Give And Take

My guest is Lee McIntyre. His newest book is The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience (https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Attitude-Defending-Science-Pseudoscience/dp/0262039834/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=the+scientific+attitude+lee+mcintyre&qid=1556915331&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull). Attacks on science have become commonplace. Claims that climate change isn't settled science, that evolution is “only a theory,” and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are staples of some politicians' rhetorical repertoire. Defenders of science often point to its discoveries (penicillin! relativity!) without explaining exactly why scientific claims are superior. In this book, Lee McIntyre argues that what distinguishes science from its rivals is what he calls “the scientific attitude”―caring about evidence and being willing to change theories on the basis of new evidence. The history of science is littered with theories that were scientific but t

My guest is Melissa Knox. Her new memoir is Divorcing Mom: A Memoir of Psychoanalysis (https://www.amazon.com/Divorcing-Mom-Psychoanalysis-Melissa-Knox/dp/1947976052). Psychoanalysis was her family's religion instead of wafers and wine, there were Seconals, Nembutals, and gin. Baptized into the faith at fourteen, Melissa Knox endured her analyst's praise of her childlike, victimized mother who leaned too close, ate off Melissa's plate, and thought pedophile meant silly person. Gaslighted with the notions that she'd seduced her father, failed to masturbate, and betrayed her mother, Melissa shouldered the blame. Her story of a family pulled into and torn apart by psychoanalysis exposes the abuse inherent in its authoritarianism as Melissa learns, with a startling sense of humor and admirable chagrin, that divorcing Mom is sometimes the least crazy thing to do. Special Guest: Melissa Knox.

My guest is Jonathan H. Marks. His new book is The Perils of Partnership: Industry Influence, Institutional Integrity, and Public Health (https://www.amazon.com/Perils-Partnership-Influence-Institutional-Integrity/dp/0190907088/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=). Countless public health agencies are trying to solve our most intractable public health problems -- among them, the obesity and opioid epidemics -- by partnering with corporations responsible for creating or exacerbating those problems. We are told industry must be part of the solution. But is it time to challenge the partnership paradigm and the popular narratives that sustain it? In The Perils of Partnership, (https://www.amazon.com/Perils-Partnership-Influence-Institutional-Integrity/dp/0190907088/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) Jonathan H. Marks argues that public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives create "webs of influence" that undermine the integrity of public health agencies; distort public health

My guest is Rachel Howard. Her newest book is The Risk Of Us (https://www.amazon.com/Risk-Us-Rachel-Howard/dp/1328588823). What is the cost of motherhood? When The Risk of Us opens, we meet a forty-something woman who deeply wants to become a mother. The path that opens up to her and her husband takes them through the foster care system, with the goal of adoption. And when seven-year-old Maresa—with inch-deep dimples and a voice that can beam to the moon—comes into their lives, their hearts fill with love. But her rages and troubles threaten to crack open their marriage. Over the course of a year, as Maresa approaches the age at which children become nearly impossible to place, the couple must decide if they can be the parents this child needs, and finalize the adoption—or, almost unthinkably, give her up. For fans of Jenny Offill and Rachel Cusk, The Risk of Us deftly explores the inevitable tests children bring to a marriage, the uncertainties of family life, and the ways true empathy obliterates our defens

My guest is Martin Dugard. He's the author of the critically acclaimed To Be A Runner (https://www.amazon.com/Be-Runner-Racing-Mountains-Running/dp/1635653630/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=to+be+a+runner+paperback&qid=1554858046&s=digital-text&sr=8-1-spell). Now with a new introduction and additional stories accumulated in the eight years since its original publication, To Be a Runner is a fresh and exciting update on a running classic. With an exuberant mix of passion, insight, instruction, and humor, bestselling author and lifelong runner Martin Dugard takes a journey through the world of running to illustrate how the sport helps us fulfill that universal desire to be the best possible version of ourselves each and every time we lace up our shoes. To Be a Runner represents a new way to write about running by bridging the chasm between the two categories of running books: how-to and personal narrative. Spinning colorful stories of his running and racing adventures on six continents, Dugard considers what it means to

My guest is David Zahl. His newest book is Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do about It (https://www.amazon.com/Seculosity-Parenting-Technology-Politics-Religion/dp/1506449433/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=seculosity&qid=1553607902&s=gateway&sr=8-1). At the heart of our current moment lies a universal yearning, writes David Zahl, not to be happy or respected so much as enough--what religions call "righteous." To fill the void left by religion, we look to all sorts of everyday activities--from eating and parenting to dating and voting--for the identity, purpose, and meaning once provided on Sunday morning. In our striving, we are chasing a sense of enoughness. But it remains ever out of reach, and the effort and anxiety are burning us out. Seculosity takes a thoughtful yet entertaining tour of American "performancism" and its cousins, highlighting both their ingenuity and mercilessness, all while challenging the conventional narrative of relig

My guest is Laura Davis-Chanin. Her new book is The Girl In The Back: A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie and the '70s Rock Scene (https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Back-Female-Drummers-Blondie/dp/1617136875). Nineteen seventy-seven. New York City. Dark. Dangerous. Thrilling. Punk Rock. Blondie. David Bowie. Drinking. Drugs. Happening at the speed of light. Seventeen-year old Laura quaking within her skin while the bursting punk rock revolution explodes around her starts a band with her teenage friends called the Student Teachers. She's the drummer. They play legendary clubs CBGB and Max's Kansas City. They rehearse madly write songs and tour the East Coast, all between final exams at school. In comes Jimmy Destri from Blondie. He thinks the Student Teachers are terrific! And then he falls in love with Laura. He pulls her into the glamorous life of Blondie and introduces her to David Bowie. Bowie takes an interest in Laura's band, attends their rehearsals, and sets them up to open for Iggy Pop at the Pallad

My guest is David Shields. His new book, The Trouble with Men: Reflections on Sex, Love, Marriage, Porn, and Power (https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Men-Reflections-Marriage-Century/dp/0814255191) is an immersion into the perils, limits, and possibilities of human intimacy. All at once a love letter to his wife, a nervy reckoning with his own fallibility, a meditation on the impact of porn on American culture, and an attempt to understand marriage (one marriage, the idea of marriage, all marriages), The Trouble with Men is exquisitely balanced between the personal and the anthropological, nakedness and restraint. While unashamedly intellectual, it’s also irresistibly readable and extremely moving. Over five increasingly intimate chapters, Shields probes the contours of his own psyche and marriage, marshalling a chorus of other voices that leaven, deepen, and universalize his experience; his goal is nothing less than a deconstruction of eros and conventional masculinity. Masterfully woven throughout is an unmist

My guest is Rabbi Evan Moffic. His newest book is First the Jews: Combating the World’s Longest-Running Hate Campaign. (https://www.amazon.com/First-Jews-Combating-Longest-Running-Campaign/dp/1501870831/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=First+The+Jews&qid=1552353394&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1) News reports of and statistics about defaced synagogues and death threats against community centers are on the rise around the world. A rise in anti-Semitism from the right side of the political spectrum has been accompanied by a different kind of anti-Semitism from parts of the left revolving around the state of Israel. Rabbi Evan Moffic provides a compelling discussion to help Christians understand this dangerous rise by working to address tough questions including: Why have Jews been the object of the most enduring and universal hatred in history? What is different between anti-Semitism in the past versus today’s culture? How, and in what forms, may it be carried out in the future? Focusing on the events since September 11,

My guest is Nicholas Wolterstorff. World-renowned Christian philosopher. Beloved professor. Author of the classic Lament for a Son (https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Emeritus-Philosophical-Theology-Wolterstorff/dp/080280294X/ref=pd_sim_14_1/147-1749716-5340640?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=080280294X&pd_rd_r=ff8d50ec-3f9c-11e9-870e-afb0e07225f8&pd_rd_w=vBmat&pd_rd_wg=Y10yc&pf_rd_p=90485860-83e9-4fd9-b838-b28a9b7fda30&pf_rd_r=HAW6HG118X3ZAJ4HWQV0&psc=1&refRID=HAW6HG118X3ZAJ4HWQV0). Nicholas Wolterstorff is all of these and more. His memoir, In This World of Wonders (https://www.amazon.com/This-World-Wonders-Memoir-Learning/dp/080287679X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=in+this+world+of+wonders&qid=1551827911&s=gateway&sr=8-1) opens a remarkable new window into the life and thought of this remarkable man. Written not as a complete life story but as a series of vignettes, Wolterstorff’s memoir moves from his humble beginnings in a tiny Minnesota village to his education at Calvin College and Harvard University, to his career of teac

My guest is Alexandrea Ravenelle. Her new book is Hustle and Gig (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520300564/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_Elk6BbY9AFBSR). Choose your hours, choose your work, be your own boss, control your own income. Welcome to the sharing economy, a nebulous collection of online platforms and apps that promise to transcend capitalism. Supporters argue that the gig economy will reverse economic inequality, enhance worker rights, and bring entrepreneurship to the masses. But does it? In Hustle and Gig, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle shares the personal stories of nearly eighty predominantly millennial workers from Airbnb, Uber, TaskRabbit, and Kitchensurfing. Their stories underline the volatility of working in the gig economy: the autonomy these young workers expected has been usurped by the need to maintain algorithm-approved acceptance and response rates. The sharing economy upends generations of workplace protections such as worker safety; workplace protections around discrimination and sexual harassment; the

My guest is Olen Steinhauer. With The Middleman (https://www.amazon.com/Middleman-Novel-Olen-Steinhauer/dp/1250036178/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+middleman&qid=1549664956&sr=8-1), the perfect thriller for our tumultuous, uneasy time, Olen Steinhauer, the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including The Tourist and The Cairo Affair, delivers a compelling portrait of a nation on the edge of revolution, and the deepest motives of the men and women on the opposite sides of the divide. One day in the early summer of 2017, about four hundred people disappear from their lives. They leave behind cell phones, credit cards, jobs, houses, families--everything--all on the same day. Where have they gone? Why? The only answer, for weeks, is silence. Kevin Moore is one of them. Former military, disaffected, restless, Kevin leaves behind his retail job in San Francisco, sends a good-bye text to his mother, dumps his phone and wallet into a trash can, and disappears. The movement calls itself the Massive Brigade, an

My guest is Joshua S. Goldstein. His newest book, co-authored with Staffan A. Qvist, is A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow. (https://www.amazon.com/Bright-Future-Countries-Solved-Climate/dp/1541724100/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549482449&sr=8-1&keywords=a+bright+future+joshua+goldstein)As climate change quickly approaches a series of turning points that guarantee disastrous outcomes, a solution is hiding in plain sight. Several countries have already replaced fossil fuels with low-carbon energy sources, and done so rapidly, in one to two decades. By following their methods, we could decarbonize the global economy by midcentury, replacing fossil fuels even while world energy use continues to rise. But so far we have lacked the courage to really try. In this clear-sighted and compelling book, Joshua Goldstein and Staffan Qvist explain how clean energy quickly replaced fossil fuels in such places as Sweden, France, South Korea, and Ontario. Their people enjoyed p

My guest is Eva Hagberg Fisher. Her new book, How To Be Loved (https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Loved-Lifesaving-Friendship/dp/054499115X), is a luminous memoir about how friendship saved one woman’s life, for anyone who has loved a friend who was sick, grieving, or lost—and for anyone who has struggled to seek or accept help. Eva Hagberg Fisher spent her lonely youth looking everywhere for connection: drugs, alcohol, therapists, boyfriends, girlfriends. Sometimes she found it, but always temporarily. Then, at age thirty, an undiscovered mass in her brain ruptured. So did her life. A brain surgery marked only the beginning of a long journey, and when her illness hit a critical stage, it forced her to finally admit the long‑suppressed truth: she was vulnerable, she needed help, and she longed to grow. She needed true friendship for the first time. How to Be Loved (https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Loved-Lifesaving-Friendship/dp/054499115X) is the story of how an isolated person’s life was ripped apart only to be gent

My guest is Melissa Glaser. Her new book is Healing a Community: Lessons for Recovery after a Large-Scale Trauma (https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Community-Lessons-Recovery-Large-Scale/dp/1942094906). After the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, local caregivers, civic leaders, and first responders had the daunting task of navigating emotional and physical trauma as they stitched their community back together. The recovery process takes years, and as the coordinator of the Newtown Recovery and Resiliency Team, Melissa Glaser managed the town’s response. She developed a unique set of therapeutic and transferable best practices that other communities can learn from. The impact of an intense media presence and the long-term financial needs of recovery work are also included in Healing a Community (https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Community-Lessons-Recovery-Large-Scale/dp/1942094906). Through heartbreaking insights, Glaser conveys the importance of meeting traumatized individua

My guest is Edith Hall. Her newest book is Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life (https://www.amazon.com/Aristotles-Way-Ancient-Wisdom-Change/dp/0735220808/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1547648446&sr=1-1-catcorr). In expert yet vibrant modern language, Hall lays out the crux of Aristotle's thinking, mixing affecting autobiographical anecdotes with a deep wealth of classical learning. For Hall, whose own life has been greatly improved by her understanding of Aristotle, this is an intensely personal subject. She distills his ancient wisdom into ten practical and universal lessons to help us confront life's difficult and crucial moments, summarizing a lifetime of the most rarefied and brilliant scholarship. Aristotle was the first philosopher to inquire into subjective happiness, and he understood its essence better and more clearly than anyone since. According to Aristotle, happiness is not about well-being, but instead a lasting state of contentment, which should be the ultimate go

My guest is Edward J. Watts. In Mortal Republic, this prize-winning historian offers a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why Rome exchanged freedom for autocracy. For centuries, even as Rome grew into the Mediterranean's premier military and political power, its governing institutions, parliamentary rules, and political customs successfully fostered negotiation and compromise. By the 130s BC, however, Rome's leaders increasingly used these same tools to cynically pursue individual gain and obstruct their opponents. As the center decayed and dysfunction grew, arguments between politicians gave way to political violence in the streets. The stage was set for destructive civil wars--and ultimately the imperial reign of Augustus. The death of Rome's Republic was not inevitable. In Mortal Republic (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B84NKNP?tag=hacboogrosit-20), Watts shows it died because it was allowed to, from thousands of small wounds inflicted by Romans who assumed that it would las

My guest is Karen Swallow Prior. Her newest book is Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Well-Finding-through-Great/dp/1587433966). Reading great literature well has the power to cultivate virtue. Great literature increases knowledge of and desire for the good life by showing readers what virtue looks like and where vice leads. It is not just what one reads but how one reads that cultivates virtue. Reading good literature well requires one to practice numerous virtues, such as patience, diligence, and prudence. And learning to judge wisely a character in a book, in turn, forms the reader's own character. Acclaimed author Karen Swallow Prior takes readers on a guided tour through works of great literature both ancient and modern, exploring twelve virtues that philosophers and theologians throughout history have identified as most essential for good character and the good life. In reintroducing ancient virtues that are as relevant and essential today as ever, P

My guest is Tal Keinan. His new book God Is in the Crowd (https://www.amazon.com/God-Crowd-Twenty-First-Century-Tal-Keinan/dp/0525511164)is an original and provocative blueprint for Judaism in the twenty-first century. Presented through the lens of Tal Keinan’s unusual personal story, it a sobering analysis of the threat to Jewish continuity. As the Jewish people has become concentrated in just two hubs—America and Israel—it has lost the subtle code of governance that endowed Judaism with dynamism and relevance in the age of Diaspora. This code, as Keinan explains, is derived from Francis Galton’s “wisdom of crowds,” in which a group’s collective intelligence, memory, and even spirituality can be dramatically different from, and often stronger than, that of any individual member’s. He argues that without this code, this ancient people—and the civilization that it spawned—will soon be extinct. Finally, Keinan puts forward a bold and original plan to rewrite the Jewish code, proposing a new model for Judaism a

My guest is A.J. Jacobs. The idea for his newest book was simple: this New York Times bestselling author decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe, transforms his life, and reveals secrets about how gratitude can make us all happier, more generous, and more connected. Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey (https://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Thousand-Gratitude-Journey-Books/dp/1501119923) was the result. Special Guest: A.J. Jacobs.