According to self-described "space dork" Andy Weir, he was just sitting around at home one day imagining a manned Mars mission — not with any goal in mind, but just as a thought experiment. Soon, he realized this would be a pretty good premise for a story. And boy was he right. His novel "The Martian" started as a series of blog posts and has become a blockbuster motion picture. In this interview, he reads excerpts from the novel and discusses the balance between pure fantasty and scientific accuracy in science fiction.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize in 1993. Her novels include "Sula," "Song of Solomon," and "Love."
There may be as many opinions about selfies as there are Twitter handles. Are they self-empowerment, or narcissism? Are they just personal branding? Or can they be art? Writer and critic Sarah Nicole Prickett came in to give us a primer.
Ziauddin Sardar, a London based scholar and cultural critic, tells Steve what’s needed now is “an Islamic science” and explains what that is.
Steven Connor says there's much more to ventriloquism than exchanging quips with a wooden dummy. He tells Anne Strainchamps that a lot of this history has to do with the disembodied voice.
Philosopher Gregory Sadler has a fascinating take on the famous line from French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre’s 1944 play, “No Exit.”
Russell Foster tells Jim Fleming how the body uses light to tell time; why night shift workers have more accidents; and why it can matter when you take your medicine.
Susan Hirschmann is a legendary children's book editor and founder of Greenwillow Books.
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