Books

An encore broadcast of Dan’s interview with Dr. Eben Alexander, author of  "Proof of Heaven: a Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into the Afterlife." Alexander recounts his near death experience, and the ways in which it altered his beliefs regarding consciousness and heaven. Also, Linda Hoy, author of "The Effect: Where Science Meets Spirituality," explores the ways in which science might explain the afterlife, and the power of human spirituality. 

Author Po Bronson explores what compels us to compete, why our culture is driven toward competition, and the hidden factors behind every sort of win and loss — from bringing home Gold in Olympic swimming to bombing the SAT.  Bronson is the co-author of "Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing."

The House of Delegates has passed a bill that would create a new tax on gasoline, on top of the existing tax, to fund roads and mass transit.  Now the debate continues in the Senate. WYPR statehouse reporter Karen Hosler tells us more.

Then, Captain Larry Simns was the voice of Maryland’s commercial watermen for forty years until his death earlier this month. We talk with Bob Rich, who helped Larry Simns write a book about his life.

And, a play about life’s takeoffs and landings. Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "Mud Blue Sky" at Center Stage.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Michael Moss surveys the giant processed foods industry and its complicity in the U.S. obesity epidemic, now effecting one in three adults and one in five children.  Moss is the author of  "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us."

March 25, 2013

Happy Maryland Day! Three-hundred and seventy-nine years ago, the first European settlers landed on Maryland soil at St. Clement’s Island in what is now St. Mary’s County.

In the Internet age, bullying has taken on new, complex, and insidious forms. Journalist Emily Bazelon explains how bullying has evolved online and what social media companies are doing about it. Bazelon is author of "Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy." Also, we talk to Chris McComas, mother of Grace McComas, the Howard County teenager who committed suicide last April after being bullied in social media.

Bicyclists, and motorists, have a stake in how Maryland is updating its Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.  We’ll talk to the Maryland Department of Transportation’s project manager, and to the Executive Director of Bikemore, a Baltimore advocacy group.

Then, copy editor John McIntyre’s new book is called "The Old Editor Says: Maxims for Writing and Editing." Today, The Baltimore Sun veteran explains some maxims. Like this one: "If you are not possessed of a perpetually filthy mind, you are ill-equipped to edit."

Carolyn Jones, author of a beautifully crafted book of photos and essays chronicling the lives of nurses, is traveling across the nation transforming the book into a documentary film. She stops in Baltimore and Studio A to discuss the project with one of the subjects of the book and documentary, Naomi Cross, an obstetrics nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Have you ever had a fit of the hiccups or found yourself yawning and sneezing and wondering what your body was up to? Why does tickling make us squirm and giggle? University of Maryland Baltimore County professor Robert Provine has studied the behavior and physiology of our bodies’ mundane actions in an effort to explain them. He is the author of Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccuping, and Beyond.

March 11, 2013