Julian Barnes talks about “England, England.” It’s his latest novel, in which all the tourist attractions of England (Stonehenge, the Tower of London, the Royal Family) are recreated in one theme park.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Richard Holmes is fascinated by what he calls "The Age of Wonder." The subtitle of his book is "how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and the terror of science," and he tells Steve Paulson about how Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" came directly out of the scientific climate of the time.
Laurell Hamilton has written a series of novels featuring a character called Anita Blake. Anita is a vampire executioner whose day job is raising the dead. Hamilton talks about Anita’s world
"See them before they're gone" is the Lanza family's motto. Michael Lanza describes his quest to take his two young kids -- ages 7 and 9 -- to as many wilderness locations as possible, to see glaciers and icebergs and coral reefs, before climate change destroys them.
With tensions flaring up in the Middle East this week, we're thinking about the city of Jerusalem and the role it plays in inspiring religious fervor and conflict. Boston Globe Columnist James Carroll writes about it in his book, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World."
Is there a better way to think about money? Bernard Lietaer thinks so. One of the designers of the Euro, he’s now talking up the virtues of alternative currencies. In this EXTENDED interview, Lietaer and Jacqui Dunne tell us why complementary currencies are now flourishing around the world – and how they could help us dodge the next recession.
Jim Crace's novel "The Pesthouse" takes place in America after an un-named eco-disaster has decimated the population and destroyed much of our hi-tech civilization.
Martin Gilbert is Winston's Churchill's biographer, and explains what made Churchill such a great leader during WWII.
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