Piers Vitebsky is an anthropologist who studies the Eveny or Reindeer People of Siberia. They depend on the reindeer for their survival. They keep herds of them for meat - but their connection goes even deeper. Vitebsky says that they also have personal, consecrated reindeer animal doubles, which they believe will die for them.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Steve Paulson speaks with several scientists, religious scholars and atheists about Albert Einstein's religious beliefs.
Tom Hayden, one of the founders of Students for a Democratic Society and later a State Assemblyman and Senator in California, talks with Steve Paulson.
David Gessner discovered the American West as a young man, and the huge mountains and wide open spaces changed his life. He recently took a road trip through the West, following in the footsteps of two literary heroes, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner. Gessner says their books help us see the West in all its complexity.
Thomas Chatterton Williams is a young writer who grew up listening to hip hop, but lost touch with the culture upon entering college.
Anne Strainchamps talks with biologist Tyler Volk and science writer Dorion Sagan, co-authors of "Sex and Death" or "Death and Sex" if you flip the book upside down.
The whole town of Massillon, Ohio, is obsessed with their high school football team, the Tigers. Former player Kenneth Carlson was so crazy for the team, and curious about his town's obsession, he made a documentary about it. He tells Anne Strainchamps about his film, his team and his town.
Maybe love is numerical – or at least, statistical. Comedian and NPR host Ophira Eisenberg went on forty first dates before she found the right guy. For her, the secret to true love was a large sample size.
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