Megan A. Volpert: Performance Poetry from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Megan A. Volpert reads from her latest poetry collection, The Desense of Nonfense. Listen to the podcast.

The Tendencies of Technology from Forum Network | Soapbox Podcast Podcast

The recent changes that technology has made to books, reading, and the way we relate to each other are unprecedented and transformational. Tech guru Kevin Kelly, author of What Technology Wants; digital visionary Nicholas Negroponte; David Kirkpatrick, founder of Techonomy and author of The Facebook Effect; and The New York Time's Nick Bilton, author of I Live in the Future and Here's How It Works, discuss technology and its impact on how we live. Moderated by public radio's John Hockenberry. Listen to the podcast.

Atlantic: Vast Ocean of a Million Stories from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Simon Winchester, master raconteur, tells a series of gripping and little-known tales of the Atlantic, the ocean he calls "the inland sea of modern civilization." Simon Winchester is a bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster. Prior to writing, he studied and worked in the field of geology. Listen to the podcast here.

Tim Wu: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires from Forum Network | Soapbox Podcast Podcast

Tim Wu, policy advocate, expert on copyright and communications, and creator of the phrase "net neutrality", talks about his book, The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires.

Download the podcast here. There's a pairing with Tim Wu; see that pairing here. On the note of couplings and pairings, check out this Blogging Heads debate; it's enlightening, if not entertaining. Sarah Lacy said this on her TechCrunch page:

In this longer debate on bloggingheads.tv, Wu raises a few good counter arguments that concern him about the industry’s future. And they hit home because they are two things I worry about too: Silicon Valley’s increasing reliance on acquisitions for exits and apps running on top of platforms like the iPhone and Facebook for distribution. We also talk about the distinction between the computer Web and the mobile Web when it comes to openness.

Check that TC page here. We might as well mention Lacy's book; it's more interesting to outsiders of the Valley that want to "get in" than any other sort of reader: Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0

Brainstorm: Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Rebecca M. Jordan-Young, an expert in the biological components of sex, gender, and sexuality discusses her new book, Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Sciences of Sex Differences. Female and male brains are different, thanks to hormones coursing through the brain before birth. That's taught as fact in psychology textbooks, academic journals, and bestselling books. And these hardwired differences explain everything from sexual orientation to gender identity, to why there aren't more women physicists or more stay-at-home dads. In this new book, Jordan-Young takes on the evidence that sex differences are hardwired into the brain. Analyzing virtually all published research that supports the claims of "human brain organization theory," Jordan-Young reveals how often these studies fail the standards of science. Even if careful researchers point out the limits of their own studies, other researchers and journalists can easily ignore them because brain organization theory just sounds so right. But if a series of methodological weaknesses, questionable assumptions, inconsistent definitions, and enormous gaps between ambiguous findings and grand conclusions have accumulated through the years, then science isn't scientific at all.

Download that Forum Network podcast here. Additionally, Women's Radio had this opinion of the author's ideas, framed within the context of a Boston school superintendent's backing away from single sex educational approaches:

Boston school superintendent Carol Johnson has decided to back away from an earlier decision to set up single-sex academies in the city's schools. She is taking flak in some quarters, but she should be applauded for taking time to evaluate the data before rushing headlong into a popular but flawed approach to education. (Legal issues in Massachusetts also were a factor in her decision.) More educators around the U.S. should follow her lead. [...] Brainstorm (2010) is by Rebecca M. Jordan-Young, a sociomedical scientist and an assistant professor of women's studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. She looks askance at the idea that hormones create brains in pink and blue, affecting everything from our math aptitude to our ability to take risks. "The evidence for hormonal sex differentiation of the human brain better resembles a hodge-podge pile than a solid structure…Once we have cleared the rubble, we can begin to build newer, more scientific stories about human development."

For those that are formally studying this issue, the Women's Radio post is a good place to gather up ideas; it references other substantive titles. Find that post here. See also: Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference

Holiday Books 2010 from KQED's Forum Podcast

What was the best book you read this year? We open the phone lines to ask listeners about their recent and all-time favorites.

Download the podcast here. See also: A Christmas Carol, The Judge Who Stole Christmas, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (Stories Behind Books), The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger (Strobel, Lee)

Scott Simon: In Praise of Adoption from Forum Network | Public Domain Podcast Podcast

Scott Simon, NPR's award-winning host of Weekend Edition, speaks about his book Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption, which was inspired by his two daughters.

Download the podcast here. See also: Pretty Birds: A Novel, Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan, Male Bulimia: My Dark Demon

Salman Rushdie: Luka and the Fire of Life from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

One of the great storytellers of our time, Salman Rusdie, talks about his new book, Luka and the Fire of Life. This novel is a follow up to his modern classic, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The new novel centers on Luka, Haroun's younger brother, who must save his father from certain doom.

Download the podcast here. See also: Luka and the Fire of Life: A Novel, Midnight's Children: A Novel, The Bedside Guardian (Book 35)

Mercy: Dying of AIDS in Africa from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Lara Santoro, a veteran journalist, discusses her first novel, Mercy, a tragic and powerful story of what it is like to die of AIDS in Africa. Mercy offers a glimpse into the role played by the pharmaceutical industry and the US government against the interests of an entire continent, and gives a name and face to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. This is a story Santoro has seen played out many times in her prize-winning coverage of Africa for Newsweek and the Christian Science Monitor. Her work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and the London Sunday Times.

Download the podcast here.

Nick Bunker: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Journalist and historian Nick Bunker steps into a long-past world with his book, Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World; A New History. At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across the night sky over the northern hemisphere. From the Philippines to the Arctic, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning of doom or a promise of salvation. Two years later, as the Pilgrims prepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, the atmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men and women readied themselves for war, pestilence, or divine retribution. Against this background, and amid deep economic depression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile. Within a decade, despite crisis and catastrophe, they built a thriving settlement at New Plymouth, based on beaver fur, corn, and cattle. In doing so, they laid the foundations for Massachusetts, New England, and a new nation. Using a wealth of new evidence from landscape, archaeology, and hundreds of overlooked or neglected documents, Nick Bunker gives an original account of the Mayflower project and the first decade of the Plymouth Colony. From mercantile London and the rural England of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I to the mountains and rivers of Maine, he weaves a rich narrative that combines religion, politics, money, science, and the sea.

Download the podcast here. See also: Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History, COLD WAR SECRET NUCLEAR BUNKERS: The Passive Defence of the Western World During the Cold War (Pen & Sword Military Classics), Making Haste from Babylon, Making Haste from Babylon The Mayflower pilgrims and Their WORld A New History

The Gratitude Girls: 30 Days of Gratitude from Forum Network | Soapbox Podcast Podcast

Carolyn Buttram, Vanessa Lowry, and Robin Kirby, authors of the online book, 30 Days of Gratitude, explain how increasing gratitude can displace unwanted malice and other faults, thereby bringing peace and contentment to life. Their book can be downloaded at www.daysofgratitude.com.

Download the podcast here.

Joyce Carol Oates: Sourland from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates discusses her latest work, Sourland. Oates's utterly fearless, disquieting, and imaginative writing spans multiple genres and has established her as one of America's preeminent authors. She is a recipient of the National Book Award for her novel them and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize as well as the Nobel Prize. The New York Times, in its review of Sourland, calls her "a dangerous writer in the best sense of the word, one who takes risks almost obsessively, with energy and relish." Hosted by TV and radio personality Faith Salie.

Download the podcast here. See also: Sourland: Stories, Zombie: A Novel (P.S.), Blonde: A Novel

Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

John Biewen, author of Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound, joins public radio favorites Ira Glass, Jay Allison, and the Kitchen Sisters for an intimate evening of stories and clips, and to discuss how they do what they do, and why. Reality Radio celebrates the radio documentary form by highlighting the achievements of some of the best producers in public radio.

Listen to the podcast here, or download it here.

Kenji Yoshino: Uncovering the Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights from Forum Network | Soapbox Podcast Podcast

Yale Law School professor Kenji Yoshino explores the pressure in American society to hide our authentic selves. In discussing issues from book Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights, Yoshino will lecture on topics such as what role does the legal system have in ensuring civil rights for those who do not fit in, and how can we create an authentically diverse society? Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, and formerly the the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. A Harvard graduate, Yoshino's interests lie Constitutional law and civil liberties. In addition to his book, Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights, Yoshino has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Advocate, among others.

The podcast to the show can be found here.

Arianna Huffington: Third World America from Forum Network | Soapbox Podcast Podcast

Drawing the Map of Life: Inside the Human Genome Project from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Science writer and founder the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT, Victor McElheny, for a look into the workings of the Human Genome Project and his new book, Drawing the Map of Life. Drawing the Map of Life is the dramatic story of the Human Genome Project from its origins, through the race to order the three billion subunits of DNA, to the surprises emerging as scientists seek to exploit the molecule of heredity. It's the first account to deal in depth with the intellectual roots of the project, the motivations that drove it, and the hype that often masked genuine triumphs. Victor McElheny offers profiles of key people, such as David Botstein, Eric Lander, Francis Collins, James Watson, Michael Hunkapiller, and Craig Venter. McElheny also shows that the Human Genome Project is a striking example of how new techniques (such as restriction enzymes and sequencing methods) often arrive first, shaping the questions scientists then ask. Drawing on years of original interviews and reporting in the inner circles of biological science, Drawing the Map of Life is the definitive, up-to-date story of today's greatest scientific quest.

Download the podcast here. This is what Salon.com had to say about the book:

But these days, the popular excitement surrounding the project has largely abated: The sequencing of the genome hasn't led to the rollout of any game-changing new drugs; we've yet to discover the genes responsible for Alzheimer's or Huntington's, among many other diseases, and the era of mass personalized medicine — in which doctors can tailor treatments to people's specific genetic code — has yet to come. But as Victor McElheny, a longtime science reporter and the founder of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, points out in his new book about the tumultuous evolution of the Human Genome Project, "Drawing the Map of Life," the widespread impact of genome sequencing is only now beginning to be felt, and a new era of genetically informed medicine is just around the corner.

Read the full Salon.com piece here. See also: Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (P.S.), A Short Guide to the Human Genome, Inside the Human Genome: A Case for Non-Intelligent Design, The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World

Eli Kintisch: Hack the Planet from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Eli Kintisch and Bethanne Patrick discuss Kintisch's new book, Hack the Planet: Science's Best Hope - or Worst Nightmare - for Averting Climate Catastrophe.

Listen to the podcast here.