Howard Axelrod was accidentally blinded in one eye in a freak accident when he was in college. Disoriented and depressed, he retreated to an off-the-grid cabin in the Vermont wilderness. He stayed there, alone, for 2 years. Now he's published a memoir about his period of renunciation, "The Point of Vanishing."
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Taner Edis says the state of science is dismal in the Muslim world today.
Is science really open to every good idea? Controversial biologist Rupert Sheldrake says modern science is mired in various dogmas - boundaries you're not supposed to cross, at least if you value your job and your reputation.
For Robert Farris Thompson, the most beautiful, intimate and passionate of dances is Argentine tango.
Former Senator Bob Kerrey talks with Steve Paulson about one bloody night in Vietnam that has haunted him for decades.
Steven Connor says there's much more to ventriloquism than exchanging quips with a wooden dummy. He tells Anne Strainchamps that a lot of this history has to do with the disembodied voice.
This book really got us excited. 12 x 36. 10 pounds. Everyone wanted to touch it. Borrow it. Talk about it. It felt like magic. And the title was just as mysterious – Codex Seraphinianus. Publisher Charles Mier tell us what the hell it is (and what is isn't).
Want to see the first 74 pages of the "world's weirdest book"?
Sarah Bakewell is the author of “How to Live” an unorthodox biography of the great French philosopher and essayist Montaigne.
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