Books

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Skeptic Takes A Tour Of Self-Help's 'Promise Land'

1:59pm January 16, 2015

Despite being the daughter of a child psychologist and self-help author, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro has spent her life recoiling from the self-help industry. She talks about how the industry helped her.

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Alex Malarkey, seen here in a 2009 photo, has written an open letter saying that events described in the best-seller The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven were made up.

Boy Says He Didn't Go To Heaven; Publisher Says It Will Pull Book

12:36pm January 16, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The young man at the center of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, Alex Malarkey, said this week that the story behind the 2010 book was all made up.

History Goes To The Illustrators: 'A Contrarian History Of The United States'

8:08am January 16, 2015

by Jasmine Garsd

Lalo Alcaraz and Ilan Stavans' new book isn't just hilarious; it's also important. Like all good history books, it makes a point to say something important about the present and the future.

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The Consolations (And Controversies) Of Philosophy In 'The Just City'

10:03am January 15, 2015

by Amal El-Mohtar

In Jo Walton's new novel, the goddess Athene assembles a history-spanning group of thinkers and sets them to creating Plato's famed Just City — but then she makes the mistake of inviting Socrates.

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'Binary Star' Is A Hard, Harrowing Look Into Inner Space

7:03am January 15, 2015

by Jason Heller

Sarah Gerard's new novel follows a young woman suffering from an eating disorder, and her alcoholic boyfriend. Reviewer Jason Heller says the book balances real-world issues and emotional punch.

David Adam is a writer and editor at the journal Nature and was a special correspondent at the Guardian, writing about science, medicine and the environment.

Why OCD Is 'Miserable': A Science Reporter's Obsession With Contracting HIV

10:58am January 14, 2015

David Adam has had obsessive-compulsive disorder for 20 years. In The Man Who Couldn't Stop, he chronicles his experiences — and how medical understanding and treatment of OCD have changed over time.

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The Daily Texture Of Life Becomes Art In 'The First Bad Man'

10:03am January 14, 2015

by Annalisa Quinn

Miranda July's new novel The First Bad Man defies neat summaries; reviewer Annalisa Quinn calls July "a master of the intimate weirdnesses of human thought," who treats dusty mental corners with care.

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Fact And Fiction Blur In Frustratingly Opaque 'Swarm'

6:37am January 14, 2015

by Tasha Robinson

Fantasy master Michael Moorcock makes himself a character in his new novel The Whispering Swarm, but reviewer Tasha Robinson says the story doesn't fully satisfy either as biography or fantasy.

Perry Wallace, playing for Vanderbilt University, blocks the shot of 'Pistol' Pete Maravich, circa 1970.

Perry Wallace, Who Broke Basketball Barriers, Didn't Set Out To Be A Pioneer

6:49pm January 13, 2015

by NPR Staff

Strong Inside tells the story of the first black player in college basketball's Southeastern Conference. Wallace says the hard work of integration is "a gritty, dirty, ugly business."

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Book Review: 'Sympathy For The Devil' By Michael Mewshaw

6:45pm January 13, 2015

by Alan Cheuse

Alan Cheuse reviews Sympathy for the Devil, Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal by Michael Mewshaw.

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