RadioWest

Behind Vladimir Nabokov's brilliant and disturbing novel Lolita is a true story of a girl who was kidnapped and abused by a middle-aged man. Journalist Sarah Weinman's book is about The Real Lolita.

Wednesday, a conversation about wit and wittiness. Author James Geary says wit is more than just a knack for snappy comebacks. He calls it a “fundamental operating system of human creativity.”

John Wesley Powell was more than the explorer who first navigated the Grand Canyon. Biographer John Ross says he was also a visionary who asked questions that are still relevant in the American West.

It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when politics in America weren’t so polarized. Political scholar Sam Rosenfeld says that if we can understand how our dysfunctional politics were deliberately created, maybe we can deliberately change them.

Virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier wants you to delete your social media accounts. He has ten arguments that make his case. One of them: Social media is turning us all into jerks. (Rebroadcast)

We continue our Through the Lens series with actor/director Jim Cummings' feature debut. A small-town police officer gives his mother's eulogy and ends up singing and dancing to a Springsteen classic.

Wednesday we’re talking about libraries and their place in today’s digital world. Our guide is the writer Susan Orlean, whose latest book tells the story of a devastating fire that swallowed the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986.

What do we expect from our virtual assistants and what happens when we let them be teacher, therapist, and friend? Journalist Judith Shulevitz joins us to talk about how much we should trust Alexa.

The writer Daniel Pink says that timing is a science. Knowing how it works can make us better at our jobs and more creative. It’s not just about doing, but knowing when to do it.

N ature writer Gary Ferguson was canoeing with his wife when they capsized, and she died in the accident. He joins us to talk about spreading her ashes across 5 wild places and finding grace in nature.

Thursday, we’re going to try to give A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived. It’s actually the title of geneticist Adam Rutherford’s new book. It describes the history of humankind through genetics.

Born into a survivalist family, Tara Westover's home-school education taught her to scrap metal, can peaches, and avoid doctors. Her new memoir recounts the journey from junkyard to Cambridge Ph.D.

Christmas day has finally arrived, a day for gifts and giving. We're hoping you can finally put the busy-ness and commercial hubbub of the season aside and enjoy our gift to you: two timeless holiday stories.

As the historian and writer Les Standiford notes, Charles Dickens’ famous tale A Christmas Story didn’t just change his life, it reinvented the way we celebrate the holiday.

Journalist Allison Yarrow says in the 90s a woman reaching for power or just in the public eye was often labeled a "bitch." And that word became a weapon used to hold women back.