Talk Cocktail

One of the central tenants of fiction has always been to tell stories of human scale and human frailty, set against the backdrop of powerful and uncontrollable events in places of mystery and beauty. Two new novels, one by esteemed author Manil Suri (The City of Devi) and the other by Bay Area author Michael Lavigne (The Wanting) brilliantly capture all of these ideas. One set amidst the excitement of Mumbai and the other in Middle East; both tell dramatic stories woven into a sense of place.

My conversation with Mainl Suri:

My conversation with Micahel Lavigne:

As the movie Lincoln reminds us, sometimes crass politics has noble ends. But even crass politics, must be guided by truth, by facts and by evidence. Today in our politics, facts, information and empirical data have simply given way to what’s become the holy grail of opinion.

Whether it's the influence of talk radio, the impact of money and special interests, or one political parties disconnect from reality, it seems we have dumbed down our discourse to the point where no good public policy can emerge. And as bad as that is today, its consequences down the road could be even more devastating.

David Schultz takes us through the problem in American Politics in the Age of Ignorance: Why Lawmakers Choose Belief Over Research. 

My conversation with David Schultz:

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The idea of a new, "modern" religion is a little confusing on its face. Especially one that claims millions of converts each year and that has focused its attention on money, and Hollywood.

Today, Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize winning author of THE LOOMING TOWER, about the history of al-qaida, takes a fresh look at another religion, gone off the rails in Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief 

My conversation with Lawrence Wright

Back in the 1930’s, Freud said that “the great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is what does a woman want?”

In the eighty years of research since, have we come any closer to an answer? And are the things that woman wanted then, even remotely similar to the post feminist age we live in today?

Betsy Prioleau thinks so. And in her new work Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them she gets to heart of feminine desire.

My conversation with Betsy Prioleau:

We hear over and over again that cooperation and teamwork are the keys to 21st century success. Yet we  live in a competitive age. We are reminded daily that success in the office, or on the field, or in the world, requires competition and competitive advantage.

How can we better understand and prepare for that competitive environment? Why are some people so much better at it than others? As Vince Lombardi said, “winning may not be everything, but wanting to win is.”

So what are the biological, physiological, genetic and social underpinnings of competition and how can they be approached to created a kind of modern day survival of the fittest?

These are just some of the question that Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman take up in Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing

My conversation with Po Bronson:

Thirty-two years ago, Ronald Reagan, in his first Inaugural, said that government was not the solution, but the problem. Since then, we have been on a sustained path to tear down or discredit government.

Today, in 21st century America, in an era of social networks, global interconnectedness, instant information and rapid change, can the tools of the day do anything to transform our cynicism about government in a way that serves people, improves public policy and perhaps finally transforms the terms of debate on the role of government.

California’s Lt. Governor and former two term Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom thinks so and he lays out his case in Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government

My conversation with Gavin Newsom:

While it certainly may seem as if our social, political and moral debates are a kind of tower of babel, or more like a kind of moral food fight, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that there is a basic moral underpinning to it all. That the culture wars are really a way in which our own personal experience breaks out and defines itself in a kind of moral and political matrix that both traps and defines us. That these principles are universal and enduring and that perhaps if we can better understand them, we can, if not accept, at least have compassion for the better angels of our opponents.

Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern school.  His newest work is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion 

My conversation with Jonathan Haidt:

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Few experiences in life are more personal than grief. There is simply no formula. We’re all told about the stages of grief, but research now tells us that this is simply not true.

As Anais Nin said, "we each see things not as they are, but as we are." We bring our own history, prejudice and emotions to the process of grieving. Couple this with grieving for a husband, when one still has a whole life ahead and you, and you have the potential for many questions, many tears and even much laughter.

That's what Becky Aikman found out, as she would deal with her own grief along with the group she dubbed THE SATURDAY NIGHT WIDOWS. And while it may sound like a skit on SNL, Saturday Night Widows: The Adventures of Six Friends Remaking Their Lives, is the the real and raw story of six women coming to grips with death, life, and love.

My conversation with Becky Aikman:

A new school recently opened in New York called Avenues World School. Its curriculum is focused on creating students who are citizens of the world. It’s tuition is 40,000 a year. But Some parents are willing to pay it, because they see the value of their kids engaging in the challenges of the 21st century's global environment.

As a society, we say we are concerned when we fall behind much of the developed world in our math and science scores. The reality is, that there is a bigger threat. That is the degree to which most of our students are not even engaged with the shrinking world. Their lack of knowledge about the world, its differences, its cultures, its geography and its languages, are all areas that will serve to hold back American students in a rapidly globalizing society.

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Carl Hobert of Boston University's School of Education and the Axis of Hope Center for International Conflict, in Raising Global IQ: Preparing Our Students for a Shrinking Planet

looks inside our need for a much more global curriculum.

My conversation with Carl Hobert: