Piers Vitebsky studies the Eveny or Reindeer People of Siberia. They keep herds of reindeer for meat, but also have personal, consecrated reindeer animal doubles, which they believe will die for them.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
In 1776 there were no radios or telephones or honking cars, but there were other sounds. The church bell, the town crier, and women beating their laundry all had distinct sounds.
Natalie Goldberg tells Jim Fleming that people who want to become writers should just write, and find themselves a writing mentor.
No matter how much we learn about the brain, Sacks says we may never understand how the mind works. In this interview, he marvels at how the human brain is fine-tuned to respond to music.
Michael Schaffer didn't want to be one of THOSE people who take excessive care of their pets, but found himself realizing that the line between normal and extreme has made a major shift in our culture in the last fifteen years.
Robert Mankoff and Roz Chast talk about what characterized New Yorker cartoons of the past, and how new cartoons are edited at the magazine.
Nick Abadzis is the author of a graphic novel called "Laika." She was the little dog the Russians sent up into space aboard Sputnik II.
Marco Iacoboni talks about mirror neurons - neurons hard-wired into us and explain how we feel empathy and compassion and why we feel the need to connect with one another.
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