Showing results by author "Jim Fleming" in All Categories

Today most of what we read is on a screen. So here's the question: Is there something different -- something better -- about reading a physical book? Or does it matter? We explore slow reading, e-reading, bibliotherapy and a novel that unfolds within another novel.

Alex Rider, Nancy Drew, The Cat in the Hat, and Harold and the Purple Crayon – for millions of children of all ages, they're some of the most imaginative and mysterious stories around. But as it turns out, the authors sometimes have their own, personal mysteries to share. In this hour, we'll talk with Anthony Horowitz, the creator of the Alex Rider series, about his complicated past. Michael Chabon talks about some of the stories that shaped his childhood.

Are you a sucker for a sad song? "Greensleeves." "Yesterday" by the Beatles. For some reason, we love a melancholy tune. But why? In this hour, we'll explore our love of sad music. We'll look into the effects the minor third has on our brains and we'll delve into the saddest music ever written: Barber's Adagio for Strings.

Are you a sucker for a sad song? “Greensleeves.” “Yesterday” by the Beatles. For some reason, we love a melancholy tune. But why? In this hour, we’ll explore our love of sad music. We’ll look into the effects the minor third has on our brains and we’ll delve into the saddest music ever written: Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

In this hour, you want kids to love learning? Get rid of the emphais on grades and test scores. That's according to Alfie Kohn, one of America's most passionate advocates for progressive education.

When we’ve had enough of reality, we often seek escape in a movie. But we don’t have to shut off our brains when we visit the cinema. Some films actually encourage us to use our minds. This hour, we explore philosophy through the lens of film.

Does death gives life meaning? You might think so, looking at the prominence of death and the afterlife in so many religions. For millennia, people have dreamed about immortality, and now transhumanists are trying to extend life by merging our selves with machines.

Science fiction offers us visions of histories we don't know -- histories of the future and the past. Today, legendary science fiction writers talk about science, utopia, and the imagination. Plus, the winners of our 3 Minute Futures fiction contest!

DEVO co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh talks about his visual art exhibition, "Myopia," and Joshua Wolf Shenk lays waste to the myth of the lone genius as we explore the creative...

There's a word for the grief and anger people feel when their environment is ravaged – solastalgia. It's what Gulf Coast residents may be feeling right now, as they watch oil wash up onto their beaches. In this hour, the psychology of our attachment to the places we love. Why we suffer when forests are cut down, air is polluted, rivers and oceans fouled – the link between the environment and human happiness.

Your name is a collection of sounds and syllables that identify you. It's your tag, handle, label, second skin. It's written on your birth certificate and it'll be inscribed on your grave. But what does it actually mean? Names carry family dreams, expectations and legacies. In this episode, stories about the power and politics of names - how they shape us and how we shape them. What does your name say about you?

Hear that? It's the soothing sound of silence. We'll have much more, including Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking; one man's quest for absolute silence; and John Cage's 4'33.

There are nearly 250 million migrants across the world right now. Some will be escaping war or oppression, others will be seeking out freedom or economic prosperity, but whatever the reason, the kind of life they're looking for lies across a border that's policed and restricted. What if it didn't have to be that way? This hour, we explore a world without borders.

It's now the most common mental health problem in the world. Anxiety. And the United States is the country with the highest level of anxiety, according to a World Mental Health Survey conducted in 18 countries in 2002. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, award-winning journalist, Patricia Pearson, talks about her personal struggles with anxiety. And psychiatrist Daniel Carlat tells us about the trouble with psychiatry.

Many of us first met Islam on 9/11 with planes slamming into the World Trade Center - not a very good first impression. In this hour, a proper introduction, as we talk with Muslims and Westerners who are redefining our relationship. From a Danish cartoonist with a fatwa over his head to the founder of the Muslim Punk movement. Meeting each other again, next time.

"Everyone is on the Internet but they're not all talking with each other. There are groups upon groups out there, but they don't talk to one another. So while the Internet brings everyone into a share space, it does not necessarily bring them together." -- David Lynch

Political animosity between the right and the left is off the charts. Social scientists say we're living in one of the most polarized periods in history and that conservatives and liberals don't just disagree anymore. They hate everything about each other. It's time to de-polarize! Let's figure out how.

Welcome to the next generation of African writers. They're young, multi-lingual, and breaking out of all the old literary boxes. This hour, why Africa has one of the most exciting literary scenes on the planet.

If you think about it, every day we receive countless services from complete strangers - the newspaper delivered to your door, the trash picked up at the crack of dawn, the fresh fruit for sale at the supermarket. There's a whole army of invisible workers powering our economy who we rarely get to hear about. From the warehouse workers who fill out our online orders, to the migrant laborers who pick our food, even down to the unpaid office intern, this hour we're talking about the hidden workers who make it all happen.

Our planet is facing a mass extinction crisis. By the end of the century, we could lose up to half of all living species. But people are working hard to save endangered species and habitats, and a few scientists are even trying to bring lost species - like passenger pigeons and woolly mammoths - back to life.