HOUR ONE:
On this anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Normandy Bob talks with writer Stephan Talty. His book is titled Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day. It chronicles the life of Barcelonan poultry farmer Juan Pujol and his strange but true tale as one of World War Two’s most important double agents.
Bob talks with journalist Scott Christianson about his book, 100 Diagrams That Changed the World: From the Earliest Cave Paintings to the Innovation of the iPod. It charts human evolution from the Babylonian days of Pythagoras and his Theorem to the construction of our very own World Wide Web.
HOUR TWO:
Historian and author Thurston Clarke talks with Bob about the lessons we can learn from Robert Kennedy’s presidential bid in 1968. Clarke’s latest book is titled The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America. Kennedy was shot and killed 47 years ago this weekend, just after winning the California Democratic primary.
In many high schools, shop class is now a thing of the past, replaced by classes aimed to turn students into “knowledge workers.” Physicist, philosopher and motorcycle mechanic Matthew Crawford disagrees. In his book Shop Class As Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work Crawford argues that the detailed craft of a trade teaches workers to use their hands AND their brains – and allows them to accomplish something truly useful.