Guys, "Radiolab" finally got to me to the point where I had to turn it off mid-episode. The ep was called "Speed." The second Jad Abumrad and Robert Crulwich started down the rabbit hole of high-frequency trading with their patented brand of candy-coated whimsey and wide-eyed fauxlosophy, I could no longer stand to listen. Sorry, Jad and Rob--I still love you. But I can't stomach hearing you talk about things when I actually know something about those things. Because then your explanations just seem sluggish and infantile and wrongheaded and GAAH. And then I remember about Jonah Lehrer, and the whole program starts to smell fishy, and I need some time off, okay? The writer (an anthropology PhD) of a Slate op-ed about Jared Diamond's latest book took the position that the more familiar you are with Diamond's subject, the harder it is to agree with him. It's sorta like that with me and Radiolab right now.
On the bright side, Ira Glass is picking up the slack with the latest "This American Life" on a downtown Chicago school in a gang-ridden neighborhood. It's a two-parter! God bless you, "This American Life." When you do journalism, you do it so so right.
The "American Life" program on downtown Chicago is powerful and, yes, done so right. Good reading to accompany it from a journalist in the Bronx who also got it right: Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (http://www.amazon.com/Random-Family-Drugs-Trouble-Coming/dp/0743254430)
ReplyDeleteI'll try to check it out.
ReplyDeleteIRA GLASS FOREVER. I need to catch up on This American Life.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sam, I have a copy of Random Family (which I still haven't read because I'm a terrible person - but it's at the top of the list, Nina!), if you ever come back to Amurica.