The Sunday Magazine for May 1, 2022
This week on The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay:
Bill Gates' advice for preventing the next pandemic
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates joins Chattopadhyay to discuss his new book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic. The tech trailblazer and global health leader has been studying the lessons brought on by COVID-19 and his book reveals what he's learned.
How libraries became a quiet battlefront in the war in Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine continues, we hear about an unlikely, quiet battlefront. Libraries and librarians are not only preserving the record of Ukraine's distinct history in books and maps... they're also networking as volunteers around the world, to preserve its online cultural records today. Librarian Ksenya Kiebuzinski, whose parents were Ukrainian refugees in the 20th century, takes us inside the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library to talk about today's efforts, and share a handpicked selection of rare Ukrainian texts from the collection.
From crosswords to jigsaws, A.J. Jacobs cracks the code on our love affair with puzzles
Writer A.J. Jacobs joins Chattopadhyay to discuss his new book The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. It's a deep dive into the world of brain teasers and the people who love them. But beyond fun and games, Jacobs argues that the puzzling mindset – one that touts getting curious before getting furious – can help us solve the big issues of our times.
What talking to his online haters taught Dylan Marron about empathy
When many of us receive nasty comments on social media, we may either ignore them or take a stand and fight back. But when online creator and activist Dylan Marron started getting negative, even bigoted comments on his online videos, he made another choice entirely. Marron invited his detractors to chat on the phone and talk through their differences. That move led to his podcast Conversations with People Who Hate Me. He joins Chattopadhyay to reflect on the lessons he took from those discussions, which he outlines in a new book, called Conversations with People Who Hate Me: 12 Things I Learned from Talking to Internet Strangers.
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