Tim English has spent years studying stolen melodies and ripped-off riffs, which he has compiled in a wonderful book called “Sounds Like Teen Spirit.” On my show, we discussed famous cases like Marvin Gaye’s family suing Robin Thicke over “Blurred Lines,” Tom Petty going after Sam Smith because “Stay With Me” sounded too much like […]
Here’s my conversation with Jon Hein about his book, “Fast Food Maniac.” We talked about his visits to some of the original fast food outlets and their headquarters, the secret menus that many of them offer, why he has so much respect for Dave Thomas, and which singular fast food item he considers the most […]
Here’s my conversation with Tom Cotter about his book, “Bad Dad: A Guide To Pitiful Parenting.” You may know Tom as the guy who finished second on “America’s Got Talent” to a group of dogs. I asked him about that, and we covered various aspects of fatherhood, too. Listen to our conversation here.
I have always loved movies about con artists, from “The Sting” to “American Hustle” to “Paper Moon.” So I was happy to talk with Maria Konnikova about her new book, “The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For It…Every Time,” which she was inspired to write after watching another one of my favorites, David Mamet’s “House […]
Here’s my conversation with Dr. David Agus, best-selling author of “The End Of Illness,” about his new book, “The Lucky Years: How To Thrive In The Brave New World Of Health.” Among the topics we discussed: Why are these The Lucky Years? With so much medical information available, isn’t there the risk of getting misinformation? […]
Here’s my conversation with David Pogue of Yahoo Tech, Scientific American, “Nova” on PBS, and “Sunday Morning” on CBS, about his new book, “Pogue’s Basics: Life — Essential Tips and Shortcuts For Simplifying Your Day.” Pogue says that life hacks have gotten a bad name on the internet because so many are absurd or just […]