Books

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers

Books
Arts

A Monk And A Robot Meet In A Forest ... And Talk Philosophy In This New Novel

5:00am July 18, 2021

by Amal El-Mohtar

Becky Chambers comes down to earth for her new series, about a world where humans and robots diverged so long ago that now each group is just a myth to the other, and robots propagate themselves.

Rachel Johnson Talks New Memoir Detailing 'Political Mid-life Crisis'

5:02pm July 17, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Rachel Johnson, sister of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, about her memoir, Rake's Progress: The Madcap True Tale of My Political Midlife Crisis.

Books

Three Women Wait Every Day For Their Unknown Husbands In The 'China Room'

9:52am July 17, 2021

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with novelist Sunjeev Sahota about his new book, "China Room."

Books

'Bring Your Baggage And Don't Pack Light' Collects Hilarious Essays On Midlife

9:16am July 17, 2021

Scott Simon speaks with author Helen Ellis about her new collection of essays about midlife, "Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light."

Intense physical activity may not be as helpful in losing weight as you may hope.

Why Crash Weight Loss Programs Don't Work: Clues From Hunter-Gatherer Societies

4:02pm July 16, 2021

by John Henning Schumann

Evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer shares why some of the most physically active people in the world don't burn more calories than office workers. And what that means for your fitness goals.

Books
Arts

Anthony Bourdain: The 'Fresh Air' Interview

1:43pm July 16, 2021

by Dave Davies

We listen back to our 2016 interview with the late food writer and TV host, who killed himself in 2018 while in France to film Parts Unknown. Bourdain is the subject of a new documentary, Roadrunner.

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I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker

How It Went Down: Authors Go Deep Into Doomed 2020 Trump White House

7:26pm July 15, 2021

by Ron Elving

By haranguing all who will listen, in interviews or rally rants, Donald Trump even now is demonstrating his abiding and preternatural confidence in his own persuasiveness.

The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor

Books
Arts

'Women Of Brewster Place' Reissue Brims With Inventiveness — And Relevance

1:21pm July 15, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Now newly reissued, Gloria Naylor's 1982 novel-in-stories painted a group portrait of seven Black women living on a dingy street in an unnamed city, and the systematic racism they faced.

Re-Revising 'The History Of Jazz'

11:27am July 15, 2021

by Natalie Weiner

Ted Gioia first published his History of Jazz in 1997, updating it for the first time in 2011. This year he did so again, after a very important decade for the genre.

Sword Stone Table, edited by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

Books
Arts

New Anthology Gives Everyone A Seat At The Round Table

8:02am July 15, 2021

by Liza Graham

Sword Stone Table brings together a group of authors from marginalized groups to re-imagine the legends of King Arthur for new eras, places and players, inviting all to sit at the Round Table.