In Life Hacks for a Little Alien, both the narrator and protagonist are unnamed. The debut novel from Alice Franklin is written from a second-person perspective and follows a little girl who experiences the world differently. Little Alien is neurodivergent, but undiagnosed, and often finds that people don't understand her. When she encounters an ancient text written in an unknown language, she sees parallels between its indecipherability and her own experiences. In today's episode, Franklin speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the way she plays with language in her story, her own diagnosis journey, and our collective definition of normalcy.
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Amanda Holmes reads Elizabeth Bishop’s “Faustina, or, Rock Roses.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
It is the most expensive substance in the world by a wide margin.
When it was first proposed, it was actually proposed in jest. However, decades later, the joke turned out to have been true.
It is a fundamental part of the universe, and by all accounts, it should be everywhere, yet it can’t be found anywhere, and physicists aren’t really sure why.
Learn more about antimatter, how it was discovered, and what it is on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Peter Beinart, once a defender of the Israeli state, has become one of its sharpest critics. His new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, was born out of Beinart's personal struggle within the Jewish community in the wake of the war. In the book, Beinart makes an urgent appeal, asking his peers to imagine a world in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews share equal rights. In today's episode, Beinart joins NPR's Leila Fadel for a discussion that touches on the intertwined relationship between Israeli and Palestinian safety and how a reimagined Israeli state could lead to a better future for all people.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
It's time for The Indicator Quiz! We test you, dear listener, on your knowledge of topics that we've covered on The Indicator.
Today's quiz is an economic smorgasbord, ranging from the WWE to the silver tsunami.
Play along with us and see how you do!
Are you interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Email us your name and phone number at indicator@npr.org and put "Indicator Quiz" in the subject line.
Related episodes: AI Tupac, sin taxes, and a soon-to-be college sophomore (Apple / Spotify)
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