Ruth Reichl draws on her career as a high-profile food writer and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine in her first novel -- "Delicious". It's the story of a magazine writer with a superhuman sense of taste, who discovers a secret cache of letters from the legendary chef and cookbook writer James Beard.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Rolf De Heer talks about the experience of collaborating with the aboriginal people of Ramingining and how extraordinary the process was.
Saul Williams has been hailed as hip hop's poet laureate. He talks with Anne Strainchamps, and we hear some of his work.
Terry Tempest Williams reads from her book, "Red," and talks about the desert with Steve Paulson.
American Wendy Doniger holds two doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian studies from Harvard and Oxford. She’s the author of numerous books on Hinduism and has translated several Sanskrit texts. She’s widely considered one of the most important scholars on Indian religion in the world. So it might surprise you that there is one country in the world she can’t visit: India.
Doniger’s books have been targeted by Hindu Nationalists and by India’s ruling right-wing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Her latest, “The Hindus: An Alternative History,” was the subject of a major lawsuit in India, and its publisher, Penguin Books India, not only pulled the book from circulation but destroyed all remaining copies. Since then, Doniger has received many death threats inside of India and no longer feels safe visiting there. But as she told Steve Paulson, her writing about Hinduism hasn’t changed in over 40 years. What has changed is India.
Louisa May Alcott was no "little woman". Biographer Harriet Reisen uncovers the fierce feminist behind "Little Women".
In this EXTENDED interview, Steve Paulson talks about his stacks of books, hunger for knowledge. He also explores the difference between data, information, knowledge and... wisdom!
Tom Bollestorff is an anthropologist at UC Irvine and author of "Coming of Age in Second Life."
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