NPR's Book of the Day

NPR's Book of the Day

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New biographies recount how The Rolling Stones and Soundgarden changed rock music

The Rolling Stones and Soundgarden are two of the most influential bands in the history of rock – and two new books tell their stories. The Rolling Stones by Bob Spitz is a history of the band, but also of drugs, women and feuds. In today’s episode, the author gives Here & Now’s ...  Show more

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New biographies recount how The Rolling Stones and Soundgarden changed rock music

The Rolling Stones and Soundgarden are two of the most influential bands in the history of rock – and two new books tell their stories. The Rolling Stones by Bob Spitz is a history of the band, but also of drugs, women and feuds. In today’s episode, the author gives Here & Now’s ...  Show more

Laverne Cox on her childhood, 'Walden' and her new memoir 'Transcendent'

Laverne Cox became a breakout TV star at 40 with a starring role in Orange Is the New Black. Since then, she’s become an advocate and role model for trans people, which she says means “invit[ing] people to see trans people as human beings.” In today’s episode, Cox joins All Thing ...  Show more

In 'The Jellyfish Problem,' an introverted scientist is called in to help an island

Author Tessa Yang describes her The Jellyfish Problem protagonist as an "introverted, know-it-all dork." In the novel, Jo, a marine biologist, gets a call from her unrequited college crush, Nadia, who has a request. Nadia lives on a remote island, where they’re having a problem w ...  Show more

Sen. Chris Murphy wants the left and right to fix the country’s 'spiritual rot'

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut believes there is a “spiritual rot” festering in the country – and he wants the left and right to come together to resolve it. His new book Crisis of the Common Good argues the United States worships profit over people. In it, he takes ...  Show more

In 'Contrapposto,' the meaning of love and the meaning of art go hand-in-hand

Novelist Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Circle) has a new novel out: Contrapposto. It’s a decade-spanning romance of sorts, between two devoted creatives whose careers in the art world bring them together and tear them apart — repeatedly. As Cricket a ...  Show more