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'Eruption' is a collaboration between Michael Crichton and James Patterson Sep 05, 2024

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Jurassic Park creator Michael Crichton spent years working on a manuscript about a volcano on the verge of a disastrous eruption in Hawaii. After he died in 2008, his wife Sherri found his boxes and boxes of research and decided the novel needed to be finished – so she hit up James Patterson. In today's episode, she and Patterson speak with NPR's Ari Shapiro about how they got Eruption across the finish line more than a decade after her husband's death, and how they managed to pass off the pen throughout the course of the novel.
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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson talks Supreme Court ethics, family in 'Lovely One' Sep 04, 2024

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson remembers her first brush with the national spotlight as "white hot." When President Biden nominated her in 2022 to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, it kicked off an intense confirmation process for Jackson, the first Black woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court. In her new book, Lovely One: A Memoir, Jackson charts her path from the segregated South to the country's highest court. In today's episode, Justice Jackson sits down with NPR's Juana Summers to discuss whether the Supreme Court should adopt a more binding ethics code, the court's ability to deliver a credible opinion on this year's election and her family life, including her daughter's autism diagnosis.
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'The Instrumentalist' is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà Sep 03, 2024

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Harriet Constable learned a lot about the real life of Anna Maria della Pietà — that she grew up in an orphanage, that she was a star violinist and a favored student of Antonio Vivaldi. But in her new novel, The Instrumentalist, Constable also merges fact with fiction to tell the story of Anna Maria's synesthesia and musical talents. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Anna Maria's life, the challenges and excitement of the classical music world at the time, and what we make of Vivaldi today.
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'Ruin their Crops on the Ground' tracks the history and politics of food in the U.S. Sep 02, 2024

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Food is a source of nourishment, joy and autonomy for a lot of people – but in her new book, Ruin their Crops on the Ground, Andrea Freeman also tracks how the U.S. government has used food policy as a form of control and oppression. In today's episode, Freeman speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about how the book's title can be traced back to an order given by George Washington to destroy the food source of Indigenous nations, and how from slavery to Got Milk? campaigns to school lunches today, there's often a bigger political agenda behind nutrition education.
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'The 15-Minute City' and 'Rethinking Rescue' reimagine existing systems Aug 30, 2024

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Today's episode features two books that advocate for new approaches to big problems: urban planning, poverty, and dog rescue. First, Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with Carlos Moreno about The 15-Minute City, his proposal for interconnected communities where schools, grocery stores and offices are all a short walk or bike ride away from each other. Then, Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Carol Mithers about Rethinking Rescue, which profiles Lori Weise, aka the Dog Lady, and examines her belief that animal welfare and efforts to help people going through economic instability should go hand in hand.
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'How to Leave the House' follows a quest for a missing package Aug 29, 2024

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Natwest, 23, is about to finally leave for university. But a package he's waiting for has gone missing and – fearing humiliation if its contents are found out – he spends 24 hours looking for it all over town. That's the premise of Nathan Newman's comic novel, How to Leave the House. In today's episode, Newman speaks with NPR's David Folkenflik about some of the odd neighborhood characters Natwest bumps into along the way, and how their own concerns and their perceptions of Natwest completely challenge the notion of who he thinks he is as the protagonist of his own story.
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In 'On the Edge,' Nate Silver analyzes professional risk-takers Aug 28, 2024

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What do hedge fund managers, poker players and the scientist behind the mRNA vaccine have in common? In his new book, On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything, Nate Silver argues that they all exist in what he calls "the River" – a community of like-minded power brokers taking quantitative risks. In today's episode, Silver speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about what differentiates "the River" from what he calls "the Village" – think journalists and professors – and how cancel culture plays a role in this societal structure.
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'Hurdles in the Dark' is a memoir about a kidnapping, juvenile detention and racing Aug 27, 2024

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Elvira K. Gonzalez says there was a lot of beauty to growing up in the culturally rich border town of Laredo, Texas. But there were some challenges, too. Her new memoir, Hurdles in the Dark, chronicles some of the more difficult aspects of her adolescence — her mom was kidnapped, Gonzalez was sent to juvenile detention, and she was preyed upon by her hurdling coaches. In today's episode, the author speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the resilience and optimism she carried through all of that, and how it's gotten her to where she is today.
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Graphic novel 'Einstein in Kafkaland' ponders how two great minds met in Prague Aug 26, 2024

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From 1911 to 1912, Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka both lived in Prague. A new graphic novel by Ken Krimstein uses both history and artistic imagination to explore how the physicist and writer ran in the same social circles and how their work might have influenced each other. In today's episode, Krimstein speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Einstein in Kafkaland and the brilliant academic and literary scene in Prague during that time period.
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'Us, After' and 'A Haunted Girl' tackle mental health Aug 23, 2024

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Warning: this episode contains mention of suicide and mental illness. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Today's episode is about two books that focus on mental health challenges. First, Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Rachel Zimmerman about Us, After, a memoir that details the grief and growth Zimmerman underwent when she had to pick herself and her children back up after her husband took his own life. Then, Robin speaks with dad daughter duo Ethan and Naomi Sacks about A Haunted Girl, a graphic novel that depicts a young girl's struggles with anxiety and depression through a supernatural lens.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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