NPR's Book of the Day - NPR’s Book of the Day: Hand-picked Great Reads, Everyday From NPR.

Want to find a good read? Or just keep up with the books everyone's talking about? NPR's Book of the Day gives you today's very best storytelling in a snackable, searchable, pocket-sized podcast. Whether you're looking to engage with the ideas and issues of our times – or temporarily escape from them – we have an author who will speak to you, all genres, moods and writing styles included. Today's great books in 15 minutes or less.

Everything Everywhere Daily - Polynesian Navigators (Encore)

The ancient world had many great accomplishments. The Pyramids of Giza, The Great Wall of China, and the Colosseum are just a few of the great wonders which are still standing. However, one of early humanity’s greatest achievements is one that didn’t leave any physical monuments. Its legacy is the people who live on the remote islands in the Pacific Ocean. Learn more about the Polynesian navigators and how they explored the Pacific on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Bay Curious - There’s a Castle in Pacifica?!

When Krisi Riccardi was a girl, her father used to take her on leisurely Sunday drives down Highway 1. She'd enjoy the beautiful scenery until they hit Pacifica, where something odd always caught young Krisi’s attention — a stone castle perched high on the hill. Not exactly what you'd expect to find in a laid-back beach town. “As I got older we would walk up to this castle and walk around it. I’ve never been inside, but I looked over the wall. I’m now 68 and I always wondered what the history was of this castle,” Krisi said. She isn’t the only one curious about this place. Her question won a Bay Curious voting round. Today, Katrina Schwartz takes us inside the castle to explore why it was built, and the many lives this place has lived. 

Additional Reading:  


Reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Erika Aguilar, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Isabeth Mendoza, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Carly Severn, Lina Blanco, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

Everything Everywhere Daily - The Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Great Pyramid of Khufu, is a structure in which superlatives don’t really do justice. It isn’t just old, it’s really old. It isn’t just big, it’s really big. It has served as a sentinel to some of the most important people and events in history, and it has also been the focal point of speculation about the past. Learn more about the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere

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Curious City - What’s The History Of Religious Exemptions To Vaccines?

While resistance to vaccine mandates goes back 200 years but state laws allowing for religious exemptions were rare until the 1960s. And faith leaders from the Pope to imams have pushed Americans to get vaccinated. So why do religious exemptions exist? Reporter Andrew Meriwether digs into the complicated history of religious exemptions.

Everything Everywhere Daily - The War of the Currents

In the late 19th century, several of the world’s foremost investors engaged in a public battle for the future of electricity. The battle was fought in boardrooms and newspapers, and there was seemingly nothing that was off-limits. The battle eventually took the lives of several people…..and several dogs. Learn more about the current wars between George Westinghouse, Nikolai Tesla, and Thomas Edison, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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the memory palace - Episode 186: Shining

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.

A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.

Music

  • Mother's Love by The Vernon Spring

  • Avinu Malkenu by Lofoten Cello Duo

  • Vakenatt by Daniel Herskedal

  • Computer Love by Balenescu Quartet

  • Sunshine on Fish Skin by Girls in Airports

  • Cabiria e el ragioniere from Nino Rota's score to Nights of Cabiria

Everything Everywhere Daily - The 1961 US Figure Skating Team

In 1961, the United States figure skating team was one of the top programs in the world. The year before at the 1960 Olympics, they took the gold in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Then on February 15, 1961, the team suffered a terrible catastrophe. One which took the better part of a decade for the US program to recover from. Learn more about Sabena Flight 548 and the fate of the 1961 US figure skating team, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Alfred Wegner and Continental Drift

In 1910, a German Earth scientist noticed something about the map of the world. South America seemed to fit into Africa. North America seemed to fit into northwest Africa and Europe. He proposed that the continents may at one time have been joined and subsequently moved. The scientific community laughed at him and rejected his idea. Learn more about Alfred Wegener and the theory of Continental Drift, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Aye, Mate! Here be Pirates!

Ahoy ye mates! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So I be thinking tis time to talk about the pirate life and how much of the legends of the pirates be true. Did they bury their gold? Did they fly the Jolly Roger? Did their dogs have scurvy? ...and did they really talk like this? So join me as I cast me pod on tis episode of Arrrverything Arrrverywhere.

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