Poltergeists, ghosts, telepathy and other psychic phenomena used to be considered legitimate subjects for scientific research. Historian Jeffrey Kripal recounts the intellectual history of the paranormal.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Back in 1969, Marine Karl Marlantes was dropped in the middle of a jungle in Vietnam - at the age of 23, put in charge of the lives of 40 other young men. He says he wasn't psychologically or spiritually prepared for that, or for what came after the war.
Saul Williams has been hailed as hip hop's poet laureate. He talks with Anne Strainchamps, and we hear some of his work.
Steven Johnson tells Anne Strainchamps how television storytelling has become more sophisticated with mutiple plots lines extending over several episodes.
Doug Gordon found Steve Nieve in Chicago and talked with him about his music and his collection of sounds.
Samuel Clemens was an energetic and passionate man who traveled the world and created a new American idiom.
Susan Jacoby gives several frightening examples of the way American culture is dumbing itself down, and how poorly educated many American college graduates are.
Novelist Michelle Wildgen shares a conversation about food, art, and the creative imagination with chef and food activist Alice Waters, founder of the legendary Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse.
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