Shadi Hamid, an acclaimed columnist at The Washington Post, discusses whether America has the ability to learn from its past mistakes, what some examples are of America using its power for good, and what we should say to our kids about why we need to restore American power. Shadi's latest book is The Case for American Power.

John B. King Jr., who served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education, discusses how important it is for every student to have at least one caring adult in every school building, how we can shift mindsets so that educators believe every student can learn, and what the value is of higher education. Secretary King’s new book is Teacher By Teacher: The People Who Change Our Lives.

Martha Barnette, longtime journalist and co-host of the popular radio show and podcast A Way with Words, discusses how one can make a living after learning Latin and ancient Greek, what local dialects or colloquialisms stood out to her when she traveled around the United States, and how we can get our kids as excited about language as she is. Martha's new book is Friends with Words: Adventures in Languageland.

Choreographers and Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers Amanda Morgan and Christopher D'Ariano discuss how they decided to become professional dancers, how much of dance is drive versus talent, and how we can encourage our kids to pursue their dreams. Their new work, AfterTime, has its world premiere this weekend to kick off PNB's In the Upper Room repertory program. Info at PNB.org

Award-winning tech journalist Vauhini Vara discusses whether tech companies are delivering on their promises, how AI chatbots manipulate us into giving them data, and how we can circumvent bias baked into the AI code itself. Vauhini's latest book is Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age.

Internationally renowned nature writer Robert Macfarlane discusses how rivers used to play a bigger role in human culture, how rivers influenced our personal life journeys, and how rivers help us reimagine the flow of time itself. Robert's latest book is Is a River Alive?

Cultural icon William Shatner and renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson discuss Bill's experience in space, whether Neil would travel beyond Earth, and how to instill a lifelong sense of curiosity in our kids. Bill and Neil were recently in Seattle for their groundbreaking two-person show, The Universe Is Absurd. There could be another show this fall in Los Angeles. Info at futureofspace.io

Scientific expert Nathan H. Lents discusses what human relationships looked like before marriage was invented, how animal sexuality compares to human sexuality, and how we can help human society stop being so uptight. Nathan's latest book is The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships.

Cassidy Randall, an award-winning writer who tells stories on the environment, adventure, and people who expand human potential, discusses what cultural barriers women adventurers had to endure in the 1970s, how the world reacted after Grace Hoeman and her team completed their climb, and how we can talk to our kids about this incredible but unknown accomplishment. Cassidy's new book is Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women's Ascent of Denali.

Acclaimed author Sameer Pandya, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, discusses how we should listen to our teens when they try to speak to us, how to talk to teens about their futures while giving them both agency and guidance, and how we can bridge communication gaps as a society. Sameer's new novel is Our Beautiful Boys.