Three-Minute Fiction Round 11: Finders Keepers
For this round of our short story contest, write a piece of original fiction in which a character finds something he or she has no intention of returning.
Books
Insects May Be The Taste Of The Next Generation, Report Says
A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says insects offer a huge potential for improving the world's food security. Peter Menzel, co-author of Man Eating Bugs, describes some insect-based cuisine and the western aversion to creepy-crawly snacks.
Resetting the Theory of Time
Generations of physicists have claimed that time is an illusion. But not all agree. In his book Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe, theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that time exists--and he says time is key to understanding the evolution of the universe.
Coming To 'Americanah': Two Tales Of Immigrant Experience
The new book from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a knockout of a novel about immigration that transcends genre. It's everything from a coming-of-age novel to a romance to a comic novel of social manners to an up-to-the-minute meditation on race.
Could You Talk To A Caveman? Scientists Say It's Possible
Researchers at the University of Reading are speculating that today's languages share a common root dating as far back as the last Ice Age. Words like "mother," "man" and "ashes" are categorized as "ultraconserved," meaning they are survivors of a lost language from which many modern tongues are descended.
'Guns At Last Light' Illuminates Final Months Of World War II
Historian Rick Atkinson's new book completes his trilogy on the second world war. He tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that the events of the war may be 70 years in the past, but they're still very much a part of American culture.
In Somalia, Surviving A Kidnapping Against 'Impossible Odds'
In 2011, Jessica Buchanan, an aid worker in Somalia, was kidnapped by land pirates. For 93 days she fought off despair while her husband, Erik Landemalm, wondered if he'd ever see her again. In a two-part interview, Buchanan and Landemalm recall Buchanan's capture and her dramatic rescue by Navy SEALs.
In 'Passage,' Caro Mines LBJ's Changing Political Roles
The fourth volume in Robert Caro's monumental biography of Lyndon Johnson is The Passage of Power; it explores the period between 1958 and 1964 during which Johnson went from powerful Senate majority leader to powerless vice president to — suddenly — president of the United States.
'Impossible Odds' Details Aid Worker's Rescue From Somalia
David Greene speaks with Jessica Buchanan and her husband Erik Landemalm about their book Impossible Odds. It's the story of Jessica's abduction, along with a fellow aid worker, by Somali pirates in 2011. In the first of the two-part interview, we hear how Jessica was abducted, and how she refused to fall into despair while in captivity.
After Leaving Senate, Snowe Is Still 'Fighting For Common Ground'
In a new book, former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe explores how to fix the gridlock in Congress. Earlier this year, the Republican from Maine left the Senate out of frustration with the partisan stalemate. "It has to change, for the country," she says. "People deserve ... better representation."