George Vaillant is a Harvard psychiatrist on a mission to reclaim spirituality and ground it in hard science.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Camus said there's only one truly serious philosophical question, and that's suicide. 35 years ago, that idea sparked the single most terrifying moment of Steve Paulson's life. Steve tells the story.
Holly Black is a best-selling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children. Her work includes "The Spiderwick Chronicles." Black tells Anne Strainchamps that girl nerds and geeks definitely exist.
Sleep may be an utterly common activity, but neuroscientist Giulio Tononi believes it's the greatest experiment in consciousness.
You can also listen to the EXTENDED interview, and read the extended transcript.
Hardeep Dhaliwal has an interesting take on “The Wizard of Oz.” She thinks it’s riddled with Yogic symbolism.
Satirist George Saunders has been a Guggenheim Fellow and received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." For his essay on the dumbing down on American media, he created "Megaphone Guy."
Greil Marcus is one of America's most admired pop culture critics, and has now taken on the entire American canon.
A lot of people dismiss fashion as frivolous, but Media Studies professor Minh-Ha Pham says it's a great lens through which to study race, gender and class politics. "Fashion and so many other kinds of culture and practices that are traditionally associated with women... are often seen as frivolous," she says, and "that dismissal of fashion is linked to a larger, a broader sexism in our culture."
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