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John McPhee Chronicles Human Attempts to Control Nature.

Writer John McPhee. He's a classic example of a "writer's writer," one whose style is endlessly studied and mimicked, and whose effortlessness in moving between subjects as diverse as Alaskan geology, oranges, and birch-bark canoes is the envy of every freelancer. He's worked at The New Yorker magazine since the late 60s and is one of its most popular contributors. His best-known books include A Sense of Where You Are, about Rhodes Scholar and basketball star Bill Bradley, Coming into the Country, about Alaska, and Pieces of the Frame," about curator Thomas Hoving and the world of high art. Over the last several years, McPhee's magazine pieces have focused on the earth sciences. His new book is titled The Control of Nature.

22:35
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Other segments from the episode on August 11, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, August 11, 1989: Interview with John McPhee; Commentary on The Museum of Jurassic Technology; Interview with Lowell Ganz; Commentary on the "self."
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06:39

"The Learner Must Always Be Led From the Familiar to the Unfamiliar."

Contributor Ilene Segalove takes us on a tour of The Museum of Jurassic Technology, a Los Angeles museum of "unnatural history." The museum features exhibits of the bizarre and improbable, such as the "Deprong Mori," a South American bat that uses X-ray to fly through solid objects, or the way extreme ultraviolet rays appear to restore the flesh to a skeleton.

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10:58

Lowell Ganz Discusses Capturing "Parenthood" On Screen.

Screenwriter and producer Lowell Ganz. He co-wrote the script to "Parenthood," the new comedy starring Steve Martin. He also co-wrote the script for "Splash," which introduced Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. Both films were directed by friend and collaborator Ron Howard. Ganz also was the supervising producer of the popular TV series "Happy Days," starring Henry Winkler as The Fonz.

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26:23

The Word Tsar of the New York Times.

Assistant Managing Editor of The New York Times, Allan Siegal. He oversees usage and style at the Times. A revised and expanded edition of his “The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage” (Times Books) has just been published.

Interview
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11:58

One of the Greatest of Living Newspaper Men.

Columnist and commentator Murray Kempton. The New Yorker says he's "surely among the greatest of all living newspapermen" . . . "the one true original in the business." For years he wrote a column for the old New York Post. Now he writes for New York Newsday and The New York Review of Books. At 76, he bicycles around Manhattan in his elegant attire to gather material for his columns on the City's "rebels, losers and rascals." His latest book is a collection of his newspaper pieces.

Interview
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16:19

Pauline Kael Retires.

Film critic Pauline Kael talk to us from her house in Massachusetts. Kael spent years reviewing movies for The New Yorker. Her final collection of New Yorker reviews has just been published. It's called "Movie Love: Complete Reviews 1988-1991. (It's published by William Abrahams).

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52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

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43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

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