Terry Gross

Novelist Robert Stone. His new novel "Damascus Gate" is about the Middle East. Unlike most writers who write about the region, Stone is not Jewish; he's a lapsed Catholic. One reviewer writes of the book that it is "so comprehending of Israel's convoluted workings and its bifurcated culture--where the Biblical fervor of Jerusalem coexists with the disco fever of Tel Aviv--that he makes other writers on the subject seem like the breeziness of literary tourists." Stone is also the author of "Outerbridge Reach" and "Dog Soldiers."

Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm is a leading expert on food-borne illnesses, like E-coli and toxoplasmosis. Some illnesses are less serious resulting in diarrhea, and stomach and abdominal pain. Food-borne illness is on the rise, partly because of the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables in this country, and their importation from developing countries. Osterholm is State Epidemiologist and Chief, Acute Disease Epdemiology Section, of the Minnesota Department of Health.

Epidemilogist Susan Oliveria is an expert on the link between nutrition and cancer. She is one of the authors of the new book, "The Strang Cookbook for Cancer Prevention: A Complete Nutrition and Lifestyle Plan to Dramatically Lower Your Cancer Risk" (Dutton). The book includes recipes from gourmet chefs. Oliveria teaches at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center, Cornell University Medical College, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.