Stewart Lee Allen designs for Anne Strainchamps a menu based on the 7 deadly sins.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
American Wendy Doniger holds two doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian studies from Harvard and Oxford. She’s the author of numerous books on Hinduism and has translated several Sanskrit texts. She’s widely considered one of the most important scholars on Indian religion in the world. So it might surprise you that there is one country in the world she can’t visit: India.
Doniger’s books have been targeted by Hindu Nationalists and by India’s ruling right-wing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Her latest, “The Hindus: An Alternative History,” was the subject of a major lawsuit in India, and its publisher, Penguin Books India, not only pulled the book from circulation but destroyed all remaining copies. Since then, Doniger has received many death threats inside of India and no longer feels safe visiting there. But as she told Steve Paulson, her writing about Hinduism hasn’t changed in over 40 years. What has changed is India.
Why is it that certain people bounce back after a relationship ends, whereas for others it takes years to recover? Graduate researcher Lauren Howe says it has to do with the stories we tell ourselves.
If you're looking for a grand adventure in retirement, Lynne and Tim Martin have an idea: sell your house and then live in rental houses around the world.
When she was 18, Lynne Cox swam between the islands of New Zealand. She broke the men's and women's records for the English Channel. Then she did the unthinkable - swimming to Antarctica.
Famous for its hot tubs and its yoga and massage workshops, Esalen Institute actually began as a place to explore the underlying philosophy of spiritual experience, and then popularized America's particular brand of "spirituality without religion." Sitting on the deck of Murphy House at Esalen, Steve Paulson talks with co-founder Michael Murphy and comparative religion scholar Jeffrey Kripal, author of the definitive history of Esalen.
Russell Shorto is the author of "Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason."
David Mikics talks about his book, "Slow Reading in a Hurried Age."
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