To the Best of Our Knowledge
Each week, To the Best of Our Knowledge brings you two hours of in-depth interviews with nationally and internationally-known guests whose passion for new ideas will challenge and engage. Hosted by Jim Fleming, this interview magazine is thoughtful and penetrating, and features fascinating topics and guests.
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TTBOOK: Religion 2.0
Clark Strand finds that individual Americans increasingly decline to affiliate with any particular religious group, but still consider themselves spiritual people. Brad Warner is a Zen Buddhist Master, plays bass in a punk band and values the sacredness in everyday life. James Carse argue …
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TTBOOK: Mind and Meaning
Jill Bolte Taylor suffered a devastating stroke and describes the event. Jim Coyle and Mal Sharpe perform their "Microphone in Brain." George Vaillant wants to reclaim spirituality and ground it in hard science. Daniel Levitin considers music's pivotal role in human evolution. Owe …
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TTBOOK: David Foster Wallace
Laura Miller presents a tribute to the life and work of writer David Foster Wallace. DT Max details Wallace's creative struggles with the novel he left unfinished. Lev Grossman comments on Wallace's "Infinite Jest." David Lipsky talks about the end of Wallace's life. Michael Pietsc …
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TTBOOK: The Horror, the Horror!
Andrew Davidson talks about and reads from his debut novel, which is both gruesome and graphic. Richard Hand describes several of the programs that defined horror during the Golden Age of radio. Glenn Kay reviewed and rated over 300 zombie films. Kelly Link writes creepy stories for Yo …
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TTBOOK: Remix Culture
Paul Miller, a.k.a DJ Spooky is the unofficial spokesman for remix culture. Derek Chilcote Bacco the World Famous Audio Hacker explains what a mash-up is. Lawrence Lessig is the founder of Creative Commons, and thinks current copyright law is absurd. Jason Bittner collects and plays sam …
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TTBOOK: D?j? vu All Over Again
Chris Moulin explains his work involving the phenomenon of deja vu. Lawrence Hatab studied the philosopher Nietzsche and spells out his notion of a constantly self-renewing universe. Wendy Lesser reads excerpts from her essay "Hitchcock's Vertigo." Rivka Galchen's novel explores a so …
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TTBOOK: Reviving Classical Music
Anne Akiko Meyers talks about the difference between playing traditional western music and Asian music. Jade Simmons is equally happy to play music by Samuel Barber or hip hop master DBR. Rita Dove's book-length verse narrative tells the story of the mixed race violinist George Bridgetower. …
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TTBOOK: Post-Postmodernism: Are We There Yet?
Salman Rushdie's novel, "The Enchantress of Florence," includes stories within stories within still other stories. Amy Elias identifies the three types of postmodernism. Christian Lander runs the popular website, "Stuff White People Like." Robert Ellis Orrall describes his fictional i …
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TTBOOK: Amazing Minds: Inside Autism
Daniel Tammet says that his high-functioning autistic savant syndrome leads him to think that autistic minds are not that different from non-autistic minds. Tricia Regan served as director, producer and cinematographer of a documentary film about a group of autistic children who decide to put …
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TTBOOK: Life As Entertainment
Nick Hitchon is one of the participants in the Seven Up series of documentaries that checks in on the lives of ordinary people every seven years. Emily Gould became an Internet celebrity for her writing on Gawker, and on her personal blog - Heartbreak Soup. Tom Bollestorff describes what v …
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TTBOOK: Collaboration
Ward Cunningham is the man who invented the wiki which spawned sites like Wikipedia. Steve Paulson describes the collaboration between 18th century British poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Rold De Heer's film was a collaboration between the film-maker and the aborigi …
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TTBOOK: Travel
Rick Steves talks about the advantages of travel in war-torn areas. Mark Johnson travels around the world recording street musicians. Lynn Sharon Schwartz is a veteran traveler who doesn't like traveling. Raphael Kadushin considers travel writing's utility for the armchair traveler. …
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TTBOOK: God is Back
Barbara Bradley Hagerty interviewed mystics, skeptics and scientists to see if faith could stand up to the latest scientific research. Adrian Wooldridge explains why religious faith has not only survived into the modern era, it's thriving. Gina Reticker's film tells how a group of Christia …
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TTBOOK: So You Wanna Be a Rock Star?
Steven Kurutz spent a year with tribute band Sticky Fingers. Christopher O'Riley plays the music of Elliot Smith. Chris Murphy and Patrick Pentland of Sloan are sort-of interviewed. Steve Lopez wrote about a homeless musician named Nathaniel Ayers. Josh Ritter performs a few song …
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TTBOOK: There's No Place Like Home
Rachel Simon says that the renovation of her house caused her to reflect on transforming herself and rebuilding important relationships. Peter T. Kilborn describes "Relos," the mid-level managers and executives who move every few years. Michael A. Schuler counters with the satisfactions of …
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TTBOOK: How We Remember
Sue Halpern subjected herself to every memory test and brain imaging technique she could find. Jill Price has total recall of her life from the age of about 14. Christopher Taylor performed all 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, from memory. Guy Beiner is interested in how folk memory of e …
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TTBOOK: Animal Minds
Virginia Morell relates some of the latest research going on in the field of animal intelligence. David Ferris is the director of the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project. David Wroblewski reads from his novel "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle." Craig Childs talks about some of his …
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TTBOOK: The New Abolitionists
Maria Suarez tells the story of the five years she spent as a slave. Benjamin Skinner infiltrated slave markets on five continents. Adam Hochschild has written about the anti-slavery movement in Britain two hundred years ago. Katrina Browne produced and directed a film in an effort t …
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TTBOOK: Fairy Tale
Annie Gauger has edited an annotated version of the classic novel "The Wind in the Willows." Nina Paley has re-told the story from the Ramayana using animation, Indonesian shadow puppets and a '20s era jazz singer. Musharraf Ali Farooqi translates ancient Indian tales of sorcerers and wiz …
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TTBOOK: The We Generation
Clay Shirky describes how social networking has changed the media and journalism. Jonathan Harris created the website We-Feel-Fine-dot-org. Josh Koury explores the underground music scene called Wizard Rock. Anne Strainchamps and the Randall Elementary kids learn what it means to be p …
To the Best of Our Knowledge
