Author and audiobook narrator Julia Whelan says narrating her own second book, Thank You for Listening, was "so meta, that it just spins off its axis." It's about a former on-camera actress who suffered a tragic event that ended her on-camera career. She's found work in narrating audiobooks and while she loves it, it isn't the same as being in front of the camera. Whelan chats with Mary Louise Kelly about how this latest novel pokes fun at romance while honoring it, and the different voices she has had to use to represent the "voice" of the book.
At the 1923 Pan-American Conference, a proposal was presented to link together all of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. A single road that would run from the shore of the Arctic Ocean all the way down to Terra Del Fuego in Argentina.
Several decades later, the countries in question announced the road's completion, which linked the entire western hemisphere. Sort of….
Learn more about the Pan-American Highway, the world’s longest road, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In an interview with NPR's Juana Summers, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina talks about the second chances he's been given by his mother and his constituents, which he also details in his new memoir America: A Redemption Story. Scott reflects on his struggles with self image growing up, the doubts he had as a young Black man in high school, and what he wished President Trump would have done during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Cards and card games have become almost ubiquitous They are played by children and in retirement homes. They are played at family picnics, and there are also televised games played with millions of dollars on the line.
You can play games with friends, or you can even play them by yourself.
Despite how common they are, most people don’t realize that they have a very ancient heritage.
Learn more about the origin of playing cards on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Marianne Wiggins had started to write her latest book Properties of Thirst when she had a stroke in 2016. So her daughter Lara Porzak, helped her finish it. Porzak described the experience as "hard, very difficult, but beautiful." Talking to Scott Simon, both authors share how their time in the hospital and the uncertainty of the future helped complete a story about new beginnings.
In an interview with the author of Solitary, the issue of criminal justice reform is central. Alfred Woodfox, who served 43 years in prison – most in solitary confinement, for a crime he says he didn't commit – died in August. He told NPR's Scott Simon that after his release, he struggled with claustrophobia because of the decades he spent in prison. This is an encore episode from February 2022.
As soon as automobiles were created, people began racing them.
As with many sports, early were often unorganized and disjointed. After world war II, however, an effort was made to provide an organized championship series for the world’s best drivers.
Over the last 70 years, it has grown into the world’s foremost racing circuit and become a business worth billions of dollars.
Learn more about Formula 1 and how it became such big business on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Over the last several centuries, there has been a concerted effort to raise literacy rates around the world.
For the most part, although there is still work to be done, we’ve done a pretty good job. The vast majority of people around the world know how to read and write.
While literacy has improved, despite our world becoming ever more dependent on technology, overall mathematical literacy has not improved.
Learn more about numeracy, or mathematical literacy, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
