Nathaniel Lachenmeyer tells Jim Fleming about the history of our suspicion that 13 is an “unlucky” number.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Americans spend billions of dollars a year on over-the-counter pain relievers. In fact, all over the world, easing pain is big business. And Aspirin’s one of the top sellers. Why? Charles Mann, author of “The Aspirin Wars”, tells Steve Paulson what happened when a German company called Bayer came to America:
John Updike talks with Steve Paulson about the business of being interviewed. Updike is skittish about giving interviews, but often finds himself saying more than he’d planned once he gets going.
Reporter Matt Lieber offers his reflections on crossword puzzles and the people who love them, from the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, held in Stamford, CT in 2002.
Physicist Janna Levin tells Steve Paulson why she wanted to write about mathematicians Alan Turing and Kurt Godel, and why her book is a novel.
Nicole-Anne Boyer is a strategic foresight specialist who helps clients come up with realistic projections of the future. She tells Steve Paulson that violent conflicts have actually dramatically decreased since the end of the Cold War...
August is Ghost Month in Taiwan—a time to commemorate the dead: burn incense, visit shrines, honor ancestors, and avoid large purchases. It's also the setting for Ed Lin's newest mystery. Lin is a 3-time winner of the Asian-American Literary Award.
Paul Lukas talks with Jim Fleming about the gadget that measures your shoe size, and the charm of the string on the box of Animal Crackers.
Pages
