The two books in this episode are thrillers that center class as the theme of the narrative. First up is A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins that the author says, in an interview with Mary Louise Kelly, is a crime-murder-mystery in a setting where "the powerful and the powerless" are right next to each other. Next is You're Invited, authored by Amanda Jayatissa, about a wedding invite gone wrong – but, as Jayatissa shared with Ayesha Roscoe, is actually a backdrop to highlight Sri Lanka's present inequalities.
Bay Curious listener Isabel Guajardo has long wondered what the Bay Area would have looked and felt like before European colonization. Specifically, she's curious to know what animals would have thrived here and what happened to them. It's a story of how attitudes about wildlife and land management practices profoundly influenced habitats.
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This story was reported by Amy Mayer. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Brendan Willard. Our Social Video Intern is Darren Tu. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jen Chien, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.
Amelia Earheart was a pioneer in the early days of aviation. She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
In 1937, she set out on her greatest adventure ever. It would be the longest single flight in history, and it would take her around the world.
However, on July 2, 1937, she took off from Papua New Guinea and was never seen again.
Learn more about the disappearance of Amelia Earheart and what probably happened to her on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sidik Fofana's short story collection can be best described as "addressing the notion that gentrification is complicated." Those were Fofana's words to NPR's Daniel Estrin as they talked about his debut book, Stories from the Tenants Downstairs. Fofana, who's also a public school teacher, uses the emotions he's felt growing up and situations of other people he's known, to ask: "How would I feel if this happened to me?" He writes them down in his collection as distinct voices and characters struggling to get by in a fictional high rise building in Harlem.
One of the simplest mathematical statements possible is 2+2=4.
While the concept is very easy to understand, when you write it down, you have to use mathematical symbols, historically a relatively recent invention.
At one point, mathematicians were doing reasonably complicated work without the benefit of symbols at all. Something which is unthinkable today.
Learn more about mathematical symbols, where they came from, and why they exist on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The author of Rebel With a Clause traveled to more than 40 states to document how grammar is used in relationships, work conversations and everyday life. In this episode, Ellen Jovin shares her discoveries and what she's learned along the way with Scott Simon.
Many people have an idealized view of how science works. They think that someone makes a discovery or publishes a paper, then everyone acknowledges their discovery, and everyone moves on to the next thing.
Science!
However, that isn’t quite how things work in reality. The real advancement of science can be quite messy. One man learned this the hard way.
Learn more about J Harlen Bretz and how he changed a scientific discipline through determination and longevity on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Blitz Bazawule directed the first Ghanaian original film to be released on Netflix, co-directed Beyonce's visual album 'Black is King', directed the upcoming film musical version of 'The Color Purple' and, now, has published his first novel – The Scent of Burnt Flowers. In this interview, he talks with Michel Martin about how and why he wrote this novel, which meshes real historical events with the supernatural.
