Wonder Cabinet

Your voice is unique. It's how your friends and family know you. But how comfortable are you with your voice? And how freely do you use it?

Guests:

David Thorpe, Keith Powell, Susan Stamberg, Ann Friedman, Veronica Rueckert, Bernie Krause

It's a long walk from the truth to the whole truth. A biographer, a poet, a memoirist and a filmmaker describe the moral struggle and personal cost involved.

Guests:

Caroline Fraser, Terese Marie Mailhot, Karl Ove Knausgård, Errol Morris

Summer reading lists are full of so-called "beach books." But if you’ve got enough time to lounge by a pool or swing in a hammock, why not tackle something more substantial?

Guests:

Colleen Leahy, Makini Allwood, Jorge Luis Borges, Orhan Pamuk, Maryanne Wolf, Codex Seraphinianus, Emily Parker, Junot Diaz, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Charles Miers

What's the essence of religion? God? Scripture? Moral codes? Or is it really about something more unexplainable — primal spiritual experiences?

Guests:

Elizabeth Krohn, Jeff Kripal, Elaine Pagels, Jericho Brown

Covert spies painting nerve agents on doorknobs? It's not the only way to poison someone. We hear stories of radioactive paint, formaldehyde-spiked baby formula, and a beautiful garden full of plants that could kill you.

Guests:

Deborah Blum, Kathryn Harkup, Amy Stewart, Kate Moore

We're always online but still have an innate need to meet in person. How can we make gatherings, from dinner parties to work meetings, more meaningful?

Guests:

Priya Parker, Mamie Kanfer Stewart, Angelo Bautista, James Ogude

The first birth is when you arrive here, as a wet, wiggling newborn. But there may be other transitions in your life that feel just as difficult and profound. Some people actually call those passages re-birth. 

Guests:

Arlene Stein, Wendy Kline, Benn Marine, Greg Cootsona

Even with all the music available today, most of us still listen primarily to just a few comfy genres. But there’s so much more out there — and so much of it defies neat, algorithm-friendly categorization.

Guests:

Kevin Gift, Wendel Patrick, Philip Glass, Robert Glasper, Toni Blackman, Clarice Jensen, Evelyn Glennie, Nikka Costa

Over-tourism is ruining some of our favorite places on earth. Maybe it’s time to think more carefully about where and why we go places.

This show was produced in partnership with AFAR Magazine, whose May/June 2019 issue on ethical traveling inspired this episode.

Guests:

Elizabeth Becker, Dave Eggers, Kathryn Kellogg, Anu Taranath, Barry Lopez

Cities can be cacophonous and loud, a chaos of sonic discord. If, that is, you don't really focus your listening. People who’ve trained their ears to hear urban soundscapes in new ways hear something different.

That’s what David Rothenberg is doing. He’s a composer and an environmental philosopher who’s made a career of listening to and performing music in the wild, with birds, animals and insects. Lately he’s been giving himself a crash course in the art — and science — of urban listening.

His experience made us wonder: what else can you hear from a city when you really listen closely? People's patterns and everyday experiences emerge in detail, along with their struggles against prejudice and abuse. Some people hear pain, others hear art emerging from the chaos of sound.

In this hour, we make the case for exploring your city sonically.

Guests:

David Rothenberg, David Haskell, Aaron Henkin, Wendel Patrick, Jennifer Stoever, Pierre Schaeffer, Vivienne Corringham