Category

Non Fiction

Non Fiction, Personal Development, Relationships, Women's Issues

Oct 01: Susan Shapiro Barash on When to Mend or End Female Friendships

October 1, 2025

Estranged

Estranged with author Susan Shapiro Barash

Female friendships can be complicated. Despite all the talk of women supporting women, many don’t. Along with the good aspects of friendship, there are times when jealousy, competitiveness, gossip, and pettiness get in the way.

Renowned author and gender studies expert Susan Shapiro Barash joins us to with her most recent book, Estranged.

We ask questions such as how to know when we should try to mend a friendship versus end it? Do we tolerate more from galpals than platonic male friendships? Or even non-platonic male relationships? If so, why? How to approach difficult conversations. How to set healthy boundaries. And if you’ve ever experienced the hurt and confusion of being ghosted – seems cowardly, right? – why do people ghost?

Meet Susan Shapiro Barash

Susan Shapiro Barash has written over a dozen nonfiction books, including Tripping the Prom Queen, You’re Grounded Forever, But First Let’s Go Shopping and Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships. For more than 20 years she taught gender studies in the Writing Department at Marymount Manhattan College and has guest taught creative nonfiction at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. For her fiction, Between the Tides, A Palm Beach Wife, A Palm Beach Scandal, and Maribelle’s Shadow, she writes as Susannah Marren.

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Arts, Non Fiction, Personal Development, Psychology

Sep 24: Amy Herman, Fixed: The Fine Art of Problem Solving

September 24, 2025

“Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.” ~ Wayne Dyer

Amy Herman with Fixed: The Fine Art of Problem Solving

Sometimes, solving a problem really is as simple as changing your perception, and Amy Herman helps facilitate those paradigm shifts in her book Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving.

Using art forms, from paintings and sculptures to mixed media and photography, Amy shares how learning to view something differently helps shake up our default way of thinking – whether we’re making everyday or major decisions.

Amy also provides insight into what the FBI, NATO, the State Department, Interpol, Scotland Yard, and many other organizations and their leaders use to solve their most difficult problems. 

Meet Amy E. Herman

Amy E. Herman developed The Art of Perception, Inc., in 2000 to improve medical students’ observation and communication skills while she was the Head of Education at The Frick Collection in New York City. Herman adapted the program for a wide range of professionals, including the New York City Police Department, FBI, French National Police, Department of Defense, Interpol, State Department, Fortune 500 companies, first responders, military, and intelligence community.

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History, Journalism, Non Fiction

Jul 16: Russell Shorto’s Taking Manhattan

July 16, 2025

The Astonishing Events that Created New York and Shaped America’s Future

Taking Manhattan with author Russell Shorto

What could $24 worth of beads and trinkets get you in 1626? How about the entire island of Manhattan. It’s no secret the Dutch brokered that deal with the Indigenous inhabitants, but often overlooked is the history behind the English seizure of the island, turning New Amsterdam into New York and changing the course of American history.

Tackling the challenge of researching this little known but pivotal moment in our history is author, investigative journalist, and historian Russell Shorto. Today we explore the fascinating details and meet some of the key characters integral to the transition. Russell paints a picture that’s maybe less about seizure, and more about collaboration between two parties who once pointed cannons at each other.

Meet Russell Shorto

Russell Shorto is the best-selling author of eight books, including Smalltime, Revolution Song, Amsterdam, and The Island at the Center of the World. He is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at the New York Historical and senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute.

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History, Journalism, Memoir, Non Fiction, Writers on Writing

Jul 02: John Seabrook with The Spinach King

July 2, 2025

The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

The Spinach King with author John Seabrook

As heir to the complicated C. F. Seabrook legacy, longtime New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook confronts his family’s extraordinary story in THE SPINACH KING: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.

In a spellbinding tale of money, ambition, succession, and immense power, Seabrook breaks through his family’s carefully cultivated façade, revealing long-held secrets of greed, corruption, and exploitation.

We discuss why John Seabrook felt an obligation to turn his meticulous investigative reporting skills inward, upending the narrative he grew up with. How he stayed objective after discovering the level of deceit within his ancestry. And how he balanced reporting as a journalist, with great storytelling.

Meet John Seabrook

John Seabrook has been a staff writer at The New Yorker for more than three decades. He is the author of The Song Machine, Flash of Genius, Nobrowand other books. The film ​“Flash of Genius” was based on one of his stories. He and his family live in Brooklyn.

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Conservation, Nature, Non Fiction, Science

Jun 11: Grass Isn’t Greener with Danae Wolfe

June 11, 2025

Bringing Nature to Your Own Backyard

Grass Isn’t Greener with author Danae Wolfe

Photographer and conservationist Danae Wolfe loves bugs – but it wasn’t love at first sight for her. Today we talk about her beautiful new book Grass Isn’t Greener: The Everyday Conservationist’s Guide to Bringing Nature to Your Yard.

Danae shares small, simple changes that can make your garden less work for you and more inviting for butterflies, birds, and wildlife – as well as better for our environment.

We discuss the benefits of ditching your lawnmower and rewilding that perfect patch of green grass that turns out to be “not so green“, after all. How to create a quick and easy butterfly puddle station. And why invasive plants might be more of a problem than you think.

Meet Danae Wolfe

Danae Wolfe is a macro photographer and conservation educator. In 2015 she founded Chasing Bugs and teaches others about the beauty, diversity, and importance of insects and spiders through photography, public speaking, and writing. Danae’s work has been featured in various outlets including CNN, The American Gardener magazine, and Nature Conservancy magazine. In 2022 Danae received the Garden Communicators International Emergent Communicator award. Danae Wolfe’s new book – full of color photos and quick, easy ways to support nature and rewilding – is Grass Isn’t Greener: The Everyday Conservationist’s Guide to Bringing Nature to Your Yard.

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Non Fiction, Personal Development, Relationships, Self-help, Women's Issues

Jun 04: Estranged with Susan Shapiro Barash

June 4, 2025

How Strained Female Friendships are Mended or Ended

Estranged with author Susan Shapiro Barash

Have you ever felt confused about a friend who ghosted you out of nowhere? Or struggled to set boundaries with a longtime BFF?

Today we tackle the topic of Female friendships — the good, the bad, the beautiful, and sometimes, the heartbreaking.

Joining us is renowned author, gender studies expert, and cultural commentator Susan Shapiro Barash, whose latest book Estranged peels back the layers on what really happens when women’s friendships fracture.

When should we work to mend a friendship versus end it? Do we tolerate more from galpals than their male counterparts? And if so, why? Why do people ghost? How to approach difficult conversations. And more.

Meet Susan Shapiro Barash

Susan Shapiro Barash has written over a dozen nonfiction books, including Tripping the Prom Queen, You’re Grounded Forever, But First Let’s Go Shopping and Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships. For more than 20 years she taught gender studies in the Writing Department at Marymount Manhattan College and has guest taught creative nonfiction at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. For her fiction, Between the Tides, A Palm Beach Wife, A Palm Beach Scandal, and Maribelle’s Shadow, she writes as Susannah Marren.

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Health & Wellness, Non Fiction, Psychology, Self-help

May 14: Is Your Teen Depressed? Dr. Meredith Gansner Shares Important Insights for Parents

May 14, 2025

Teen Depression Gone Viral: Why Kids Are More Vulnerable Than Ever & How You Can Protect Your Child’s Health & Happiness

Teen Depression Gone Viral with author Dr. Meredith E. Gansner

Dr. Meredith Gansner says an episode of depression is not typically identified by one symptom, but by multiple risk factors – and that’s what we explore today, along with busting common myths around teen depression.

How do I know if my teen is just being a brat (aren’t they supposed to be?) versus sliding into a depressed state? How do I approach a teen who won’t talk to me about anything, let alone their feelings? How is digital media affecting them? How can I monitor my kid without invading their privacy?

And, since suicide is the second leading cause of death in 10-34 year olds, how can I detect early warning signs and intervene?

Meet Meredith E. Gansner, M.D.

Teen Depression Gone Viral: Why Kids Are More Vulnerable Than Ever & How You Can Protect Your Child’s Health & Happiness is the result of many years of research, psychiatric practice, and parenting. Meredith E. Gansner, MD, is an attending child psychiatrist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Instructor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her award-winning research focuses on adolescent mental health and problematic digital media use.

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Business, Career, Creativity, Non Fiction

Apr 09: Stories Sell with GrandSLAM Champ Matthew Dicks

April 9, 2025

Stories Sell: Storyworthy Strategies to Grow Your Business and Your Brand

Stories Sell with author Matthew Dicks

Like it or not, everyone in the workforce today has a brand – whether you’re self-employed, a contractor, freelancer, or employee.

Some have more than one brand — Matthew Dicks is a high-school teacher, an author, keynote speaker, Moth GrandSLAM champ, consultant to Fortune 500 groups, and even a wedding DJ!

Some brands have commonalities. Some do not.

But at the heart of your ability to sell yourself, your work, your products, or services there’s a common link to success and connection. And that is storytelling.

Today we look at Matthew’s book, Stories Sell: Storyworthy Strategies to Grow Your Business and Your Brand. He shares how where most companies, salespeople, and marketers get storytelling wrong. Why you should focus first on story, then on purpose. And what makes the all-important 5-second Moment.

Meet Matthew Dicks – Bestselling Author, Moth StorySLAM & GrandSLAM Champion

Matthew Dicks is and expert storyteller and the internationally bestselling author of several novels, including Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, and Something Missing. His nonfiction titles include books we’ve discussed on the show before: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling. Someday is Today:  22 Simple Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life. And his latest, Stories Sell: Storyworthy Strategies to Grow Your Business and our Brand. Matthew Dicks is a 56-time Moth StorySLAM Champion, and a 9-time GrandSLAM Champion, whose stories have been featured on the nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour. His stories have also appeared on PBS’ Stories From the Stage.

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History, Journalism, Non Fiction

Apr 02: Taking Manhattan with Russell Shorto

April 2, 2025

The Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America

Taking Manhattan with author Russell Shorto

It’s well known that in 1626, Indigenous inhabitants sold the entire island of Manhattan to the Dutch for just $24 worth of beads and trinkets. What’s not so well known is the history behind the English seizure of the island and its transformation from New Amsterdam to New York.

Author, investigative journalist, historian Russell Shorto took on the challenge of researching the fascinating details behind this. Today we explore some of the highlights around that, and meet some of the key characters integral to the transition. Russell also presents a picture that’s maybe, less about seizure, and more about collaboration between the parties who once pointed cannons at each other.

Meet Russell Shorto

Russell Shorto is the best-selling author of eight books, including Smalltime, Revolution Song, Amsterdam, and The Island at the Center of the World. He is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at the New York Historical and senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute.

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Environment, Journalism, Non Fiction, Social Issues

Mar 26: David Lipsky and How America’s Anti-Science Movement was Set Up

March 27, 2025

The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial

The Parrot and the Igloo with author David Lipsky

“Lipsky spins top-flight climate literature into cliffhanger entertainment.” ~ The New York Times

David Lipsky is a writer’s writer as well as a reader’s writer. In The Parrot And The Igloo: Climate And The Science Of Denial, Lipsky explores how the virulent “anti-science” movement in America was set up by design.

In other words, it was planned, programmed, and paid for.

Today, we learn when, how, and why planned “denial” movements began, and who won the casting call to become the first Celebrity Doubter and “paid voice” behind the massive Climate Denial Campaign.

We look at scientists who sounded warning bells. And how we went from being a country that supported science, to a population divided into science supporters versus science deniers, hucksters, and propagandists.

Meet Bestselling Author David Lipsky

David Lipsky is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Absolutely American and Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, the basis for the movie The End of the Tour. He’s written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Magazine, and is a recipient of the National Magazine Award and the GLAAD Media Award. His work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Magazine Writing anthologies. Lipsky teaches writing and literature at NYU and lives in New York City. The Parrot And The Igloo is a NYT Editors’ Choice, a New Yorker and Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023, and a USA Today Must Read.

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