Author Interviews

Books
Arts

Novelist John Le Carré Reflects On His Own 'Legacy' Of Spying

1:30pm August 17, 2018

Le Carré worked for MI5 and MI6 early in his career. "I felt I had to suppress my humanity," he said of those years. His novel A Legacy of Spies came out in 2017. Originally broadcast Sept. 5, 2017.

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Tyler Cowen: Do The Numbers Give Us The Full Picture?

10:04am August 17, 2018

by NPR/TED Staff

When it comes to global progress, Tyler Cowen says there's much more to the story than numbers can tell. And it's important, he says, to pay attention to the inherent "messiness" of the data.

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Hanna Rosin: Data Shows Women Have Progressed. But What's Next?

10:04am August 17, 2018

by NPR/TED Staff

Post-recession, journalist Hanna Rosin noticed an economic shift: jobs dominated by men were on the decline, jobs dominated by women were on the rise. But does that data signify meaningful progress?

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Arts
Economy

Michael Green: What Does GDP Not Tell Us?

10:04am August 17, 2018

by NPR/TED Staff

To fully understand progress, economist Michael Green says we must weigh social well-being and wealth. But by using this new measurement, he noticed something striking — the U.S. falls far behind.

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Steven Pinker: Can Numbers Show Us That Progress Is Inevitable?

10:04am August 17, 2018

by NPR/TED Staff

It might seem like the world is getting worse and worse. But psychologist Steven Pinker says that across the board, data suggests we've made a lot of progress. The question is — will it continue?

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Books
Arts

'A Girl's Guide' To Growing Up On A Secretive Missile Test Site

2:04pm August 14, 2018

by Terry Gross

When Karen Piper was 6, her family moved to the Mojave Desert. In A Girl's Guide To Missiles she describes how her parents designed weapons, but she didn't understand how it all connected to war.

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Kamasi Washington, a 37-year-old saxophone player from Los Angeles, is a major player in Nate Chinen's new book Playing Changes.

Jazz In The 21st Century Is All About 'Playing Changes'

9:29am August 14, 2018

Nate Chinen's new book Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century identifies the key players in the genre's resurgence. Chinen's aim with the book is to get the root of the resurgence.

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Nico Walker wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Cherry while in federal prison for armed bank robbery.

An Iraq Veteran, Heroin Addict, Bank Robber And Debut Novelist

7:56pm August 13, 2018

by Quil Lawrence

Nico Walker is currently in federal prison for bank robbery. That's given him plenty of time to write his semi-autobiographical novel Cherry, which has received glowing advance reviews.

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Correspondent Reflects On Nearly 17 Years Of War In Afghanistan In 'The Fighters'

5:44pm August 13, 2018

Pulitzer Prize-winning author C.J. Chivers speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about his new book, The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Sire Records Co-Founder Seymour Stein Reflects On Life In 'The Pursuit Of Music'

1:59pm August 13, 2018

by Terry Gross

In his autobiography, Siren Song, Stein writes about how he started out in the music business as a teen before going on to sign groundbreaking artists like Talking Heads, Madonna, Ice-T and k.d. lang.

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