Monday, August 17, 2015: One of the most legendary moments in rock-n-roll history started with an ad placed in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.” That “Aquarian Exposition” took place 46 years ago this weekend. Greg Walter worked on the backstage crew of Woodstock and came away with more than his share of stories, which he includes in Woodstock: A New Look – along with photographs he shot during the festival.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015: A trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council since 1974, Robert Redford has dedicated nearly as much of his life to the environment as he has to filmmaking. Redford joined Bob on stage at the Lincoln Center in front of a live audience in 2009 to talk about his film career, his support for young artists, the many NRDC campaigns he has supported in the past – and why that work will still be needed for years to come. Today is Redford’s 79th birthday.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015: In the UK it was published as Alex’s Adventures in Numberland. The US version has a cleverly improved title, Here’s Looking at Euclid. Whatever the title, Alex Bellos has managed to write a best-selling book all about math. Bellos traveled around the world interviewing people whose lives are connected to math. Bellos’ ambition is to prove to a wider audience – starting with Bob – that “the world of math is a remarkable place.”
Thursday, August 20, 2015: Clay Johnson is the founder of Blue State Digital which built and managed Barack Obama’s online presidential campaign. Now Johnson says we not only suffer from information overload, but we have lost the ability to filter the average eleven hours of data we ingest every day. He describes the problem and offers some advice in his book titled, The Information Diet: a Case for Conscious Consumption. Then Ronald Bishop explores our society’s obsession with triviality, extravagance and spectacle in his book, More: The Vanishing of Scale in an Over-the-Top Nation.
Friday, August 21, 2015: Bob talks with former astronaut Chris Hadfield about a few of his 4,000 hours spent in space, and about his book An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything. While on his mission aboard the International Space Station, Hadfield attracted the world’s attention when he released a series of photos and educational videos about life in space. His version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity received over 10 million views in its first three days online. Then – we’ll remember our trip down to Cape Canaveral to witness a night launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Bob talks with public radio’s resident expert on the NASA and the space program, Pat Duggins. He’s written several books on the subject, including The Final Countdown which deals with the end of the Shuttle program.