Books Featured on the Colbert Report

Michael Sandel's Justice course at Harvard University

I thought the interview with Michael Sandel about his Justice course at Harvard was pretty great. I liked how his opening question caught Stephen a bit off guard:

Suppose four shipwrecked sailors are stranded at sea in a lifeboat, without food or water. Would it be wrong for three of them to kill and eat the cabin boy, in order to save their own lives?

It really is amazing to me that Harvard would put this whole course online - including discussion guides and reference material! Check out the first episode (class) below - "The Moral Side of Murder":

David McCullough's Greater Journey

I'm a little too excited about David McCullough's new book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. I'm a bit of a history nerd in general and a fan of McCullough's specifically. I really enjoyed two of his earlier books John Adams and The Great Bridge. But Paris has always held a particular allure for me so really excited to read his take on the vibrant period of Americans in Paris in the mid to late 1800's.

Below is a video where McCullough discusses the story of the American artists and scientists who lived and studied in Paris and how this impacted culture in the US.

Alexandra Pelosi examines newly-minted US citizens in new HBO documentary

It was a real delight seeing Alexandra Pelosi on Colbert the other night. I actually knew nothing about Pelosi and her career as a documentary film maker. Her newest film, Citizen USA, looks amazing.

Caroline Kennedy Walks in Beauty and Reads Poetry with Stephen

OK, I'll admit it. When I first saw what Caroline Kennedy's new book, She Walks in Beauty, was about, I almost didn't tune in. Because I'm just not sure we need ANOTHER book about poetry.

Well, that would have been a mistake because I think Stephen's interview with Caroline was one of my favourite interviews of all time. It was Stephen at his most genuine - even if he was joking about poetry. And the alternating poetry reading between Stephen and Caroline was charming.

But my absolutely favourite thing was that Stephen shared the first poem he had to memorize  - Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

Nature's first green is gold, 
Her hardest hue to hold. 
Her early leafs a flower; 
But only so an hour. 
Then leaf subsides to leaf. 
So Eden sank to grief, 
So dawn goes down to day. 
Nothing gold can stay.

Stephen and I must have had the same curriculum in high school because coincidentally, it was the first poem I had to memorize in school. Freaky!

But, in any case, it did rekindle my interest in poetry and now I'm keen on Caroline's book. So I will definitely be checking this out from the library. 

Morgan Spurlock Sells Us the Greatest Story EVER!

Morgan Spurlock is famous for his over the top documentaries including Super-Size Me and Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden.  His newest film is The Greatest Film Ever Sold - a piece about product placement in the advertising industry.

The interview with Stephen was good; I saw Spurlock at TED this year - his talk goes into a bit more detail about the film and the process.

Jeff Greenfield's Alternate Histories

I'm a big fan of alternate histories. I really enjoy it when a smart author takes a small, innocuous event that we all take for granted and changes it, just enough, to set in motion an entirely different way in which history plays out.

Jeff Greenfield's book, Then Everything Changed: Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics: JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, Reagan, sounds like it is going to be a real page turner. He had a great interview with Stephen and I'm particularly keen on the alternate history of Robert Kennedy. What is RFK weren't assassinated? How different would our world look?

Can't wait to read this one!

 

Piers Gibbon is Eating with Cannibals

Cannibalism and National Geographic.  Could you ask for more?  (I mean thematically.  I don't mean "pass me another leg.")

 I loved this interview with Piers Gibbon, the host of National Geographic's Eating with Cannibals.  Gibbon travels to Papua New Guinea and interviews tribe members and witnessess their practices. 

 Now... I'm a little wary of when our television cameras go and film people of other cultures, making a spectacle of their lives.  That said, I really liked how when Colbert used the term "primitive,"  Gibbon corrected him.  He also pointed out that there is evidence of cannibalism in Western culture, too.  

Gibbon was incredibly respectful, and that respect (along with my morbid streak) has me wanting to catch this television program.

Photo of Gibbon from his Facebook page. 

 

Reza Aslan

The truth is that Muslims have come to America to eat your babies.  Well, According to  Dr. Reza Aslan, a professor and activist orginally from Tehran.  Aslan is an expert on the radicalization of Muslims, and he comes to the Report to speak about Peter King's hearings on terrorism.  He argues that these hearings are a political stunt, with expert testimony from experts on the topic.

You should check out this interview.  The topic of radical Islamists is an important one, but I think that the broader issue is this idea of who is testifying in hearing like this.  When did the experts become the people we don't listen to?  Why aren't we taking advantage of those people in our society to talk about the data? 

David Brooks and The Social Animal

If you read The New York Times, then you are likely familiar with David Brooks, cultural and political commentar.  Colbert speaks to Brooks about his book,  The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement.   Brooks' text is about emotion, about howemotions are your brain working through complex problems.

I really liked Brooks' NY Times piece called the Modesty Manifesto.  It's about the overconfidence that Americans exert.  If that piece is at all part of this new book (which, from this interview, it seems that it's one the same line of thought,) then this book is definitely on my reading list.

Dan Sinker

Who is Dan Sinker?  Admit it.  You don't know.  Or you didn't know until you saw the Report interview.  Or maybe you did know.

Sinker is on the faculty at Columia College Chicago and had previously been known for the magazine Punk Planet.  One night he decided to play around on Twitter and became @MayorEmanual, tweeting foul messages.  Much to his surprise, he started to get followers other than his friends, a lot of followers, including Barack Obama.

In fact, his tweets were so good, so funny that 1) Rahm himself gave Sinker a call and 2) Sinker has made a bookdeal with Scribner to publish his tweets.

Image of Dan Sinker is from his Facebook page.