world's religions. Also, Muslim hip...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Mind and Brain

Neuroscientists have made remarkable discoveries about the brain, but so far, no one's come close to cracking the biggest mystery of all - the connection between the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Kashmir has been called the most beautiful place on earth.  Today, it’s the melting point for a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan.  It’s a situation that’s been called more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an Indian writer mourns the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

 After one of the ugliest and most divisive presidential races in history -- can America heal? Weeks of vitriolic campaign rhetoric have taken a toll on friends and families. A majority of voters are disgusted with politics and don’t believe the next president will be able to unite the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Electrons to Enlightenment

Part Five

 

In the real world where we take out the garbage, we sometimes brush up against wonder and awe. We all look for it in different places. Some of us find it in God, like the great mystic poet...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Subdivisions. Industrial Parks. Strip Malls. Gridlock. Sprawl is socially unequal, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Right? We'll look at the costs and, YES, the benefits of suburban sprawl. Because maybe, just maybe, sprawl is a good thing.Read more

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