The Thread®

According to professor and researcher Dacher Keltner, awe is the universal emotion we feel when we encounter vast mysteries we can’t explain. And he believes we should find more of it, in order to live happy and health lives, both individually and collectively. This week on Big Books and Bold Ideas, host Kerri Miller talks with Keltner about research that resulted in his new book, “Awe: The New Science of Every Day Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.”

"Here Goes Nothing" by Steve Toltz has whispers of the 1990 film "Ghost" and the NBC comedy "The Good Place," rolled up in an original and humorous tale.

This Friday, on Big Books and Bold Idea, host Kerri Miller talks with psychologist and researcher Dacher Keltner about the science of awe, and how this universal emotion can transform our brains and bodies. So we felt it fitting to bring you a discussion of joy for this week’s archive. Enjoy poet Ross Gay at Talking Volumes last fall discussing his book, “Inciting Joy.”

The recommendation comes from Shannon Daniels of Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Mich., who says Jessica Au's novel "Cold Enough for Snow" was her top staff pick this year.

Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune are proud to announce a special spring series of Talking Volumes. We are taking Talking Volumes on the road with two special events in Greater Minnesota. These special Talking Volumes pop-up events will be hosted by award-winning journalist Kerri Miller.

Jamila Minnicks’ debut novel is a stunner. “Moonrise Over New Jessup” uses fiction to tell the stories of real all-Black towns that flourished in the American South a century ago, thanks to a policy of separate but equal.

Jacqueline Holland's The God of Endings chronicles almost two centuries of one woman's journey while also exploring the beauty of brevity, the power of love, and the importance of art.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with author Margaret Atwood about her new short story collection, Old Babes in the Wood.

In Alex North's skilled hands, this narrative that juggles so many elements becomes a very cohesive, enthralling ride into some of the darkest corners of extreme religiousness and human nature.

This novel asks, "What if you knew exactly how many days you had left?"