“A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.” -- Lorrie Moore
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Episode Archives
From Facebook to Twitter to Wikipedia, World of Warcraft to YouTube, the life of the community has moved on line. And taken on a life of its own. The power of we, and the move toward collective identity and global think.Read more
How many ways can you imagine the end of the world? To celebrate the end of 2012, we've gathered some of our favorite apocalyptic fiction. Doomsday scenarios from award-winning novelists and short story writers, featuring zombie invasions, mutant plagues, fire and...Read more
A little laugh goes a long way. This week, we’re taking a crash course in how to be funny.
From Chicago’s famous Second City, to a humor research lab, this hour's a laugh riot. We also talk with a laughter coach, Canadian comic Mary Walsh, and longtime New Yorker humorist Ian...Read more
Are you afraid of getting old? Most people are, but studies show we're usually happier in our 60s and 70s. Aging often brings wisdom and resilience - and a new creative spark. We celebrate the fine art of aging - and hear about some artists who remade their careers late in life.Read more
Roast pig may look delicious on the holiday table, but you might pass on the pork if you met Piglet. That famous New Zealand pig swam in the ocean each day, loved the violin and, as the story goes, sang to the moon. But she was more than an exceptional pet. To one man she was an ambassador...Read more
East Meets West
Part Five
Tariq Ramadan is a controversial philosopher who believes Muslims can thrive in secular, Western society. Ayaan Hirsi Ali disagrees. She's an equally controversial figure who's living under a death threat...Read more
The physics world has a darling - it's called string theory. The idea that the universe is composed of infinitesimal vibrating strings. String theory has been the subject of bestselling books, popular TV series and countless articles. But is it a dead end street? In this hour of on To the...Read more
Ever get the feeling that nothing’s original these days, that every new song that comes out is just a rehash of another? This hour, we’re looking at the fine line between inspiration and imitation, and finding out what separates an original work from a bland copy.Read more
The state of Israel turns Sixty in 2008, but what is its future as a Jewish democracy? The Arab population in Israel will soon outnumber the Jews. Even diehard Zionists are calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a look at the role Israeli...Read more
Imagine sipping tea with a militant Muslim and listening to how he set off a series of bombs in a crowded marketplace, trying to kill as many people as possible. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, an anthropologist describes her visit to a militant training camp in Pakistan. ...Read more
When’s the last time you took a selfie? You know, a snapshot of yourself that you share online. From feminist selfies to funeral selfies to politicians’ selfies, there’s been hot debate about selfies lately. This week artists, critics and psychologists weigh in.Read more
Life’s a sim and then you’re deleted. We always thought the computers would get us one day. Maybe they already have. According to one philosopher, odds are we’re already living the Matrix as mere programs in a computer simulation. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
China Mieville’s new novel, “Embassytown,” features sentient beings famous for their unique language and a woman who’s a living simile. Ursula K. LeGuin says that “Embassytown” is “a fully-achieved work of art.” We’ll meet China Mieville, as we explore the language of science fiction. Also...Read more
More than 100 Native Americans nations have come to Standing Rock in solidarity to protest for water rights. This hour we ask a deceptively simple question: Who owns water?
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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
Imagine the world as we know it, only without us. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a writer imagines a world reinventing itself without human beings. He sees the New York subway system returning to its watery origins. The re-absorption of carbon into the earth, and endangered...Read more
Charles Monroe-Kane grew up hearing voices in his head. For years he tried to drown them out with potentially lethal quantities of hard drugs and alcohol. Lithium saved his life but coming clean about his past hasn't been easy. How do you admit, as a public radio producer, that for years you had...Read more
Would you recognize a genius if you met one? We’ll introduce you to four geniuses – or at least four people who just landed MacArthur “genius" awards: classical pianist Jeremy Denk, jazz musician Vijay Iyer, fiction writer Karen Russell and astrophysicist Sara Seager. Also, practical tips on...Read more
James Hood had a dream. He wanted to go to college and get an education. But there was a problem. Hood was a black man in segregated Alabama in 1963. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a variety of views and opinions from Black Americans on their expectations of freedom. We’ll...Read more
A year and a half ago Gary Wolkstein’s doctor told him he had cancer of the spine, that it was terminal, and that he had just a few months left to live. Today Gary’s in fine health. Not, it wasn’t a miracle cure, it was a mistake. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more
Posters at Starbucks ask customers to focus on the world water crisis. Church congregations ask the faithful to go on a "carbon diet." Slate magazine asks readers to take a "green challenge." We've got green cars, green clothing, green politics and even green weddings. In this hour of To the...Read more
The Bible and the Quran are some of our most sacred and revered texts. They're also full of violent passages. Is religion the source of violence and intolerance around the world? We look at how sacred texts inspire both violence and liberation.Read more
John Brown was a terrorist, a man who led a raid in Kansas that butchered five unarmed men. He was also, arguably, of the few white people in 1850s America who was totally color blind. According to a new book he was "the man who killed slavery and sparked the Civil War." So, was John Brown a "...Read more