"Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is right there, in the room, talking to you, which is why I don't like to read good books."
—Jack Handey [Deep Thoughts], Recurring Saturday Night Live comedy bit
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- Info
'Because It Is Wrong': A Meditation On Torture
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
The debate about whether torture should be used to extract information from terrorists continues to percolate in our society. Robert Siegel talks with a father and son who have written a new book, Because It Is Wrong: Torture, Privacy and Presidential Power in the Age of Terror. Charles Fried is a Harvard Law professor and a former U.S. solicitor general in the Reagan administration. His son, Gregory Fried, is head of the philosophy department at Suffolk University. They argue that torture is fundamentally wrong -- it is not a gray issue.
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Pentagon Seeks To Buy Up Copies Of Afghan War Book
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
Anthony Shaffer's memoir describes his experiences as an intelligence operative pursuing al-Qaida and the Taliban in 2003. But a Pentagon official says Shaffer did not follow Defense Department guidelines, which can require approvals from multiple agencies.
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When To Test For Prostate Cancer?
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
Ads urge men of a certain age to get screened for prostate cancer. But is "test early, test often" the best approach? Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society and Mark Scholz, author of Invasion Of The Prostate Snatchers, discuss other approaches.
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The Intelligence Of Crowds In 'The Perfect Swarm'
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
In his book The Perfect Swarm, Len Fisher talks about swarm intelligence -- where the collective ideas of a group add up to better solutions than any individual could have dreamed up, including an example of how UPS reorganized its driving routes using the logic of an ant colony.
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Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers For Sept. 9
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair presents a firsthand account of his years in office in A Journey: My Political Life, which debuts at No. 4 on this week's list.
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Sly, Sinister 'Aurorarama': An Arctic Utopia In Peril
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:01:00 -0400
Parisian writer Jean-Christophe Valtat's latest novel is set in a fictional early 20th-century Arctic Circle city that's been taken over by a menacing council. Valtat's knowledge of North Pole mythology shines through.
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Teddy Roosevelt And The 'Burn' That Saved Forests
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:00:00 -0400
Author Timothy Egan argues in The Big Burn that the forest fire of 1910 -- the largest in American history -- actually saved the forests, even as its flames charred the trees. It helped rally public support, Egan explains, behind Theodore Roosevelt's push to protect national lands.
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How To Sell A Book? Good Old Word Of Mouth
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:01:00 -0400
In autumn, the publishing industry kicks into high gear, rolling out "big books" -- the titles that publishers hope readers will buy through the all-important holiday season. NPR's Lynn Neary follows the path of Emma Donoghue's novel, Room, a book that has generated some serious buzz.
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Three Books For Surviving Graduate School
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:00:00 -0400
The last thing a grad student needs is another reading list, but don't worry -- this one will help. Author Adam Ruben recommends three titles that will help you get through the languorous slog of post-baccalaureate education.
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One Woman's Journey From Homeless To Harvard
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:00:00 -0400
As a child, Liz Murray dealt with the typical stresses of growing up. But she also grappled with going days without food and living on the streets. Despite these obstacles, Murray finished school and went on to attend Harvard University. Murray talks about her memoir, Breaking Night.
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Fair Or Not, 'Freedom' Has Earned Its Accolades
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0400
Why all the adulatory attention, critics ask, for Jonathan Franzen's latest domestic drama about marriage and family? Even though Franzen gets more praise for doing what many fine female writers do "backwards and in heels," critic Maureen Corrigan says Freedom has earned its high praise.
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Franzen On The Book, The Backlash, His Background
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:43:00 -0400
Jonathan Franzen's new novel Freedom has been called "a masterpiece" by Time Magazine and has received rave reviews from critics. Franzen talks about the runaway success of his previous novel The Corrections, and the strong reaction elicited by Freedom.
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New In Paperback, Sept. 6-12
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:00:00 -0400
As summer ends, it's time for brainy reads you may have missed in hardcover. Wolf Hall, set in the court of Henry VIII, won the 2009 Booker Prize. Former nun Karen Armstrong takes on the atheists in The Case for God. Barbara Ehrenreich pops the bubble of American optimism with her usual wit -- and more.
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Children's Book Finds Hope In Haiti's Rubble
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400
Nine months after the quake in Haiti, Haitian-born author Edwidge Danticat is sharing the earthquake story with an audience that was largely shielded from it -- children. Eight Days is a book about a boy who gets buried in the rubble and is not rescued until eight days later.
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The Paradox Of 'Lady Matador's Hotel'
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400
Alan Cheuse reviews The Lady Matador's Hotel by Cristina Garcia. The novel weaves the stories of six residents of a hotel in an unnamed Central American capital. One of the guests is a Japanese Mexican-American matadora in town for a bullfight.
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