Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on climate...
A couple of books with great opening lines: Jaws (Bookshop|Amazon) by Peter Benchley and The Knife of Never Letting Go (Bookshop|Amazon) by Patrick Ness. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Books with Great Opening Lines” You’re...
Given the fact of reading mortality—-the awareness that it’s physically impossible to read all the books we’d like to—what’s the best way to choose your next book? Maryanne Wolf wrestles with modern challenges to doing so in Reader, Come Home: The...
The phrase old as Methuselah describes someone quite advanced in years. In ancient scripture, Methuselah was a man who somehow lived to the ripe old age of 969. Plus, a heartwarming book for children tells the story of how a Puerto Rican family...
A monk at St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, a Benedictine monastery in the Episcopal Church, shares some of the terms used there on a daily basis. The monks gather seven times a day to pray as a group, a practice called corporate...
An idea from puzzle constructor David Ellis Dickerson inspired this week’s challenge from our Quiz Guy, John Chaneski. This game involves two-word titles of books and movies, which, when those words are reversed, still make a pretty good title. For...

