Tracy Kidder was tired and a bit slaphappy. We laughed often and digressed frequently, though in the interview that follows I've mostly cut what was superfluous. It so happens that Kidder had hung out with Paul Farmer two nights before and was still recovering. "That guy -- he did it...
25 Comments | Posted February 15, 2008 | 06:43 PM (EST)
As Pete Seeger rides out his eighties with a number of awards and musical tributes, a new documentary entitled Pete Seeger: The Power of Song attempts to capture his monumental life on film. Though not yet in full theatrical release, just watching the online trailer excited me as...
16 Comments | Posted October 1, 2007 | 11:20 PM (EST)
I consider the Internet to be one of the world's great wonders. And also America's last hope for a free press.
When I was growing up in the 1970s, there were many people with a lot of things to say, but they generally had no platform. That's why we...
Posted June 24, 2007 | 10:00 PM (EST)
"America's been hijacked by technology," I complained into the headset, aware of the irony that I was calling my wife from the United States on a cellphone. I was only a week into my book tour and already homesick for the low-tech life we enjoy in Costa Rica.
Since I...
Posted April 10, 2007 | 03:36 PM (EST)
If you think the news about chocolate being healthful for your heart and for your brain is too good to be true, you're right: the research is less encouraging than the reporting about it. For instance, a Talk of the Nation public radio feature touted flavanols as the "magic molecules"...
Posted March 22, 2007 | 08:47 PM (EST)
If only it had been George Bush rather than Britney Spears to enter rehab and go running down the halls screaming "I'm the Antichrist!" and "I'm a fake!" Such long-awaited forthrightness would have been refreshing. Instead, the naive pop star was the one to crack, while the hardened politician...

Posted March 16, 2008 | 11:24 PM (EST)