Nearly 2500 years ago, Socrates celebrated the pursuit of wisdom, and famously said “the unexamined life is not worth living.” But does rigorous self examination actually lead to a happy or fulfilled life? It didn’t seem to work some of history’s most famous philosophers, including...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
It’s Art & Craft week at TTBOOK, but we’re not gluing macaroni to cardboard.
From the halls of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, to MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms; from a craft studio on the coast of Maine, to "outsider artists" at the Venice Biennale... w...Read more
Boots on the Ground: Stories from the War in Iraq
Part Five
At least 120 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began. They're targets for insurgents. But what are journalists to the US military? A necessary evil? Or...Read more
Belly up to the bar as To the Best of Our Knowledge spends an hour with drinkers and drunks. Meet the man who invented the Cosmopolitan. He says it’s a really simple drink. All you need is fresh lime juice.Read more
We’re off to the scene of the crime. Need a lawyer? Maybe you should find an evidence broker. He’s the guy you go to see when you’ve been accused of a crime and you need witnesses to prove you didn’t do it. At least that’s how it worked in the 18th century. Novelist David Liss talks about...Read more
General Patton wrote in 1943 that, "War is very simple, direct, and ruthless. It takes simple direct, and ruthless men to wage it." In this hour of To The Best Of Our Knowledge, simple and direct conversations with the ruthless men who wage war. We'll talk with a machine gunner stationed in Iraq...Read more
Hillary Clinton once described herself as a "Rorschach test." People see in her what they want, whether they love her or hate her. In this hour of To the Best Of Our Knowledge we'll talk about the complicated feelings many women have about Hillary, her marriage to Bill, and whether it's possible...Read more
Do you ever get the feeling that everyone's reading all the same books and listening to all the same music, and seeing all the same films? Maybe there's a reason why. New York and Los Angeles account for only a fraction of landmass when it comes to the continental United States...Read more
Cult film director John Waters has been described as the "Pope of filth" and the "King of Trash." To put it mildly, his films have, well, transgressed the boundaries of good taste. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, pushing the limits in film with John Waters. We'll...Read more
What makes a scientific revolution? Thomas Kuhn said it’s when a new paradigm blows the old scientific model out of the water. Fifty years later, we examine Kuhn's legacy, and talk with iconoclastic scientist Rupert Sheldrake, who says science is mired in untested dogmas. Also, stories of two...Read more
What goes into making new music? And how does hearing new music change the way we listen? From the Avant Garde composers of the 1920s, through Japanese noise music, to punk progenitor Richard Hell, we’re looking at how music - and how we hear it - changes. Read more
Imagine a country where Islam is the dominant religion but Christians, Jews and Muslims still live together peacefully – a place where philosophers from all three religions talk and debate openly. Well, there was once such a culture in the Middle Ages. For centuries, Al Andalus was the beacon of...Read more
Guns are a part of our national mythology. Just consider the Western, Annie Oakley, Daniel Boone -- it's hard to deny the role guns had in shaping America.
But what if all those stories were exaggerated at best? What if the gun myth was created in the 19th ...Read more
Mimi Sheraton loves bialys - those Jewish crusty roles with the toasted onion center. She picks one up every morning from her local Manhattan bakery. Sheraton set out to visit the Polish town of Bialystock to find the people who invented this magical bread. But the thriving town of 50,000 didn’t...Read more
The Buena Vista Social Club made history as the top-selling record in world music. It also put Cuban music on center stage, and sparked a brisk tourist trade to Cuba. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk with Ry Cooder, the mastermind behind Buena Vista Records. Also, why...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
President Obama's surrounded by science advisors. So you might figure he doesn't need to know much about physics, but you'd be mistaken. How is a President supposed to assess the risk of a "dirty bomb," or weigh the pros and cons of various energy sources, from solar power to nuclear energy?...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
Many of us first met Islam on 9/11 with planes slamming into the World Trade Center – not a very good first impression. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a proper introduction, as we talk with Muslims and Westerners who are redefining our relationship. From a Danish cartoonist with a...Read more
When did "fat" become a four-letter word? Leaders of the body acceptance movement say it's time to stop shaming fat people. In this hour, curvy girls and plus-size women talk about the emotional and physical costs of America's toxic obsession with weight and body image. Read more
Say the name "Robert Krulwich" and hard-core public radio listeners start smiling. These days Robert does a lot of science journalism, even though he admits he's no expert. He believes everyone's interested, even though they think it's too hard for them. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Do you believe in magic? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’ll talk with some people who do. Join us for a conversation with America’s favorite witch – Starhawk. And uncover your own inner wizard! What Merlin, Dumbledore and Gandalf have to teach us all about living a life...Read more
According to George Bernard Shaw, the seven deadly sins are food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children. This time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll explore the more traditional Seven Deadly Sins. Musician Joe Jackson will tell us how lust, gluttony and the other sins...Read more
We all have our good days and our bad days, but chances are they’re nothing like what Andy Behrman has experienced. Behrman would fly from Zurich to the Bahamas and back in three days to balance hot and cold weather. On the bad days, he’d experience tornado-like rages of depression. In this...Read more