In her new cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, Samin Nosrat says the key to good food is learning to balance those elements when cooking — and to trust your instincts.
NPR's Robert Siegel interviews Graham Allison, author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?, about honoring the dead by avoiding unnecessary wars.
Mike Mills' chicken wings have been named the best in the country. He is even in the Barbecue Hall of Fame. His new book with daughter Amy Mills shares the gospel of barbecue with home cooks.
Philosopher Peter Singer's work focuses on "effective altruism" — how to do the most good to make the world a better place. He argues effective giving involves balancing empathy with reason.
Larissa MacFarquhar writes about extreme altruists, people who make great sacrifices to help others. She says most of us aren't prepared or willing to do that — which is why we don't give more.
Medical historian Richard Barnett traces the history of dentistry in his new book. He says that prior to the 18th century, the profession was often practiced by charlatans with "big muscles."
Pamela Paul of The New York Times talks about her own new book, which chronicles every book she's read since she was 17 years old. Even if a work isn't great, she refuses to brush it aside cavalierly.
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Tom Ricks says the writings of Winston Churchill and George Orwell still resonate today. Ricks also discusses the generals serving in the Trump administration.
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to writer and sports legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about his book, Coach Wooden and Me, about his 50-year relationship with his UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.
A husband and wife are complete opposites. She's charming and effusive, he's a buttoned-down man of routine. Katherine Heiny tells NPR's Scott Simon about her first novel, Standard Deviation.
For Susan Burton, getting on track after being released from prison was a daunting experience. Now she's determined to help other women follow in her footsteps. Her new memoir is Becoming Ms. Burton.
In his new book, Michael Ruhlman explores how and why Americans have changed from corner-store customers to insatiable consumers of every edible product at our fingertips.
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with author Sam Walker about his book The Captain Class, which takes a look at the common qualities of elite athlete team leaders, and how they create winning teams.
NPR's Lulu Garcia Navarro talks to Brooke Gladstone, co-host of On The Media, about her new book, The Trouble with Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time.
Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee says genetics play a significant role in identity, temperament, sexual orientation and disease risk — but that environment also matters. Originally broadcast May 15, 2016.
Tom Stranger raped Thordis Elva when they were dating in high school. Years later, they started a painful and painstaking dialogue about accountability and reconciliation.
Before donating bone marrow to her sister — Elizabeth Lesser and her sister undertook a process of seeking forgiveness from each other. She says forgiveness is hard but necessary for our well-being.
Sue Klebold's son Dylan was one of the two shooters at Columbine High School. Nearly 20 years later, she talks about her struggle to understand his actions, and to find forgiveness.
When Wenner started Rolling Stone, he says, other publications weren't taking rock and roll seriously. Since then, the magazine has documented five decades of music, politics and culture.
Versions of the story of Bre'r Rabbit outwitting Bre'r Fox exist around the world. At heart, a new book argues, they're really about who controls access to food and subverting the powers that be.
Before she turned to writing, the National Book Award nominee ran away from home and worked as a stripper. Her new collection of personal essays is Somebody with a Little Hammer.
Cookbook author Julia Turshen says cooking should be flexible: "[Recipes] are kind of sold to people as prescriptions, these really precise things, ... but I think there's very rarely a wrong answer.
As a young woman, Sidibe struggled to find work before landing the film role that would change her life. "This is my path, and I'm really grateful that I'm on it," Sidibe says of her acting career.
NPR's Lakshmi Singh talks to Tommy Caldwell, the first to free climb a 3,000 foot "Dawn Wall" granite cliff, about his book The Push: A Climber's Journey of Endurance, Risk and Going Beyond Limits.
Min Kym had found her perfect partner in a 1696 Stradivarius — until it was snatched in a London cafe. She comes to terms with the loss in her new memoir, Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung.
