The Arik Korman Show

Robert Moor, bestselling author of On Trails, discusses how we can think more like trees, how cultures around the world celebrate trees, and what it's like to climb to the top of a 300-foot giant sequoia. Robert's new book is In Trees: An Exploration.

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, one of the world’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars, discusses his analysis of the ICE occupation of Minneapolis, how the Iran war is connected to Great Replacement Theory, and what we can collectively do to fight back against authoritarianism. Dr. Kendi's new book is Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age. Dr. Kendi recently spoke at Town Hall Seattle as part of the Oculus Series, connecting audiences to the most impactful writing and ideas of our time. Info at townhallseattle.org

Nelson Dellis, a six-time US Memory Champion, two-time Guinness World Record holder, Grandmaster of Memory, keynote speaker, and world-renowned memory coach, discusses what it takes to have a genius mindset, how we can talk to our kids to encourage them to stay curious their entire lives, and what it was like climbing Mount Everest. Nelson’s new book is Everyday Genius: Hacks to Boost Your Memory, Focus, Problem-Solving, and Much More. Info at NelsonDellis.com

Alex Stewart, Head Winemaker for Avallé, whose brands include Matthews, Tenor, From the Sky Down, Jaine, Single Barrel, and Blackboard, discusses what the transition was like from Quilceda Creek to Matthews Winery, what is extraordinary about Washington wine grapes, and how drinking wine is connected to special memories. Info at TasteWashington.org and Avalle.us

Award-winning novelist Hala Alyan discusses how she is thinking about teaching her daughter about her rich culture, how she talks to her daughter about current world events, and what Hala's own upbringing looked like. Hala's new memoir is I’ll Tell You When I’m Home.

Shadi Hamid, an acclaimed columnist at The Washington Post, discusses whether America has the ability to learn from its past mistakes, what some examples are of America using its power for good, and what we should say to our kids about why we need to restore American power. Shadi's latest book is The Case for American Power.

John B. King Jr., who served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education, discusses how important it is for every student to have at least one caring adult in every school building, how we can shift mindsets so that educators believe every student can learn, and what the value is of higher education. Secretary King’s new book is Teacher By Teacher: The People Who Change Our Lives.

Martha Barnette, longtime journalist and co-host of the popular radio show and podcast A Way with Words, discusses how one can make a living after learning Latin and ancient Greek, what local dialects or colloquialisms stood out to her when she traveled around the United States, and how we can get our kids as excited about language as she is. Martha's new book is Friends with Words: Adventures in Languageland.

Choreographers and Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers Amanda Morgan and Christopher D'Ariano discuss how they decided to become professional dancers, how much of dance is drive versus talent, and how we can encourage our kids to pursue their dreams. Their new work, AfterTime, has its world premiere this weekend to kick off PNB's In the Upper Room repertory program. Info at PNB.org

Award-winning tech journalist Vauhini Vara discusses whether tech companies are delivering on their promises, how AI chatbots manipulate us into giving them data, and how we can circumvent bias baked into the AI code itself. Vauhini's latest book is Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age.

Internationally renowned nature writer Robert Macfarlane discusses how rivers used to play a bigger role in human culture, how rivers influenced our personal life journeys, and how rivers help us reimagine the flow of time itself. Robert's latest book is Is a River Alive?

Cultural icon William Shatner and renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson discuss Bill's experience in space, whether Neil would travel beyond Earth, and how to instill a lifelong sense of curiosity in our kids. Bill and Neil were recently in Seattle for their groundbreaking two-person show, The Universe Is Absurd. There could be another show this fall in Los Angeles. Info at futureofspace.io

Scientific expert Nathan H. Lents discusses what human relationships looked like before marriage was invented, how animal sexuality compares to human sexuality, and how we can help human society stop being so uptight. Nathan's latest book is The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships.

Cassidy Randall, an award-winning writer who tells stories on the environment, adventure, and people who expand human potential, discusses what cultural barriers women adventurers had to endure in the 1970s, how the world reacted after Grace Hoeman and her team completed their climb, and how we can talk to our kids about this incredible but unknown accomplishment. Cassidy's new book is Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women's Ascent of Denali.

Acclaimed author Sameer Pandya, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, discusses how we should listen to our teens when they try to speak to us, how to talk to teens about their futures while giving them both agency and guidance, and how we can bridge communication gaps as a society. Sameer's new novel is Our Beautiful Boys.

Tyler Williams and JJ Williams, brothers who are the third generation head winemaker and general manager of Kiona Vineyards, a family-owned winery in eastern Washington’s Red Mountain American Viticultural Area that is celebrating its 50th anniversary, discuss how Washington winemaking is evolving, why owning a vineyard and a winery is unique, and how wine should be marketed in the future. Info at TasteWashington.org and KionaWine.com

Dr. Keon West, a social psychologist at the University of London, discusses which scientific studies demonstrate the effects of racism in society, what the science says are effective ways to respond to racism, and how we should talk about racism with our kids. Professor West's new book is The Science of Racism: Everything You Need to Know but Probably Don’t – Yet.

Betsy Wills, co-founder of YouScience, a national online psychometric-assessment service, and Alex Ellison, founder of Throughline Guidance, a college and career counseling practice, discuss next steps after discovering your superpowers, how to maximize career wellness, and what the difference is between burnout and boredom. Betsy and Alex's new book is Your Hidden Genius: The Science-Backed Strategy to Uncovering and Harnessing Your Innate Talents.

John Kaag, a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, discusses whether the Blood family members, who play a prominent role in American history, are people to emulate or a cautionary tale, where the Bloods are now, and how their story relates to today's polarization in America. John's latest book is American Bloods: The Untamed Dynasty That Shaped a Nation.

Linguist and psychologist Julie Sedivy discusses how she developed her love of languages, how language imprints upon us in utero, and how language can bring our country together. Julie's new book is Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love.

Charles Bock, a creative writing professor at New York University, discusses what happened after his daughter Lilly read his memoir, why he never imagined himself having kids while he was growing up, and how he ended up bonding with Lilly. Charles' new book is I Will Do Better: A Father’s Memoir of Heartbreak, Parenting, and Love.

Writer, journalist, and academic Ellen Ruppel Shell discusses why baby eels are worth $2,500 a pound, how we can disrupt the baby eel black market, and what we're really eating when we order unagi at a Japanese restaurant. Ellen's new book is Slippery Beast: A True Crime Natural History, with Eels.

University of Sydney professor Peter Godfrey-Smith, author of the bestselling Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, discusses how life on Earth has changed our planet, whether there might be life on other planets, and what the future of humanity could look like. Professor Godfrey-Smith's new book is Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World.

Yale professor Ebony Reed, a seasoned journalist who is also the Chief Strategy Officer at the Marshall Project, a news outlet focused on the justice system, discusses the intersection of race and money, how the current Black/white wealth gap compares to the gap after the Civil War, and how we should talk to our kids about wealth. Ebony’s new book, co-authored with Louise Story, is Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap.

Luke Raley, outfielder and first baseman for the Seattle Mariners, discusses how he manages stress when he walks up to the plate, how he stays grounded in reality as a major league baseball player, and what advice he has for young people who want to become professional athletes.

Daniela Rus, Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, discusses how smart robots actually are, what the differences are between robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, and why Iron Man is her favorite superhero. Dr. Rus' new book is The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots.

Adam Gopnik, staff writer at The New Yorker, discusses how to overcome our anxiety about trying new things, how to redirect our kids away from having too much screen time, and what ultimately gives us the most happiness in life. Adam's latest book is All That Happiness Is: Some Words on What Matters.

R. Derek Black (they/them), a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Chicago whose father was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront, the Internet's first white supremacist website, discusses how it felt to be the heir apparent to a white nationalist movement, how they interacted with family after renouncing white nationalism, and how we can come together as a country. Derek’s new book is The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, New York Times bestselling author and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University, discusses whether you can be a fan of consumer sports like the NFL and still criticize them, how we can disrupt America's systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and why it's important to value and respect the leadership of our youth. Nana's latest book is Chain Gang All Stars.

Communication, collaboration, and conflict management expert Elaine Lin Hering discusses how to create a sense of safety in the workplace or at home so that people will feel comfortable speaking up, how much conflict is healthy in an organization or a family, and how to teach our children when to speak up. Elaine's new book is Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully.

Novelist, screenwriter, and Russian translator Katya Apekina discusses what to say to our kids about the Russia-Ukraine war, what it's like trying to raise a bilingual, bicultural child, and what it feels like to leave your family behind and move to a new country. Katya's new novel is Mother Doll.

Burnout management coach and TikTok star Emily Ballesteros discusses what burnout does to us, what the impacts are of not having a "third place," and how hard we really need to work. Emily's new book is The Cure for Burnout: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life.

Iconic Washington winegrower Dick Boushey discusses how the Washington wine industry has changed over the years, what advice he would give to people who want to get into the winegrowing business, and what he's looking forward to at this year's Taste Washington March 16th and 17th at Seattle's Lumen Field Event Center. Info at TasteWashington.org

Jamie Peha, Executive Director of the Auction of Washington Wines and the Host and Editor-in-Chief of Table Talk Northwest, discusses how she navigated her unique career path, how we can help our kids appreciate fine wine and good food, and how Jamie sees Washington wine evolving. The 8th Private Barrel Auction takes place on March 15th at The Winemakers Reserve in Woodinville. Info at auctionofwawines.org

Award-winning journalist Prachi Gupta discusses what to do when family members become estranged, what it's like being labeled as a model minority, and what it would take for everyone in the United States to feel seen and valued for who they really are. Prachi's debut memoir is They Called Us Exceptional and Other Lies That Raised Us. She will speak at Seattle University's Pigott Auditorium on February 20.

National Public Radio Science Correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce discusses what we can say to our kids to soothe their fears, what it's like being a national science correspondent for NPR, and what Nell's primary role is as a parent. Her new book is Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life.

Kliph Nesteroff, who has been called the “premier popular historian of comedy,” by The New York Times, discusses how cultural taboos have changed over time, whether the political right is better organized than the left, and when free speech should be limited. Kliph's new book is Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars.

Adam Nicolson, author of many books on history, landscape, and great literature, discusses how the pushback that the Greek philosophers endured in their time compares with today's red states versus blue states, slavery's role in how the Greek philosophers were able to make a living, and how we can make philosophy relevant to our kids, given their reality. Adam's new book is How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks.

David Brooks, one of the nation’s leading writers and commentators who is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and appears regularly on PBS NewsHour and Meet the Press, discusses how we can get over our fear of connecting with others, how we can help our kids see others deeply and feel seen themselves, and how we can apply his principles to geopolitics. David's new book is How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.

Dan Ariely, bestselling author of Predictably Irrational and a Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, discusses how stress and ostracism lead to misbelief, what we can do as individuals to bring our country back together, and how big of a national problem misbelief actually is. Dan's new book is Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things.

Amy Schneider, a 40-game Jeopardy! champion - the most successful woman ever to compete on Jeopardy! and the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, discusses how her ADHD became a Jeopardy! superpower, how she discovered her gender identity, and how good she is at bar trivia. Amy’s new book is In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life. Follow Amy on Instagram and Twitter @Jeopardamy

Wynton Marsalis, internationally acclaimed musician, composer, educator, and a leading advocate of American culture, discusses what he says to kids who want to be musicians, what makes the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra unique, and what he is trying to tell the world through his music. Wynton and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra perform in Seattle at the Paramount Theatre on October 5th. Info at stgpresents.org, wyntonmarsalis.org, and jazz.org.

Cat Bohannon, a researcher and author with a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the evolution of narrative and cognition, discusses why gynecology was the most important human invention, why not conducting medical research on females is dangerous, and how the female body drives evolution. Cat's new book is Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.

Dan Egan, author of the New York Times bestseller The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, discusses what extreme measures people have used to find phosphorus, how phosphorus is misused in U.S. agriculture, and how it's so essential to all life on earth. Dan's latest book is The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance.

Acclaimed author Simon Winchester discusses whether we should limit the information we take in, how much information leaders should have, and which knowledge is truly important today. Simon's latest book is Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic.

Writer Ben Purkert discusses how masculinity has evolved, how we can help our sons feel good about who they really are, and why it's important to examine what it means to be a man. Ben's debut novel is The Men Can't Be Saved.

Writer Adrienne Brodeur, author of the bestselling memoir Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me, discusses whether it's possible to be highly successful without having skeletons in the closet, what it's like writing a novel versus writing a memoir, and where the title of her new novel Little Monsters came from.

Astronomer and science enthusiast Philip Plait discusses what it would be like to explore the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, how realistic it would be to put ourselves in suspended animation in order to visit distant planets, and what it would be like to live on Mars. Philip’s latest book is Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe.

Ellie Zeron of Elk Haven Winery and Zeron Vineyards discusses why she chose to plant a vineyard on Red Mountain, how to make wine drinking more accessible, and what it's like being a Latinx person in a white male-dominated industry. Learn more at ElkHavenWinery.com, ZeronVineyards.com, and RedMountainAVA.com

Former FBI Director James Comey discusses how it feels as a parent to watch your child excel in the same line of work as yours, how powerful organized crime is today, and what it's like working for the FBI. James' new crime novel is Central Park West.