Books

Books
Arts

'The Ghost Variations': A Different Take On What It Means To Be Haunted

7:34pm March 09, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Kevin Brockmeier about The Ghost Variations, a collection of 100 ghost stories that ponders what haunts us in this life and might make us linger in the next.

Queue Listen Now

Katie Engelhart details the right-to-die movement in her new book, The Inevitable. She says that many patients in the U.S. are forced to act alone, without telling friends and family, because they fear their loved ones will be prosecuted after the fact.

Inside The Fight For The Right To Die: Logistical And Ethical Challenges

3:46pm March 09, 2021

by Terry Gross

Katie Engelhart explores the complexity of physician-assisted death in the book The Inevitable. She says patients seeking to end their own lives sometimes resort to veterinary drugs from overseas.

Queue Listen Now

"There is no such thing as a difficult word," said Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth. "There are only words you don't know yet — the kind of liberating words that Milo encounters on his adventure."

Books
Arts

'Phantom Tollbooth' Author Norton Juster Dies At 91

1:12pm March 09, 2021

by Andrew Limbong

Norton Juster, author of the beloved children's book "The Phantom Tollbooth" died yesterday at 91, due to complications from a recent stroke.

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green

Books
Arts

The Victims, Rather Than The Killer, Are At The Center Of 'Last Call'

10:53am March 09, 2021

by Ilana Masad

The victims of the man dubbed the "Last Call Killer" were all gay men; Elon Green tries to shine a light onto their complicated lives, the messiness of who they were, and an era of queer life in NYC.

Books
Arts

A Small Village Takes On Big Oil In 'How Beautiful We Were'

7:00am March 09, 2021

by Tochi Onyebuchi

Imbolo Mbue's new novel is set in an unnamed country that could be any West African nation beset by international oil companies — and yet, it's a story of rebellion and rebirth, not calamity.

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson's 'Code Breaker' Spotlights The Woman At The Forefront Of CRISPR

3:25pm March 08, 2021

by Jackie Northam

The gene-editing technology is at the center of an ethical debate. Isaacson examines it through the life of Jennifer Doudna, co-recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for CRISPR's discovery.

Biochemist Jennifer Doudna, the subject of Walter Isaacson's new biography The Code Breaker, shared a Nobel prize in chemistry in 2020 for the part she played in developing the CRISPR gene editing technology.

CRISPR Scientist's Biography Explores Ethics Of Rewriting The Code Of Life

1:48pm March 08, 2021

by Terry Gross

The Code Breaker profiles Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist key to the development of CRISPR, and examines the technology's exciting possibilities and need for oversight.

Queue Listen Now

'Until The World Shatters' Explores Jade's Role In Myanmar's Struggles

6:53am March 08, 2021

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to author Daniel Combs about his book Until the World Shatters, which explores the connection between Myanmar's jade industry and a long-running civil war.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Seeing Through A Trans Lens: Torrey Peters Pens 'Detransition, Baby'

5:13am March 08, 2021

by Sam Sanders

Torrey Peters' new book features three people who struggle with parenthood and family questions. She says a transgender lens can help everyone understand the limits of how we define gender.

Queue Listen Now

You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility by Annabelle Gurwitch

Books
Arts

Annabelle Gurwitch's Mid-Life Maelstrom: Divorce, Cancer, 'Downward Mobility'

8:33am March 07, 2021

by Mandalit del Barco

You're Leaving When? is a witty memoir of Gurwitch's many middle age misadventures — and it doesn't even cover the stage IV lung cancer diagnosis she received in the midst of the pandemic.