When we’re talking about data, we’re really talking about code—the languages that structure every aspect of our digital lives. But can code itself be interesting? Or even beautiful? Vikram Chandra grew up in India and always wanted to be a novelist, but when he came to the United States, he discovered computers—going from a weekend tinkerer to a consultant who paid his way through grad school. He spoke with Steve Paulson on what makes good writing, and what makes good code.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Neurologist Alice Flaherty talks about the science behind writer’s block, and recounts her own experiences with hypergraphia.
Andrea di Robilant is an Italian journalist from an old Venetian family who's made a novel out of the story contained in some letters from his family's attic.
Philosopher Carlin Romano talks about his book, "America the Philosophical."
Andrew Wojtanik triumphed at the National Geographic World Geography Bee in 2005. His study guide has become "Afghanistan to Zimbabwe."
Landscape architect Anne Whiston Spirn talks about Frederick Law Olmsted’s revolutionary plan to use the processes of nature to clean up human damage to the environment.
How do we prevent baby boomers from bankrupting Social Security? Satirist Christopher Buckley has an idea - get the boomers to commit voluntary suicide...for tax incentives.
From Mandeville, LA, listener Sophia Derbes sent us this ghost story, called "The Lake."
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