Physicist Alan Lightman likes living in a universe filled with mystery. He finds it in the unanswered questions about the cosmos and also in his personal life, including a remarkable interspecies encounter with two ospreys.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Film critic Roger Ebert’s written a book called “The Great Movies” in which he describes 100 films he thinks make the cut. Among them is Richard Lester’s film of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.” Ebert talks about why that film is so important.
Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi explores one of the Cold War's most controversial figures in her book "The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive science of Thermonuclear War."
Ryan Nerz talks with Steve Paulson about competitive eating as a bona fide sport modeled on the world wrestling federation.
Polar science becomes art in the hands of novelist Lucy Jane Bledsoe ("Big Bang Symphony") and musician Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky). Here are some of their impressions of the continent they can't forget.
Scott A. Lukas is a cultural anthropologist and a former trainer at Six Flags Astroworld in Houston. He's also the author of "Theme Park," which chronicles the evolution of the theme park.
The Western. The 2nd Amendment. Guns are a part of our national DNA - like apple pie and baseball. Pamela Haag says not so fast. In her book "The Gunning of America," she argues that early gun barons --with iconic names like Colt and Remington -- created the American culture.
She told Charles Monroe-Kane to look no further than the Rifle King himself, the manufacturer of the Winchester Repeater Rifle, Oliver Winchester.
Provocative scholar and literary critic Stanley Fish tells Steve Paulson that he admires the bluntness and strength of conviction shown in the writing of John Milton.
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