Radio Curious

From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Fuel

Biodiesel, an alternative to the dwindling supply of fossil fuels, is created from processed vegetable oil and is available anywhere vegetable oil is grown or used. Joshua Tickell is the author of “From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Fuel.” In this program, he shared his ideas on the topic.

Joshua Tickell recommends “Connections,” by James Burke.

Originally Broadcast: July 22, 2003

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The Case Against Lawyers

The control and influence lawyers have in American society has grown enormously in the past 75 years. The influence was foreseen in the 1830s by Alexis de Tocqueville and described in his book, “Democracy in America.” Catherine Crier discusses and critiques this influence in her book, “The Case Against Lawyers.” Crier, herself a former lawyer, district attorney, and judge is now a commentator on Court TV,

Catherine Crier recommends “Pigs at the Trough,” by Arianna Huffington & “The Rule of Lawyers,” by Walter Olson.

Originally Broadcast: March 18, 2003

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Pigs at the Trough, How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America

Arianna Huffington, a political columnist and commentator with a conservative background, is the author of “Pigs at the Trough, How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America.” Her book discusses alliances between corporate executive officers, politicians, lobbyists and bankers in disregard for office and factory workers.

Arianna Huffington recommends “Wealth and Commonwealth, Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes,” by Chuck Collins.

Originally Broadcast: February 18, 2003

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The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service

“The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service” is a short book published by three public interest organizations based in Washington DC: POGO, the Project on Government Oversight (www.pogo.org), GAP, the Government Accountability Project (www.whistleblower.org), and PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (www.peer.org). Jeff Ruch is the executive director of PEER and the book’s co-editor.

Originally Broadcast: January 20, 2003

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Socrates’ Way: Seven Masterkeys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost

Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Socrates himself refused to be recognized as a teacher. Instead, Plato, his well-known student and reporter of Socrates’ dialogues, tells us he asked to be seen as a “midwife of ideas.” Socrates’ passion to achieve self-understanding, and the proper ways to live, continues to be studied and emulated to this day. mom

Socrates recommends “The Trojan Women,” by Euripides. Ron Gross recommends “The Clouds,” by Aristophanes.

Originally Broadcast: January 13, 2003

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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Eric Schlosser, the author of “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,” writes that it is not only what is served for human consumption that plagues the country, but the art of mass marketing to children – through organized promotions and ads in school buses, hallways and even bathroom stalls – that has serious side effects in society.

Eric Schlosser recommends “New Jack,” by Ted Conover.

Originally Broadcast: August 1, 2002

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Sons of Heaven

In June of 1989, in Tienamin Square, in the justify of Beijing, China, one of the largest student protests ever to occur in that country took place. The “Sons of Heaven,” by Terrence Cheng, is a novel about three major players in this drama, Deng Xiao Ping, the leader of China at the time, and two brothers, one a soldier in the Red Army in Teinamin Square at the time, and the other the man who stood in front of the tanks.

Terrence Cheng recommends “Ghost Written,” by David Mitchell.

Originally Broadcast: August 1, 2002

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Zoya’s Story, An Afghan Woman’s Struggle for Freedom

Zoya, a member of the RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, tells the story of her childhood, her parents and her parents’ disappearance. She describes the wrath that first the Russians, then the Taliban and then the Northern Alliance have brought to her country. Along with the suffering, she describes the hope and spirit carried in the hearts of the Afghan people.

Zoya recommends the collected speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..

Originally Broadcast: June 18, 2002

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Dead Reckoning, the New Science of Catching Killers

In the fascinating world of medical discovery, the interpretation of how and when a person died can often be explained by looking at the bugs that are found on the body. Dr. Michael Baden, Chief Medical Examiner for the New York State Police, is the author of “Dead Reckoning, the New Science of Catching Killers,” and our guest in a two-part series on forensic pathology, the study and public discussion of how, when and where people died.

The book Dr. Michael Baden recommends is “The Moonstone,” by Wilkie Collins.

Originally Broadcast: January 22, 2002 & January 29, 2002

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