In his new book, The Science of Revenge, James Kimmel Jr. argues that there is a human desire to get even – and it might even be an addiction. Kimmel Jr., a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, realized his own taste for retaliation as a teenager and later felt that he would benefit from a kind of "revenge rehab." In today's episode, the author tells NPR's Michel Martin that revenge lights up the same area of the brain activated by drug addiction. They also discuss the role of revenge in U.S. politics and the biological benefits of forgiveness.
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
All sports are governed by a body of rules. Within those rules, there is usually a set of norms for how the game should be played. Most coaches will instruct their players to use similar techniques.
However, every so often, someone comes along who totally rethinks how a game can be played. Using the same set of rules, they come up with a totally different approach to the game, which sometimes can be revolutionary.
Other times, it's simply evolutionary.
Learn more about innovative sports strategies and how taking a different approach to a game can lead to positive results on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Smith – the protagonist in Great Black Hope – is at a party in the Hamptons when he's arrested for cocaine possession. Smith is a young, Black, queer man of privilege who's floated through New York's largely white downtown social scene – but that changes when his roommate is found dead. In today's episode, author Rob Franklin joins NPR's Ayesha Rascoe to talk about his debut novel. They discuss Black respectability politics, the long tradition of bored rich kids in the literary canon, and the novel's origins.
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
Historian Augustine Sedgewick became a father in the summer of 2017. At the time, media events like the Bill Cosby trial were publicly challenging ideals of masculinity and fatherhood. Motivated by care for his son, Sedgewick began to research the history of masculinity and the figure of the dad. His new book Fatherhood approaches the topic through historical examples, from figures like Aristotle and Henry VIII to the work of Sigmund Freud. In today's episode, Sedgewick tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that men – like women – face impossible standards as parents, but are less likely to talk about them.
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
In the Pacific Theater in World War II, the leader of the combined Japanese fleet was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
Yamamoto was villanized as the arch-enemy of the American forces in the Pacific, and to be fair, he was their enemy.
But there is actually much more to the story. Yamamoto was the loudest voice against going to war with the United States and was one of only a few officials in the Japanese leadership who spent time in the United States and understood the country.
Learn more about Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, his rise and tragic end on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.