The constant stream of information we get through mobile and hand-held devices is changing the way we think. Matt Richtel, a technology writer for The New York Times, explains how the use of digital technology is altering our brains -- and how retreating into nature may reverse the effects.
It's not unusual to get in a cab and find a paperback novel on the seat next to the driver. What makes Jack Clark's cab different is that he's both the driver and the author. Clark is a Chicago cab driver who's been driving for 30 years — and written three mystery novels.
NPR host Scott Simon became a father for the first time at the age of 50, when he and his wife Caroline adopted the first of their two daughters from China. He describes how he felt becoming a father relatively late in life, how his family changed — and how his daughters continue to inspire him, in a new memoir, Baby We Were Meant For Each Other.
This week marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in the Gulf region, devastating the area and leading to levee breaches that flooded most of New Orleans. TV critic David Bianculli says that television was all over the story then -- and five years later, is all over it again now.
Stuart has been playing country music professionally since his early teens. From the mid-1980s to the early '90s, he had a lot of mainstream country-music success. But in recent years, Stuart has migrated toward an old-fashioned sound. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his latest album, Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.
Nearly all of the most commonly visited websites install invisible tracking software on your computer so the information can be sold to advertisers. Julia Angwin, who recently led a team of Wall Street Journal reporters investigating the practice, explains what companies do with the information -- and how you can protect your privacy online.
As a composer, Coleman has been heavily influenced by James Brown's funk. You wouldn't mistake Coleman's band Five Elements for J.B.'s, but like the Godfather of Soul, he goes in for fast, jittery beats on Harvesting Semblances and Affinities.
The fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan, who starred in a series of novels and movies between the 1920s and the 1950s, is often dismissed as a "Yellow Uncle Tom." But in the fascinating, sometimes maddening history Charlie Chan, Yunte Huang argues that Charlie is much more than a stereotype.
In a new memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey revisits her own memories of the Gulf Coast region, and details how members of her family worked to rebuild their lives after the storm. She asks how the identity of the Gulf will be remembered — and how the region's stories will be told.
Lincoln, the jazz legend who transformed herself from a supper-club singer into a powerful voice in the civil-rights movement, died Saturday. She was 80. Fresh Air revisits two interviews with the respected performer, actress and songwriter.
Portions of this interview were originally broadcast on March 25, 1986, and June 16, 1996.
Writer Sue Diaz was surprised when her son Roman told her that he was joining the Army. She writes about the emotional roller coaster her family experienced when her son left for war — and how her relationship with Roman changed — in Minefields of the Heart.
The new Showtime series stars Laura Linney as a wife and mother battling cancer. Critic David Bianculli says the leads (Oliver Platt among them) are just fine, but the subsidiary characters could use a second look. Also back for another season on Showtime: Weeds, which makes The Big C look limp by comparison.
Neurobiologist Susan R. Barry was born cross-eyed, and for most of her life, she saw the world in two dimensions, instead of three. But in her late 40s, Barry retrained her brain and her eyes to perceive the world in a new way. She explains how her vision -- and her whole sense of self -- changed in her memoir, Fixing My Gaze.
Mac Rebennack, known as "Dr. John," has been a rock and soul ambassador for his native New Orleans since the late 1960s. Although his public profile has risen and fallen over the years, the spirit of his city is a constant presence on all of his albums. Critic Milo Miles talks about how crusading for wounded New Orleans has given Dr. John a jolt of vitality.
Helen Schulman tells the story of a New York family's fall from grace in This Beautiful Life. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the novel is a parent's nightmare -- a cautionary tale about what happens when hormones meet the Internet.
Everything you wanted to know about bug sex (but didn't bother to ask) is explained in a new book. Insect expert Marlene Auk describes how ants learn, why some crickets don't chirp and how various bugs mate in Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love and Language from the Insect World.
Arcade Fire is a Montreal-based band that has, in less than a decade, grown in popularity from obscure indie favorite to mass-appeal group that can fill New York's Madison Square Garden. Critic Ken Tucker says the band's third album, The Suburbs, has the sweep and ambition of a rock opera.
The Vidocq Society is a Philadelphia-based group of criminologists and forensic experts; they gather together once a month to solve cold cases. Writer Michael Capuzzo explains what it was like to shadow the crime-fighters in The Murder Room.
In Crude World, journalist Peter Maass argues that our relentless pursuit of oil has created a host of problems in the world — particularly in the countries that hold the most deposits. He explains why our dependence on the fossil fuel is not without social and environmental costs.
Edgar Wright's adaptation of a cult-favorite comic centers on a regular schmo who fights like a superhero when his new girlfriend's Seven Evil Exes come calling. Critic David Edelstein says the movie has a vintage look all its own -- "part comic-book panel and part arcade video-game screen."
