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Updated: 17 hours 8 min ago

Writing On The Sly, Nathaniel Rich's Secret Debut

October 5, 2013 - 7:13am

It took over five years for Nathaniel Rich to finish his first novel — maybe because he was writing The Mayor's Tongue secretly, first as a college student, and then while writing film criticism during the day.

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Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers For Nov.12, 2009

November 13, 2009 - 12:35pm

Topping the list: Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna, Kathryn Stockett's The Help and Dan Brown's Lost Symbol. And making their list debut: John Grisham's Ford Coutnty and Kurt Vonnegut's Look at the Birdie.

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Two Graphic Novels Explain Science, Colorfully

November 13, 2009 - 10:00am

Moving beyond traditional superheroes, two new graphic novels recount the epic tales of scientists and the research that made them famous. Ira Flatow talks with authors Michael Keller and Apostolos Doxiadis about their graphic novels on natural selection and logic.

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Obama's Half-Brother Recasts Story Of Their Father

November 13, 2009 - 9:14am

One person who plans to meet with President Obama during his trip to China is his half-brother, Mark Obama Ndesandjo, who lives in China. Ndesandjo has recently released a semi-autobiographical novel, revealing the abusive nature of their father.

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Palin's Book Tells Of Trouble On GOP Ticket

November 12, 2009 - 1:57pm

In Going Rogue, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate confirms reports of tension between her aides and those of Sen. John McCain. She says she was kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign.

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Hudson Landing An Engineering Miracle, Pilot Says

November 12, 2009 - 11:25am

In January, pilot Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger was hailed as a hero, after he glided his U.S. Airways plane — which had lost both engines — to a safe landing in the Hudson. In Fly by Wire, writer and former pilot William Langewiesche argues that it was the engineering of the plane, and not Sullenberger's skill, that made the "miracle" possible.

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Excerpt: 'Anonyponymous'

November 12, 2009 - 9:01am
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Scalia Book Explores The Man Behind The Justice

November 12, 2009 - 8:55am

In American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, author Joan Biskupic examines the justice's life as the son of Italian immigrants. She also explores his conservative views from interviews with him, his critics — and his writing. "His core essence comes out not so much in the majority opinion, but in his dissents," she says.

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Unlikely Word Origins Defined In 'Anonyponymous'

November 12, 2009 - 2:00am

Did you know that the word "Frisbee" is derived from Mary Frisbie, a woman who made pies in Connecticut? Or that "silhouette" originated with Etienne de Silhouette, an 18th century French finance minister? John Marciano shines light on these and many other etymological mysteries in Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words.

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In Essays, Author Zadie Smith Reveals Her Process

November 11, 2009 - 11:38am

In the new collection Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, author Zadie Smith explores her writing process and the people who have influenced her. Smith tells NPR she doesn't write every day, though she wishes she did — and that she used writing as a way to mourn her father.

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'Hallowed Ground': A Final Resting Place At Arlington

November 11, 2009 - 11:06am

Thousands of people will visit Arlington National Cemetery on Veteran's Day — just a snapshot of the four million visitors who pass through America's revered burial ground each year. Author Robert M. Poole discusses his new book, On Hallowed Ground, which traces the history of the nation's most celebrated military cemetery.

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Brave, Brainy, Changeable — Zadie Smith Revealed

November 11, 2009 - 10:42am

The payoff in Zadie Smith's book of essays, Changing My Mind, comes not from her discussion of her literary influences but in three essays about her "gentle, sentimental" father, Harvey Smith, a salesman who died at 81 in 2006.

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Excerpt: 'Open'

November 11, 2009 - 10:05am
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'The Red Book': A Window Into Jung's Dreams

November 11, 2009 - 9:59am

The journal — 16 years in the making — in which psychoanalyst Carl Jung documented his inner life was long hidden. Now, after a painstaking process of translation and reproduction, Jung's journal is finally available to the public.

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Excerpt: 'American Original'

November 11, 2009 - 9:29am
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A Tennis Star Who Hates Tennis?

November 11, 2009 - 7:15am

Widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Andre Agassi admits in a new autobiography that he hates tennis, "with a dark and secret passion." Always has. He's here to talk with host Terry Gross about what he calls the "contradictions" at the core of his life.

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'Paris Review' Author Interviews: 50 Years Of Insight

November 11, 2009 - 5:42am

For a half-century, the literary journal's interviews, under the banner "The Art of Fiction," have unlocked the mysteries of writing and the eccentricities of writers. Critic Maud Newton reviews a new boxed set, The Paris Review Interviews, Volumes I-IV.

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