Wonder Cabinet

There are many ways to live dangerously. Sure, you can take part in a death defying feat like skydiving, but living dangerously also sometimes involves taking intellectual risks, opening up, and being honest with yourself. To the Best of Our Knowledge recently travelled to Salt Lake City to speak with a few people, live onstage, about what it means to live dangerously. Rock Climber Overcomes Loss by Learning How to Fly; Two Activists Challenge the Mormon Church from Inside and Out; Canopy Biologist Studies Movement from Treetops to Prisons; Finding Joy and Discomfort in the History of the National Parks.

Some people talk to God and some think God talks to them. But what one person calls mysticism, another might call mental illness. We examine a range of spiritual experiences - from hearing voices to prayer and conversations with God. Also, David Steindl-Rast reflects on life as a Benedictine monk. Did God Talk to Me?; "Let Us Pretend"; The Strange But True Story of Margery Kempe; David Steindl-Rast Reflects on a Life as a Benedictine Monk; "The Nightmare".

In this hour, we explore people's obsessions with movies and talk with legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog. Room 237 - Manohla Dargis; Werner Herzog Strives for the 'Ecstatic Truth'; Frank - Jon Ronson; Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

This is our extended conversation with Chuck Klosterman re. his book, "But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About The Present As If It Were the Past."

This hour, we explore flammable fiction as we ask the question, How does fire inspire a writer's imagination? Death by Spontaneous Combustion; Fighting Wildland Fires; The Politics of Arson; Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past.

  Before the airplane was invented, ballooning was all the rage, and many people thought this was the future of air travel. Cultural historian Richard Holmes describes the remarkable history of the hot air balloon.

We run for all sorts of reasons -- to lose 10 pounds, to win an Olympic medal, or simply because it’s fun. Some even run as a spiritual practice. Today, why we run - and how far and how fast can humans go? Faster, Higher, Stronger; Let Them Dope!; The Fist and the '68 Olympics; Running and Spirituality ; Tennis in China.

Does anyone still hitchhike? Cult film director John Waters does. At the age of 66, he hitchhiked 2,800 miles, from Baltimore to San Francisco. He tells us about the people who picked him up, along with some who didn't. And did the American Interstate System pave the way for fear and violence on the highways? Killer on the Road - Ginger Strand; Carsick: Hitchhiking Across America - John Waters; Anywhere - Mishy Harman; Maggie Nelson on "Close to the Knives"; The Romance of Ballooning.

Both practically and symbolically, our voices are one of the primary ways that we interact with the world around us. Since ancient Greece, the voice has represented participatory democracy, and today we still argue about whose voices to include in our national conversations. But even though we might think of our voices as our own—and ourselves as free to use them—it turns out that the voice is one of the most disciplined, trained, standardized, regulated dimensions of human life and expression. This hour, we confront the politics of the voice, from stereotyping to vocal fry. And we also talk to a soundscape ecologist who listens—perhaps closer than anyone—to the voices of the natural world. Does He Sound Gay?; Hollywood's "Urban" Voice Problem; Sounding Off On Vocal Fry; From Telephones to Auto-Tune; Hearing a Disappearing World.