"Men do not understand books until they have had a certain amount of life, or at any rate no man understands a deep book until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents."
—Ezra Loomis Pound (1885-1972) American writer, poet, Cantos, ABC of Reading
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- Info
When To Test For Prostate Cancer?
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
Ads urge men of a certain age to get screened for prostate cancer. But is "test early, test often" the best approach? Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society and Mark Scholz, author of Invasion Of The Prostate Snatchers, discuss other approaches.
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The Intelligence Of Crowds In 'The Perfect Swarm'
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
In his book The Perfect Swarm, Len Fisher talks about swarm intelligence -- where the collective ideas of a group add up to better solutions than any individual could have dreamed up, including an example of how UPS reorganized its driving routes using the logic of an ant colony.
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Teddy Roosevelt And The 'Burn' That Saved Forests
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:00:00 -0400
Author Timothy Egan argues in The Big Burn that the forest fire of 1910 -- the largest in American history -- actually saved the forests, even as its flames charred the trees. It helped rally public support, Egan explains, behind Theodore Roosevelt's push to protect national lands.
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One Woman's Journey From Homeless To Harvard
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
As a child, Liz Murray dealt with the typical stresses of growing up. But she also grappled with going days without food and living on the streets. Despite these obstacles, Murray finished school and went on to attend Harvard University. Murray talks about her memoir, Breaking Night.
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Franzen On The Book, The Backlash, His Background
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:43:00 -0400
Jonathan Franzen's new novel Freedom has been called "a masterpiece" by Time Magazine and has received rave reviews from critics. Franzen talks about the runaway success of his previous novel The Corrections, and the strong reaction elicited by Freedom.
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Children's Book Finds Hope In Haiti's Rubble
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400
Nine months after the quake in Haiti, Haitian-born author Edwidge Danticat is sharing the earthquake story with an audience that was largely shielded from it -- children. Eight Days is a book about a boy who gets buried in the rubble and is not rescued until eight days later.
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Arianna Huffington Sees A 'Third World America'
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
When Arianna Huffington immigrated to the United States in 1980, she knew there was no place she'd rather live. Three decades later, she says that's still true -- but that America has gone astray. Huffington discusses her new book, Third World America, and her plan to rescue the middle class.
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Fresh Air Remembers Comedian Robert Schimmel
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:48:00 -0400
The 60-year-old comedian, who often joked about his own life in his raunchy stand-up routines, died Friday from injuries suffered in a car accident. Fresh Air remembers Schimmel with highlights from a 2008 interview in which he discusses his memoir Cancer On $5 A Day.
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Modern Lessons From Hillel
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
Not much is known about the life of the rabbi and Talmudic scholar Hillel, who lived 2,000 years ago, but his teachings have shaped Judaism. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's forthcoming book Hillel: If Not Now, When? argues that Hillel has as much to teach the 21 Century as he did his own.
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Investigating The Real Detective Charlie Chan
Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400
The fictional, aphorism-spouting Chinese detective is best known today as a stereotypical relic from a less sensitive time. Yunte Huang tells the story of the real man who inspired the caricature in Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History.
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Jokes To Tell Your Parents For Rosh Hashana
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:53:00 -0400
When Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman's video of Hoffman's 60-something mother telling an off-color joke on YouTube went viral, they knew they had something special. The success of their subsequent website, OldJewsTellingJokes.com, and their upcoming book have proved them right.
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'Phantom Tollbooth' Creators Reunited By An 'Ogre'
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
In the early 1960s, writer Norton Juster and illustrator Jules Feiffer created The Phantom Tollbooth, which quickly became a kid-lit classic. Now, 50 years later, the two have finally collaborated once more -- this time, on a picture book called The Odious Ogre. They speak to NPR's Liane Hansen about their partnership and their new project.
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Victory At Marathon Saved A Lot More Than A Race
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:27:00 -0400
The story's a classic: An outnumbered band of Athenians pushes back the mighty Persian army. But the battle of Marathon, 2,500 years ago in ancient Greece, left a legacy that extends far beyond the name of a famous race. Historian Richard Billows explores the legendary battle in his new book, Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization.
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Next Week: Franzen Talks About 'Freedom'
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
Jonathan Franzen's new novel, Freedom, is being called a "masterpiece of American fiction." He was recently on the cover of Time magazine -- the first living author on its cover in more than a decade. Next weekend, Franzen will join us to talk about Freedom, the story of a contemporary American family in St. Paul, Minn.
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Memories Of War And Reading Clubs
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:00:00 -0400
Patrick Hennessey was the youngest front-line captain in the British Army, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and earned a commendation for gallantry. Host Scott Simon speaks with Hennessey about his memoir, The Junior Officers' Reading Club.
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Steven Lee Program & Book Signing, Sept 23 at 3pm
