Monday, February 23, 2009
Louis Ferrante fought his way up the mafia ranks, earning himself a spot in the Gambino clan. Then, as an inmate in federal prison, he experienced the thrill of a great piece of literature. Bob talks to Ferrante about his memoir, Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust, and why he changed the names to “protect the innocent and conceal the guilty.”
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Pennsylvania State University English professor Michael Berube decided to revisit many graduate school hopefuls’ arch nemesis: the GRE. He wrote an article about his experience for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Next, pre-kindergarten classes are not required for children entering the nation’s school system, but they can have a big influence on how children acclimate to a classroom setting. Sara Mead is the Director of the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation and she discusses Pre-K curriculum, how various Pre-K environments affect student performance in later years, and how Pre-K initiatives could be incorporated within school reform.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Scientist Alan Boss is a researcher at the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and one of the world’s leading scholars on the formation of stars and planets. His latest book, The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets, details the strides contemporary science has made in locating life on other planets. Then, we hear from cowboy poet Baxter Black.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Then, our resident folklorists Steve Winick and Ann Hoog from the Library of Congress come in to talk about songs, calls, and sounds that people use instead of words.
Friday, February 27, 2009
David Broder of The Washington Post joins Bob to talk live about the latest news from the capital and beyond. Next, Simon Critchley is a professor of philosophy at The New School in New York. He looked at how more than 190 philosophers spent the latter portions of their lives and what their ends can teach us. The lessons are in his new book, The Book of Dead Philosophers.