Robin Wall Kimmerer is a biologist, a writer, and a member of the Potawatomi nation. In her essay collection, "Braiding Sweetgrass," she weaves scientific knowledge and indigenous wisdom into a deeper understanding of the nature of plant life.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Paul Koudounaris has spent the past decade traveling around the world, climbing into church crypts and bone chambers and taking photos at over 250 burial sites in 30 countries. He's discovered chapels decorared with skeletons and underground caves filled with skulls—among other things. In this interview, he tells us how he began his obsession with displays of death.
Sallie Ann Glassman is a voodoo priestess. She talks about why vodou (or voodoo) is such a misunderstood religion and what spirit possession feels like.
Ted Chiang talks about his short-story collection, "Stories of Your Life and Others."
Sy Montgomery tells Steve Paulson about swimming with the pink dolphins of the Amazon. She says they inspire lots of folklore, and are really a species of toothed whale.
Stephen Elliott decided to immerse himself in politics for the 2004 campaign and traveled with the Democratic candidates throughout the primaries and conventions.
Tom Lutz tells Jim Fleming that human beings are great crybabies. Lutz is the author of “Crying: The Natural & Cultural History of Tears.”
Scott Turow has made a career writing hugely successful legal thrillers, but then he turned to a World War II novel.
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