Steve Paulson

Was Jesus a Shaman? Three questions for Manvir Singh, author of Shamanism: The Timeless Religion

The emperor of physics defends his controversial theory of mind.

Astrophysicist Adam Frank is terrified for our future. He believes the climate crisis will wipe out much of humanity unless we take drastic steps to curb its impact. But he also says there’s an emerging scientific worldview that can help lead us out of this mess.

How the unlikely and unexplainable, strange and terrifying, spawned the age of science.

Exploring psychedelic experiences that seem wider than the brain.

Dutch writer Marjolijn van Heemstra became a space reporter for a local news outlet and started looking for ways that she might experience something like the overview effect here on Earth.

There’s an old saying that journalism is the first draft of history. For Jamelle Bouie, journalism itself can be an exercise in historical writing. Bouie is a New York Times […]

I was startled by how quickly the phone call came. I'd just sent an e-mail to Istanbul to see whether Islam's leading creationist would be available...

Plants talk to this ecologist. They tell her how to do better science.

Steve Paulson interviews author, scholar, and philosopher Donna Haraway.

Journalist Ezra Klein talked with "TTBOOK" about his work and how to adjust to the rapidly changing media landscape.

In the first book of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass, Lord Asriel (played by James McAvoy in HBO’s adaptation of the book) discovers a mysterious substance, called Dust, that exists everywhere and seems to be implicated in consciousness. For Pullman, Dust is an expression of his fascination with panpsychism, the philosophical idea […]

I'm a citizen who is not a patriot.  I'm a citizen in the sense of being invested in what we owe each other.

Sam Parnia, an intensive care physician at the NYU School of Medicine, believes we’re on the cusp of major scientific advances that will transform end-of-life medical care. He’s one of the world’s leading experts in resuscitation medicine and the author of “Lucid Dying.” He spoke with Steve Paulson for "To The Best of Our Knowledge."

Steve Paulson interviews Clare Hayes-Brady, author of “The Unspeakable Failures of David Foster Wallace," about the late author's legacy in the #MeToo era.

There are two sides to giving up. The virtue of sacrifice – and the sin of despair. So how do we decide which is which? That’s the question psychoanalyst Adam Phillips asks in his newest book “On Giving Up.”