Terry Gross

Pack Underhill studies what is called retail anthropology, in which he tracks the habits of shoppers in order to learn the best way to convince them to make a purchase. His retail consulting firm, Envirosell, has helped big-name companies such as McDonald's, Levi Strauss, and Blockbuster to study their customers browsing and buying routines.

Ballard's novels often deal with the changes affected by modern science and technology. His novel "Crash" relates these changes to sexually-deviant behavior. The book has been made into a movie by filmmaker David Cronenberg and won an award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festiival. Ballard also wrote the books "Empire of the Sun" and "Concrete Island," among others.

A live on stage conversation between film critic Roger Ebert and film director Martin Scorsese, held at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio in February. They discuss the scope of Scorsese's career.

Ballard's novel "Crash" is the basis for Cronenberg's new film of the same name. Ballard is also the author of "Empire of the Sun" (which was made into a film by Steven Spielberg), and "Concrete Island." He's written over 20 novels.

Cronenberg directed the films "M. Butterfly," "The Fly," "Dead Ringers," and "Naked Lunch," all of which tell a story of sexually deviant behavior. In his new movie "Crash" he continues the theme, combining sex and car wrecks, and explores its place in an age of modern technology.

Screenwriter John Gregory Dunne. He and his wife, writer Joan Didion, have been working in film for 25 years. Their latest project was the screenplay for "Up Close and Personal" the movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford, based very losely on the Jessica Savitch story. In Dunne's new book "Monster: Living off the Big Screen" (Random House) he chronicles their eight year odyssey with the project.

Foreign editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Zucchino. In his new book "Myth of the Welfare Queen," he turns his attention to his own town, Philadelphia, where he follows the lives of two welfare mothers, Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala. One reviewer writes, "David Zucchino has shattered unequivocally the stereotype of women receiving welfare."

Athlete and freelance journalist Anna Seaton Huntington. She won the women's pair rowing bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics and was a member of the 1995 women's team in the America's Cup competition. In her new book "Making Waves," she writes of her experience training for and competing in a traditionally male-dominated sport of sailing.

Judge Alex Kozinski is on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Since the 1970's he has had to make decisions on cases involving the death penalty. But, although an advocate of this controversial form of punishment, he finds it difficult to enforce. In a recent New Yorker article ("Tinkering with Death", 10 Feb 1997), he recalls his experience the first time he wrote an opinion for such a case. Kozinski also writes for the Wall Street Journal's Op-ed page and other publications.

In her books and plays Bornstein, a transgender activist, argues the need for the acceptance of nontraditional gender roles, meaning those not defined as either male of female. In her book "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us," she writes about her sex-change experience and her view of society's conceptions of gender. She has also written the novel (with co-author Caitlin Sullivan) "Nearly Roadkill."