“I learned virtually nothing about mortality when I was in medical school,” Dr. Atul Gawande says. “I was terrible at knowing how to have a successful conversation with people facing terminal illness.” Gawande, author of the bestselling “Being Mortal,” is now trying to get people talking about better ways to live out the final chapter.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Psychologists John and Julie Gottman are famous for being able to predict with 94% accuracy whether a couple will break up, stay together unhappily, or stay together happily. In their Love Lab, they've identified hidden patterns of behavior that can strengthen or weaken relationships. If we'd known the secret to a good marriage was non-linear differential equations, we might have paid more attention in math class.
Karl Marx biographer Francis Wheen tells Steve Paulson his subject was a thoroughly bourgeois man who chose utter penury.
Music journalist Charles R. Cross shares one of his favorite forgotten albums from The Sonics.
Eddie Lenihan tells a story told to him by the foreman of a road construction crew in Ireland.
We hear a story from Elna Baker, author of “The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance.”
Chang-rae Lee is a Korean-American and the author of “Aloft.” He reads a bit from the novel.
Writer Dan Chaon talks about his new book of non-supernatural ghost stories, "Stay Awake."
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