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Books

Politics

How Project 2025 is shaping Trump's second term

Journalist David Graham says the aim of the creators of the conservative action plan Project 2025 is to push the federal government "as far to the right as they can." His new book is The Project.

How Project 2025 is shaping Trump's second term

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The Golden Hour
NPR

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Book Reviews

This Hollywood memoir is an expertly mixed cocktail of history and family drama

Matthew Specktor grew up the son of a famous Hollywood agent. In The Golden Hour he serves up family saga, cultural criticism, fictionalized biography, history and lament for a vanishing world.

This Hollywood memoir is an expertly mixed cocktail of history and family drama

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Regeneration, super strength, stolen powers: Meet sea creatures inspiring research

Some sea slugs can steal the abilities of other animals after eating them. Biologist Drew Harvell thinks this "super power" could be harnessed by researchers one day to make transplantation surgeries in humans more effective. TARIK TINAZAY/Getty Images hide caption

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TARIK TINAZAY/Getty Images

Short Wave

Regeneration, super strength, stolen powers: Meet sea creatures inspiring research

From starfish and sea slugs to jellyfish and sponges, the ocean's invertebrates are some of the most ancient and diverse critters on Earth. And so are their superpowers, as marine biologist Drew Harvell calls their unique abilities. In her new book, The Ocean's Menagerie, she chronicles the amazing abilities of some of these spineless creatures and showcases how they've inspired our science and medicine.

Regeneration, super strength, stolen powers: Meet sea creatures inspiring research

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'Chooch Helped' this author and illustrator win the 2025 Caldecott Medal
Copyright © 2024 Rebecca Lee Kunz / Levine Querido

Picture This

'Chooch Helped' this author and illustrator win the 2025 Caldecott Medal

Author Andrea L. Rogers and artist Rebecca Lee Kunz met by chance at the Cherokee National Holiday. Then they won the 2025 Caldecott Medal for their story about a helpful little boy named Chooch.

PICTURE THIS: CHOOCH HELPED

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Tina Knowles at the Billboard Women in Music 2025 held at the YouTube Theater on March 29 in Los Angeles, Calif.

Tina Knowles at the Billboard Women in Music 2025 held at the YouTube Theater on March 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images hide caption

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Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

Culture

Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange, knows how to be a 'Matriarch'

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Tina Knowles, the mother of artists Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Solange Knowles, about her new memoir, "Matriarch."

Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, discusses new memoir 'Matriarch'

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A colorful, whimsical illustration showing a writing desk covered with tools used to write letters, including an inkwell, a letter opener, a feathered pen, scissors, stationery, stamps, washi tape, and a seal.

"Correspondence is a leap of faith, and that is part of what makes it wonderful," says Rachel Syme, author of Syme's Letter Writer: A Guide to Modern Correspondence. "You may never know if the person you are writing to will write you back." Illustration © by Joana Avillez, Reprinted with permission from Syme's Letter Writer by Rachel Syme/Clarkson Potter Publishers hide caption

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Illustration © by Joana Avillez, Reprinted with permission from Syme's Letter Writer by Rachel Syme/Clarkson Potter Publishers

Life Kit

The delightfully analog art of letter-writing

Tired of texting? Send your loved ones some snail mail instead. Rachel Syme, author of "Syme's Letter Writer: A Guide to Modern Correspondence," shares whimsical ways to start a letter-writing habit.

The art and pleasure of writing a letter

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The Dream Hotel
Pantheon

Review

Book Reviews

AI eavesdrops on your sleep in this nightmarish 'Dream Hotel'

Laila Lalami's dystopian novel centers on a woman who's been incarcerated because an algorithm flagged her as a crime risk. The Dream Hotel paints a grim picture about the ways our data can betray us.

AI eavesdrops on your sleep in this nightmarish 'Dream Hotel'

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Book covers of: Dorothy Parker: Poems and The Usual Desire to Kill: A Novel
NPR

Review

Book Reviews

These 2 funny books give readers a reason to smile in tough times

Dorothy Parker's posthumously published collection is Poems; Camilla Barnes' debut novel is The Usual Desire to Kill. Both affirm: sharp humor can be grounded in pain.

These 2 funny books give readers a reason to smile in tough times

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This is what living on Mars could do to the human body

An image of rocks on Mars. Biologist Kelly Weinersmith and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith spent four years researching what it would look like if humans lived here. NASA/JPL/Cornell hide caption

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NASA/JPL/Cornell

Short Wave

This is what living on Mars could do to the human body

As global warming continues and space technology improves, there is more and more talk about the growing possibility of a sci-fi future in which humans become a multiplanetary species. Specifically, that we could live on Mars.

This is what living on Mars could do to the human body

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Author Interviews

New book explores the real-life KGB spy program that inspired 'The Americans'

Fresh Air

In The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and Their Century-Long Mission to Infiltrate the West, Shaun Walker shares how agents were trained to blend into a target country and pose as citizens.

New book explores the real-life KGB spy program that inspired 'The Americans'

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Melinda French Gates

"It takes philanthropy in concert with civil society and government — massive government funding — to change things ... " says Melinda French Gates. "Philanthropy cannot do it on its own." Jason Bell/Flatiron Books hide caption

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Jason Bell/Flatiron Books

Goats and Soda

Melinda French Gates on what billionaires with 'absurd' wealth owe back to society

Fresh Air

In a new memoir, French Gates writes about the end of her marriage to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and her ongoing philanthropic work, directing funds and attention to women's health initiatives.

Melinda French Gates on what billionaires with 'absurd' wealth owe back to society

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A spread of desserts found in the new cookbook, Malai

A spread of desserts found in the new cookbook, Malai Morgan Ione Yeager/Malai hide caption

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Morgan Ione Yeager/Malai

Interview highlights

Pooja Bavishi shares frozen treats from her South Asian-inspired cookbook 'Malai'

NPR's Leila Fadel visits Pooja Bavishi, the author of Malai, a South Asian-inspired frozen desserts cookbook, at her D.C. shop where they sample ice cream and make their own treat.

Pooja Bavishi shares frozen treats from her South Asian-inspired cookbook 'Malai'

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Josh Gad

Josh Gad at MaxFun HQ. Daniel Speer hide caption

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Daniel Speer

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Josh Gad

Josh Gad joins us to talk about his new memoir In Gad We Trust: A Tell Some. He also gets into what life was like growing up in South Florida, the one time he refuses to use his Olaf voice and winning three national titles in teen oratory competitions.

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