From This Collection

Dreaming in Code

Jan 29, 2007
Software projects like Microsoft's Windows Vista are notoriously late getting to market. Salon.com co-founder Scott Rosenberg has a new book on the perils of software programming. He talks with Kai Ryssdal.

Turning green into gold

Jan 29, 2007
Smart companies can use environmental strategy to their advantage. Yale professor Daniel Esty tells us which companies are making it work — and there are some surprises on the list.

Cracks in foundations

Jan 22, 2007
Duke University professor Joel Fleishman says that despite their good intentions most foundations have plenty of problems. He talks with Kai Ryssdal about his new book on the subject.

P.J.'s Cliffs Notes on Adam Smith

Jan 16, 2007
It's the book that made free trade famous: "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith. But who's got time to read its 900-plus pages? Humorist P.J. O'Rourke did and wrote his own book about it. He talks with Kai Ryssdal.

Time to get organized? Not so fast

Jan 2, 2007
Neatness might not be so virtuous — or profitable — after all. David Freedman talks about his new book on the topic, "A Perfect Mess," with host Kai Ryssdal.

Abe Lincoln, early adopter

Dec 1, 2006
Historian Tom Wheeler talks with host Kai Ryssdal about how President Lincoln adapted to the telegraph to speed communications, and quickly came to understand the medium's limitations.

Battling the AK-47

Nov 20, 2006
Host Kai Ryssdal talks to Larry Kahaner, author of a book about the AK-47. Kahaner explains the past and present significance of this deadly weapon — and why the Pentagon doesn't use it.

For public good, not for profit.

Pynchon book will sell itself

Nov 20, 2006
Acclaimed novelist Thomas Pynchon won't be doing any publicity for his first book in nine years, but marketing "Against the Day" should be no problem. Lisa Napoli explains.

Giving away a fortune

Oct 23, 2006
Andrew Carnegie spent half a lifetime amassing great wealth, and the other half trying to give it away. Host Kai Ryssdal speaks with author David Nasaw about his biography of the famed businessman and philanthropist.