Bottle caps, coins, dolls, rocks. My Aunt Mary’s ceramic chickens. Most of us collect something. It seems to be in our genes. And for most of us it’s a fun hobby. For others, it can get a little time consuming. But for a few, collecting is an total obsession.
Amanda Petrusich is a music...Read more
Welcome to the digital age. There’s information everywhere but do we know any more than we did twenty years ago? And for all that info... where's knowledge?Read more
Jane Scott keeps strange company. While other women her age spend their time in knitting circles, Scott’s still hanging out with rockers like Lou Reed and Alice Cooper (and showing off her backstage pass.) It’s her job. Or at least it was until she retired as rock critic for the Cleveland...Read more
It would be hard to imagine a more fundamental American value than democracy. For centuries, disenfranchised people have fought for the right to vote. But would we be better off if fewer peoplevoted - if only the people who actually know about public policy were allowed to vote...Read more
The parallels between the recent financial meltdown and that of 1929 are striking. In both cases a financial bubble burst and led to a run on the banks. Both times the Federal Reserve made huge mistakes. So how close did we come to another Great Depression? In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
How do you soak in the essence of a city? In New York, writer Colson Whitehead goes walking ... through Times Square, along Broadway, down into the subway. In Memphis, critic Robert Gordon listens to its music - the blues, soul, rock-n-roll. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll...Read more
Philosophers get a bad rap - they're written off as too academic, too detached from daily life. But we're seeing a philosophy revival, from philosophy cafes to philosophers as therapists. From the Stoics to Spinoza, an argument for why philosophy still matters.Read more
The American middle class used to be living proof that the American dream was alive and well, providing homes and modest savings to anyone willing to work. It’s another story today. In this hour, the decline of the middle class. How rising levels of income inequality shattered...Read more
The legendary movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn once said, you should never predict anything, especially the future. But it’s human nature to go to extremes for a sneak peak of what lies around the corner. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an astrophysicist sheds some light on...Read more
Lynne Truss created a sensation in Britain with a book whose title is a punch line: it’s a punctuation joke that says a panda is a black and white mammal and it “Eats, Shoots and Leaves.” Rules for punctuation and a good life, in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.Read more
As the Bible famously says, "there is nothing new under the sun." That's pretty bleak. If it's all been said and done before, what's left? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, remix culture. Digital sampling, audio hacking, mash-ups… In today's music and art it's all about mix and remix...Read more
Ask any babbling baby. Talking’s fun! At least it is until the grammarians get after you. But Patricia O’Connor says we can all relax, there’s nothing wrong with splitting an infinitive and there never was. In this hour of the Peabody-Award winning program To the Best of Our Knowledge we...Read more
You know who they are – the cool kids – those above-it-all taste-makers whose fashion and entertainment choices predict what everyone else will be wearing and doing next year. What’s their secret? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge exploring cool. A frustrated surfer remembers...Read more
E’len see la luma nomih tyelvoh. That’s Elvish for “A star shines upon the hour of our meeting.” Even if you don’t believe in Elves it’s hard to resist the enchanting languages J.R.R. Tolkien created for the creatures of Middle Earth. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we find out...Read more
The thrill of victory… the agony of defeat. And the human drama of athletic competition. We love sports. And every 4 years we get the pleasure to watch amateur athletes, at the top of their game, compete in the Olympics. And that got us thinking about competition. Because that’s what it’s...Read more
A car accident at twenty-one left John Callahan paralyzed. He’s become a very successful cartoonist -- poking fun at disabilities and the idiosyncrasies of life. His work has been described as “rude, shocking, tasteless, and depraved” – by his fans. Next time on To...Read more
When Charles Mingus died, his widow took his ashes to India and scattered them in the Ganges. But that wasn’t the end. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Sue Mingus talks about the legacy of her late husband’s music: his spirituality, his anger, and his love. Also, a conversation...Read more
As a boy in northwest Ohio during the 1930's, Donald Richie spent a lot of time watching movies about exciting new worlds. So it seems only fitting that Donald Richie went on to live in a different world. For the past 50 years he’s lived in Japan, and has established a reputation as one the of...Read more
Emerging insights from the new science of astrobiology paints a picture of a universe seeded with potential life. While astronomers discover new exoplanets every other week or so, biologists are finding unexpected life in some of the most inhospitable environments on earth. Together, their work...Read more
How much time do you spend thinking about the future? Oh sure, you’ve probably got plans for the weekend, maybe you’re looking for a new job or thinking about how your kids are doing in school.
But how much time to do we spend – as a nation, a global community – thinking about...Read more
What do Hip-Hop and traditional Delta Blues have in common? Down in the bijous and hollers of Mississippi - a lot more than you think. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new revolution in Roots Music. Also, the debate over what’s authentic country music. And, we’ll talk to Nora ...Read more
It's a post-apocalyptic novel that's been compared to Stephen King's "The Stand" and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." It covers a vast time span and features a different kind of vampire, known as "virals." It's called "The Passage" and it's one of this summer's hottest books. We'll meet the author...Read more
Malcolm Gladwell is living proof that a new hairstyle can change your life. After he grew out his hair, people started treating him differently. He racked up speeding tickets. He was surrounded by policemen who thought he was a rapist on the loose. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more
If chocolate be the food of love, eat on! In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why chocolate may be the next big health food. It's our Valentine’s Day special: two best-selling romance writers share tricks of the trade. And, listeners share their true stories of love at first sight...Read more