With excursions into culture and public policy, a theoretical physicist named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” explores how we decide which scientific questions to study, how we go about answering them, and how science might radically revise our understanding of the world.

Mendelsohn, who has devoted his career to nonfiction—memoir, translation and criticism—discusses his latest collection of essays, (Waiting for the Barbarians), with novelist and essayist Lethem (The Ecstasy of Influence), as the two celebrate (and commiserate) the blessings and curses of the contemporary essay form.

Martínez, an award-winning author and performer, takes us on a deeply personal tour of the 21st century West—far from our romantic illusions of John Wayne, cacti and cowboys—and discusses the political and demographic upheaval in this most iconic of American landscapes

In the wake of 9/11 and the growth of a worrying animosity towards American Muslims, Patel—author, activist, and presidential advisor—argues that prejudice is not just a problem for American Muslims but also a challenge to the very idea of an America founded on the premise of pluralism. In this visionary book, he illuminates how faith can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division.

Master American chronicler Tom Wolfe, author of more than a dozen books—including, The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test—presents us with a panoramic story of America in his most recent novel, Back to Blood. Wolfe joins screenwriter Howard A. Rodman for a conversation that spans Wolfe's seven-decade writing career, from the days of a new journalism to how he penned the terms "good ol boy" and "the right stuff."

The culinary experience has turned into an experiment through the hands of Chef Ludo’s guerilla style pop-up restaurant LudoBites and Chef Roy’s roaming Kogi BBQ truck. How do these ephemeral establishments play with the identity of the city and the palates of its inhabitants? Listen in on what promises to be a playful, irreverent journey into the creative minds of these celebrated chefs.

From stardom at Motown at age sixteen, to obscurity and near destitution, to an amazing career revival in her sixties when she sang at President Obama’s pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, LaVette—one of R&B’s legendary singers—discusses her roller-coaster ride through the world of music.

Locke, whose new novel The Cutting Season is set at a Louisiana plantation re-purposed for weddings and Civil War reenactments, joins Edwards (Charisma and the Fictions of Black Leadership) to explore how African American literature, rooted in stories of struggle and dispossession and overcoming all odds, has been affected by the same racial progress that has culminated in the first African American presidency.

From the intellectuals who remade China, Turkey and Iran, to East-West encounters in Benares to the footprints of the Buddha in the small towns of India, Pankaj Mishra takes us on a historical journey through Asia, with detours to explore his own fiction and non-fiction.

Play is an inherent part of life. How are games revolutionizing the way we educate our children, think about the future, and engage with each other? Game designers Essen and Fullerton bridge the gap between art and education with their approach to play, and show us how reality is really just one big game we should all be playing.