Journalist Richard Preston is the author of the best seller The Hot Zone, about the ebola virus. His new book, The Demon in the Freezer, is about the smallpox virus and the scientists at the CDC who are working with live smallpox in order to develop a drug that could fight it — should the virus be used in biological warfare. The smallpox virus was eradicated from humans in 1979. Now it can be found — officially — in two high-security freezers: one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and at Vector Institute in Siberia.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews It's all Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis, an album of country classic songs written by Mel Tillis and performed by his daughter, Pam Tillis.
He's written a new biography of blues legend Muddy Waters who is credited with inventing electric blues and creating the template for the rock and roll band. The book is Can't Be Statisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters. (Little, Brown). Gordon also produced and directed an accompanying documentary of the same name which will be shown as part of the PBS American Masters series next year. Gordon's other books are It Came From Memphis, and The King on the Road. He also produced the Al Green box set, Anthology.
Paul Feig is the creator of the now-defunct TV comedy series Freaks and Geeks. He's just written a new book Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence (paperback, Three Rivers Press). Feig was an actor before moving on to writing for TV and film.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices (Pantheon) a collection of stories of real women in China taken from a call-in talk show in China by journalist Xinran. Xinran was host of the talk show.
Iraq expert Kenneth Pollack's new book is The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. He has studied Iraq and Saddam Hussein for 15 years. During the Clinton administration, Pollack served as director for Gulf affairs at the National Security Council, where he was one of the people responsible for implementing U.S. policy toward Iraq. Before that, he was a Persian Gulf military analyst in the CIA. In 1990, Pollack was among the very few analysts to predict the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He is also the author of Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about presidents and language, and the pronunciation of nuclear as "nucular," a mispronunciation that dates all the way back to the era of Eisenhower. The underlying cognitive causes and social implications are considered.
Actor Joe Pantoliano plays Ralph Cifaretto on the HBO series The Sopranos. He has appeared in more than 60 films, including Memento, The Matrix and The Fugitive. He has a new memoir called Who's Sorry Now: The True Story of a Stand-Up Guy (E. P. Dutton). Pantoliano talks about growing up in Hoboken, N.J., and his acting career.
Reeve died Sunday of heart failure at the age of 52. He was best known for starring in the Superman film series. A 1995 horseback riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research. This interview was originally broadcast on Sept. 30, 2002.
Actor Christopher Reeve. A 1995 horseback riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Recently, with intensive physical therapy, Reeve announced that he has regained motion and feeling in his fingers and in other parts of his body. This is incredible news to scientists, who assumed he would never move again. Reeve was totally paralyzed for five years. Then, one morning two years ago, he found he could move one finger. Reeve is still dependent on a wheelchair and respirator. He's just written a book, Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life.
His new film Pipe Dream opens in New York this week. Donovan has also co-starred in The Opposite of Sex, Insomnia, and many films with the independent director, Hal Hartley.
Journalist Keith Bradsher is the former Detroit bureau chief of The New York Times and the author of the book, High and Mighty: SUVs — The World's Most Dangerous Vehicle and How They Got that Way. Bradsher finds that sport utility vehicles are dangerous not only for their occupants but for those who share the road with them. He finds that they block the road and vision for smaller vehicles, are more prone to roll over and get poor gas mileage. Bradsher is currently Hong Kong bureau chief for The New York Times.
Novelist Rohinton Mistry was born in Bombay and now lives in Canada. His new novel is Family Matters. The book is set in 1990s Bombay and is about an elderly professor with Parkinson's disease who is forced to move into the crowded apartment of his daughter and her family. Mistry is also the author of A Fine Balance and Such a Long Journey which were both short-listed for the Booker Prize.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews trumpeter Steven Bernstein's new CD with the Sam Rivers Trio, Diaspora Blues (Tzadik label). He also mentions the reissue, Jewish Melodies in Jazztime by Terry Gibbs
