In today's world of specialization, Alan Lightman is that rare individual who has accomplished remarkable things in two very different realms. As a physicist with a Ph.D. from Cal Tech, he's taught at Harvard and MIT and advised the United Nations. As a novelist, he's written award-winning bestsellers like Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis.
In this episo ... Show More
Jun 18
811 The Harlem Renaissance [Reclaimed] | My Last Book with Erin Sharkey
The Harlem Renaissance, the great flowering of African American arts and culture in the early twentieth century, is hard to define but easy to admire. Coupled with the Great Migration, in which hundreds of thousands of Southern black workers moved to the rapidly industrializing c ... Show More
54m 55s
Jun 15
810 "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant (with Mike Palindrome)
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) is widely regarded as one of the greatest short story writers in history. Among his admirers were Flaubert, who befriended and mentored the younger writer, and later masters of the form like Joyce and Chekhov, who were both deeply influenced by Maupa ... Show More
1h 14m
Jul 2024
Alan Lightman, "Einstein's Dreams" (Vintage, 1992)
Einstein’s Dreams (Vintage, 1992) by Alan Lightman, set in Albert Einstein’s “miracle year” of 1905, is a novel about the cultural interconnection of time, relativity and life. As the young genius creates his theory of relativity, in a series of dreams, he imagines other worlds, ... Show More
55m 6s
Jul 2024
Alan Lightman, "Einstein's Dreams" (Vintage, 1992)
Einstein’s Dreams (Vintage, 1992) by Alan Lightman, set in Albert Einstein’s “miracle year” of 1905, is a novel about the cultural interconnection of time, relativity and life. As the young genius creates his theory of relativity, in a series of dreams, he imagines other worlds, ... Show More
55m 6s
Jun 2020
Brian Greene, "Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe" (Random House, 2020)
Brian Greene is a Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he is the Director of the Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics, and co-founder and chair of the World Science Festival. He is well known for his TV ... Show More
2 h
May 2024
#145 - Robert Edward Grant: Decoding The Hidden Secrets Of The Universe
<p>This week on The Higher Self, we are honored to host entrepreneur, author, and polymath Robert Edward Grant. His work offers inspiration through geometric art, mathematical insights, and explorations of ancient wonders like the Pyramids of Giza.</p>
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<p>In this epis ... Show More
1h 17m
Dec 2016
Adam Becker: The Solar System
Though Adam Becker loved science as a kid, he struggled in school -- until he met first-grade teacher Mrs. Brown. Adam Becker is a writer, astrophysicist, and science publishing troublemaker. He is currently writing a book about the sordid untold history of quantum physics, which ... Show More
16m 41s