Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle, head-on, these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that 'stick' and explain sure-fire methods for making ideas stickier, such as violating schemas....

In this episode of North Carolina Bookwatch, Dodson shares Beautiful Madness — his true tale of shared horticultural obsession and burrows deeply into the story of how Americans became such fanatical gardeners and are today, in fact, at the forefront of what everyone agrees is a new Gold Age of Gardening, an unprecedented growth in gardening's popularity that has—according to a recent Gallop poll.

Joanna Catherine Scott was born in England, raised in Australia, and took her graduate degree in Philosophy at Duke University. From this award-winning author of Cassandra Lost and The Lucky Gourd Shop, comes The Road From Chapel Hill — a sweeping tale of the Civil War South, in which three people, worlds apart, are joined in a struggle for something greater than themselves.

Joseph Bathanti was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He came to North Carolina as a VISTA (domestic Peace Corps) volunteer in 1976 to work with prison inmates and for nearly thirty years he has continued to teach in prisons, battered women’s shelters, and homeless shelters.

Neal Thompson was born (1965) and raised in New Jersey, outside New York City. After graduating from the University of Scranton, he began his award-winning journalism career as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. For the next 15 years, he worked at newspapers up and down the East Coast - specializing in profiles, narratives and investigations.

Michele Andrea Bowen is a native of St. Louis, MO. She was raised on the city’s north side or the traditional African American Community by everyday, hardworking black folk. And she was a member of Washington Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, where both her mother and father’s family have been members for over half a century.

Now serving in his second term as Governor of North Carolina, Mike Easley has compiled an impressive wide-ranging record on education reform. His highly successful More at Four program ranks as one of the nation’s best Pre-K programs for at-risk four-year-olds.

J. Peder Zane is the Ideas Columnist for The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh, N.C. Peder’s writing has won several national awards, including the Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary from the American Society of Newspaper Editors.