Giving Is Complicated [Rebroadcast]
Even the most welcome gift can spark guilt, resentment, obligation or vulnerability. This hour, unwrapping the tangled emotions behind giving — and getting.
Guests:
Megan Costello — Haddayr Copley-Woods — David Graeber — Anand Giridharadas — Elizabeth Dunn
Interviews In This Hour:
In A Medical Crisis, Small Gestures Are Life-Changing — The Problems With Help You Didn't Ask For — There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Gift — The Strings Attached To Big-Ticket Donations — Giving Happiness That Lasts, Rather Than Things That Take Up Space
Dec 07 2019
52mins
More Than Just A Game
The board games we play tell us so much more about ourselves than we think — our history, our politics and our inner psychology.
Guests:
Angelo Bautista — Eric Thurm — Brin-Jonathan Butler — Annelise Heinz — Linda Feinstein — Jeff Yang
Interviews In This Hour:
Picking Up The Pieces Of Mahjong — What You Learn In The 'Magic Circle' — Chess, A Perfect Game for Crushing Your Opponent’s Ego
Nov 30 2019
51mins
Is Guilt A Wasted Emotion? [Rebroadcast]
It creeps into everything: guilt that we're not good enough, fit enough, smart enough. As we peruse Instagram, all we see is the perfection of others reflecting our own failures back at us. Why do we spend so much time feeling guilty? Should we?
Guests:
Devorah Baum — Lucas Mann — Thomas Curran — Stephen Greenblatt — Susan Bandes
Interviews In This Hour:
Why Do We Still Feel Guilty? — Reality TV And Other Things We Secretly Love — Perfectionism Is Making Young People Miserable. Here’s How To Help.— Original Sin And The Genesis Of Guilt — Should Judges And Juries Look For Remorse?
Nov 23 2019
52mins
Books We Can't Forget
Is there a book you can’t forget? A book that left a mark on you? We celebrate books and reading with an eclectic cast of writers from around the country.
Guests:
Chloe Benjamin — Anne Lamott — Rebecca Traister — Natalia Sylvester — Tommy Orange — Pamela Paul — Shannon Henry Kleiber — Jericho Brown — Susan Orlean
Interviews In This Hour:
Anne Lamott on 'Pippi Longstocking' — Powerful Book Encounters — Tommy Orange on 'A Confederacy Of Dunces' — Reading As Our First Window To The World — A Book Club On The Day Of The Book Choosing — Jericho Brown on 'The Witches Of Eastwick' — The Book Burning That Brought All Of Los Angeles Together
Nov 16 2019
51mins
The Secret Language of Trees [Rebroadcast]
Trees talk to each other, and even form alliances with other trees or other species. Some are incredibly old — the root mass of aspens might live 100,000 years. In this hour, we explore the science and history of trees.
Guests:
Mark Hirsch, Richard Powers, Suzanne Simard, Amos Clifford, Daegan Miller
Nov 09 2019
52mins
Going Underground
Scientists and explorers have found a whole new world under our feet. It's an exciting place, and it's changing what we know about the planet and ourselves.
Guests:
Robert Macfarlane, Jill Heinerth, Ben Holtzman, Werner Herzog, Christine Desdemaines-Hugon
Nov 02 2019
51mins
Rituals of Fear
What if experiencing dread — the horror of it all — is good for you?
Guests:
Amy Stewart, Kathryn Harkup, Gemma Files, Dan Chaon, Blanche Barton
Oct 26 2019
52mins
If Your Clothes Could Talk [Rebroadcast]
Whether you know it or not, your closets are filled with personal information. Do you think about what are you saying with your clothes?
Guests:
Angelo Bautista, Avery Trufelman, Carolyn Smith, agnès b., Jo Paoletti
Oct 19 2019
52mins
The Power Of Pleasure and Joy
What if the most unselfish thing you could do was to pursue pleasure and joy? We make the case for the transformative power of joy, pleasure and delight.
Guests:
Oct 12 2019
51mins
Your Miraculous And Mysterious Body [Rebroadcast]
Sometimes, we take our body for granted. But even the everyday things it can do – keep our heart beating, fight off illness – are pretty extraordinary. Do you know what your body can do?
Guests:
Josh Mezrich, Missy Makinia, Porochista Khakpour, Gavin Francis
Oct 05 2019
52mins
