Benjamin Reiss tells Steve Paulson how P.T. Barnum got his start: exhibiting an elderly Black woman who claimed to be 161 years old and George Washington’s nanny.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Clio Cresswell tells Steve Paulson that out of 100 possible partners, you’re mathematically likely to make the right choice if you pick the most attractive person who’s left after 37 dates.
Azar Nafisi tells Steve Paulson about her weekly secret meetings with students to read forbidden Western literature.
B.J. Novak's Dangerous Idea? The artist Christo designing a roller coaster inspired by life.
Breaking Bad actor Bob Odenkirk talks about the differences between writing comedy and performing it, his favorite moment as a writer, and comedy as an act of destruction.
Memory researcher Daniel Schacter tells Steve Paulson that you can be confident of your memory and still wrong, and explains other tricks our memories play on us.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman says most of the brain's real action happens below the level of the conscious mind. He calls the brain "a team of rivals," since different parts of the brain compete against each other.
Esther Iverem tells Jim Fleming about the first time she saw Spike Lee's film "She Gotta Have It" and why she thought it marked the start of a new wave of Black cinema.
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