In my wanderings through the audio landscape, I've spent a fair amount of time at KQED in San Francisco, where I revently had the privilege of meeting the one and only Ian Shoales.
"...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."
Last year, I had the privilege of speaking with Lisa Randall, who works two critical sides of the science world. She's a leading theorist, suggesting what experiments might do and what they might find if they do what she suggests. She's also a strong proponent of the value of science here in America, where we sometimes seem to be turning away from the importance of the scientific method.
I was honored to have her offer to call me from Geneva, Switzerland, where she was one her way to work at CERN and help them prepare for the increased LHC time this year, so we can finally learn if the Higgs field and the Higgs Boson are what we think they are.
As a physicist, she emphasizes that she is not predisposed to one notion or another. For example with regards to the Higgs Boson, she'd be happy to find indisputable proof of its existence; but if the experiments proved otherwise she'd not be disappointed. In some ways, she'd find it more exciting. Her emphasis is on finding out what is real. She recently did an interview with the New York Times on the search for the Higgs Boson, and wrote an article for Newsweek.
Reality figures in the other aspect of her work as a scientist, that of promoting the import of the scientific method to advancing the common interests of humanity. As told in her book, 'Knocking on Heaven's Door,' the original plan was to build the supercollider that ended up in Geneva in the United States, but Congress killed the funding. That sort of thinking, and the fear of the advanced ideas in science, will harm our efforts in other realms; from the economy to the ecology. Her essay over CNN is an eloquent reminder that the United States, indeed the world, needs to embrace science if we are to meet the challenges that face us.
01-10-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 26: Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, 'Van Gogh: The Life'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the twenty-sixth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The twenty-sixth episode is a look at Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith and their new book, 'Van Gogh: The Life,'.
John Lescroart (less-KWAH — his number one FAQ) is every bit as enthusiastic and engaging as his latest novel, 'The Hunter.' Perhaps that's at least in part because, due to a missed link, I ended up rousting him from his writer's garret so he could pop in his car for the hour-and-a-half drive from his place in Davis down to the studios of KQED in SF, but I have say this man has enough energy to generate a lot more books — and that's great news for readers.
I try not to make assumptions when I talk to a writer about how a book is written. But when a book reads as easily as 'The Hunter,' it's really tough not to think that the author just dashed it off. Of course that was not the case, and in fact, this proved to be a particularly tough book for Lescroart, who ended up in unfortunate sympathy with his main character.
He and I talked about how he creates this book and some of this other series, the Dismas Hardy novels. But that interview is for next time around, when we have more time to talk. I'm really looking forward to dipping into Lescroart's back catalogue, because these books are extremely easy and fun to read. They're superbly well-written, with a deliberate light-heartedness that makes some the darker aspects entertaining even as they explore more difficult subject; in this book, abandonment and adoption.
Lescroart's latest Dismas Hardy novel, 'Damage' is in the number one rack at my local grocery store, which I think is extremely cool. I love paperback racks in grocery and drug stores; they bring back memories and sell us book in unexpected ways. I think grovery stores would do well to bring back some of the walls of books I remember at the Lucky store back in Covina. And when they do, they'd be smart to make sure Lescroart was well-represented.
02-14-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Jeffrey E. Barlough Awakens 'Dark Sleeper' and 'The House in the High Wood' :Bold, Unique, Horrific, Enchanting
02-08-12: Commentary : Thrity Umrigar Reveals 'The World We Found' : Slow-Burning Loss of Control
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Thrity Umrigar : "...I walked away from that meeting in 2008 with an old friend of mine and literally saw at least the outline of the book in front of my eyes..."
02-06-12: Commentary : Eric Weiner Posts 'Man Seeks God' : Religious Pilgrimmage and Mordant Wit
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Eric Weiner : "...by the end, given all the amazing people I met out there, I've changed my views about that."
02-01-12: Commentary : Stan Lee Splashes 'Stan Lee's How to Write Comics' and 'Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics' : Lessons in the Form, From the Master
01-23-12: Commentary : Sara Paretsky Nails 'Breakdown' : The Machine Stops
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Sara Paretsky : "Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
01-18-12: Commentary : Téa Obreht Conjures 'The Tiger's Wife' : The Grammar of Vision
01-13-12: Commentary : Hard Case Subterranean Block : Not from Bob's Basement Tapes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Lisa Randall : "...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."
01-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Terry D'Auray Catches Lawrence Block and 'The Burglar on the Prowl' : "A show well worth the price of a ticket."
12-15-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011 : "... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..."
11-28-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Wallace : "Within months of first contact, these groups experience a huge die-off."
11-22-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier, Part Two : "It's not me telling you, there's this storyteller voice."
11-21-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier : "If we're going in the wrong direction, we could turn around and go back."
11-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Gianni Mola : "The only way you can learn, I told them, is to watch me cook it."
11-11-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "...the way I "think" about things, with quotes around think, is I tend to write them down..."
10-31-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Colson Whitehead : "In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."
10-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Russell Banks : "They are in a sense, permanently marked and thrown into this darkness..."
