Kevin Smokler tells Steve Paulson that the Internet is changing the world of letters but he thinks it’s progress. Smokler sees a welcome democratization of literature.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Welcome to a new regular feature: PlayList: Artists' Soundtracks. Today, celebrated Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard shares the music he listened to while writing "My Struggle" -- Midlake's LP, "The Courage of Others."
Mona Golabek is a concert pianist. She tells Anne Strainchamps that her grandmother made loving music her parting gift to her daughter.
Maryanne Wolf thinks the dyslexia brain ought to be considered a gift that characterized some of history's leading figures.
Mark Kurlansky tells Steve Paulson that salt made food a tradable commodity and that it inspired revolutions from India to France. Because people have to have salt, governments want to control and tax it.
How do modern societies compare to hunter gatherer cultures? In "The World Until Yesterday," Jared Diamond, explores our radically different values - on everything from childrearing to what we think about strangers. Here's Steve's EXTENDED interview with Diamond.
Michael Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for his literary criticism in the Washington Post Book World. Among his collections of essays is Classics for Pleasure.
Ballet is performed all over the world, but in Russia ballet is the route to stardom.
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