Molly Roden Winter wouldn't seem like the poster child for polyamory. But the married, middle-aged mom's new book, More: A Memoir of Open Marriage, has caught fire, moving the controversial topic from the margins to the mainstream. Winter joins

A Former Nun Tells the Story of Her Escape from a Monastery

17 days ago 1h 5m

Catherine Coldstream shares the extraordinary tale of joining an ancient and secretive Carmelite monastery in the UK, surrendering completely to a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. But years into leading this sheltered and isolated life

Mic Drop: What We Misunderstand About Hip Hop

1 month ago 1h 5m

Hip hop recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. What started off as an underground movement in the 1970s has blossomed into a global phenomenon with no end in sight. How has hip hop managed to not stop after all these years? Why were those wh

'I Was Engaged to a Con Man:' A Reporter’s Odyssey Through Deception

Mar 19th, 2024 55m 59s

Veteran journalist Abby Ellin almost married a pathological liar and convicted criminal, but luckily, her reporter's instincts for the truth kicked in, and she averted disaster. Her crazy story is chronicled in her book Duped and podcast Impost

There's Hope for Journalists Amidst the Mass Layoffs

Mar 5th, 2024 53m 48s

Only a few months in, and it's already a bleak year for the media. Journalists lost 500 jobs in January alone, with mass layoffs at the LA Times, Business Insider, Sports Illustrated, and others. I lost my own job at Entrepreneur after working

A Victim of Domestic Abuse Was Sentenced to Prison for Killing Her Husband. Now She Wants Her Freedom.

Feb 22nd, 2024 1h 3m

In the fall of 2020, a Canadian farmer named Helen Naslund was sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing her violently abusive husband. That case and the lengthy sentence she received sparked tremendous outrage around Canada, exposing serious

Kristin Hannah's New Novel Focuses on the Forgotten Heroes of the Vietnam War

Feb 7th, 2024 40m 31s

Kristin Hannah is among the most successful American novelists working today. Her books focus on unsung heroines throughout history. Her new novel, The Women, focuses on Army Nurses during the Vietnam War. The pageturner is at once an intimate

A Former FBI Agent Explains Serial Killer Profiling

Jan 31st, 2024 51m 30s

Jana Monroe was the first female agent to join the agency's famed Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) to help understand who criminals are, how they think, why they do what they do. She even trained Jodie Foster for her role as Clarice Starling in Si

She Was Kidnapped Then Accused of Staging a Hoax

Jan 24th, 2024 51m 47s

Denise Hutchins and Aaron Quinn are the subject of the current top-rated show on Netflix called 'American Nightmare.' The couple's harrowing kidnapping experience and the police’s baffling response calls into question how the authorities, the p

These Brain Exercises That Will Improve Your Focus

Jan 17th, 2024 45m 51s

What if I told you that we spend most of our day on auto-pilot? Our brains are using half their potential and generally just respond to crisis after crisis. As a result we are not actively protecting and regulating our brain’s energy to be happ

7 Ways to Be More Productive in 2024

Jan 2nd, 2024 42m 1s

Time is the great equalizer. Everyone of us only has 24 hours each day to get things done. How we use that time constructively separates the productive from the procratinators. Guest Laura Vanderkam is a time management expert and the author of

How One Woman Took Down a Cryptocurrency Cult

Dec 19th, 2023 53m 37s

Jennifer McAdam is a Scottish coal miner's daughter who lost her life's savings to a multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency scam called OneCoin. She even convinced many of her friends to invest before she realized it was all a big lie. But rather t

A NYC Dating Coach Untangles the Web of Modern Romance

Dec 12th, 2023 1h 3m

Connell Barrett is a modern-day 'Hitch,' a dating coach who helps lovelorn men approach women, be more confident, and attract a great partner. In his new book Dating Sucks, but You Don't, he offers tips and insights that have "helped thousands

What You Think You Know About Story Is Wrong

Dec 5th, 2023 1h 10m

Guest Lisa Cron is a story coach and author of Wired for Story, Story Genius, and Story or Die. Cron combines her wisdom of working with writers in the publishing and TV business with her fascination in the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience.

A Poweful Memoir of Forgiveness and Finding Your True Self

Nov 20th, 2023 1h

Guest Kristal Brent Cook is a journalism professor at Hofstra and author of a new memoir called The Girl in the Yellow Poncho. Growing up in the 80s as a bi-racial child, Zook was raised by Black women after she was abandoned by her white fathe

A Talking Head Talks About His Tell-All Memoir

Nov 13th, 2023 1h 2m

The Talking Heads are talking again. Forty years after the release of their classic concert film “Stop Making Sense,” the movie and the band are back on the big stage—same as it ever was, or maybe even better. A remastered, 4k version of the mo

How to Hook a Husband

Nov 7th, 2023 1h 3m

Devon Daniels joins the show to talk about her new book, The Rom Con. Inspired by a 1958 McCall's Magazine article entitled "129 Ways to Get a Husband," the novel gives a modern spin to antiquated and, weirdly, timeless dating advice. Daniels a

A Conversation with 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Writer David Grann

Oct 24th, 2023 1h 9m

Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” opened this weekend, raking in an estimated $23 million at the box office. The gut-wrenching movie is based on the excellent book of the same name by my guest David Grann, who resurfaced the mostly

How One Writer Turned Her Musical Obsession into a Lucrative Career

Oct 10th, 2023 1h 9m

Guest Lori Majewski is a radio host, journalist, and co-author of Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s. She also holds the distinction of being my editor at YM magazine long ago when I wrote stories w

Twenty Years Later: The Untold Story of 'Anchorman'

Oct 2nd, 2023 57m 12s

It’s been 20 years since Ron Burgundy first appeared on the screen urging viewers to "stay classy." Film comedy historian Saul Austerlitz joins the show to talk about his new book Kind of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the M

Inside the Rise and Fall of an Upper West Side Cult

Sep 19th, 2023 1h 2m

Alexander Stille talks about his fascinating new book, The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune. Led by a charismatic psychoanalyst, the Sullivanians flourished in Manhattan's tony neighborhood in the 1970s

From Gen Z to Silents: The Real Differences Between Generations

Sep 5th, 2023 1h 1m

In this episode, we're talkin' bout the generations. Guest Dr. Jean Twenge is the author of the endlessly fascinating new book Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for Amer

Why Connecting With Your Future Self Matters

Aug 22nd, 2023 51m 40s

When you think of your 'future self,' who do you see? The image is probably pretty blurry, but it doesn't have to be. My guest Hal Hershfield believes that by strengthening the connections between your present and future selves, you gain a new

Writing About Sex: An Under-the-Covers Report

Aug 8th, 2023 48m 20s

Guest Courtney Kocak is a writer, podcaster, and comedian based in LA. She reports frequently on taboo topics such as porn, sexuality, and sex work. On her podcast Private Parts Unknown, Courtney takes a Bourdain-like sexual tour around the wor

Are Aliens Among Us? This Harvard Astrophysicist Thinks So.

Jul 31st, 2023 54m 35s

UFOs are back in the news. Last month, three U.S. military veterans testified to the congress that the government had possession of "non-human" biologics. And my guest Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb recently led an exhibition to the bottom of