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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

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”To the Best of Our Knowledge” is a Peabody award-winning national public radio show that explores big ideas and beautiful questions. Deep interviews with philosophers, writers, artists, scientists, historians, and others help listeners find new sources of meaning, purpose, and wonder in daily life. Whether it’s about bees, poetry, skin, or psychedelics, every episode is an intimate, sound-rich journey into open-minded, open-hearted conversations. Warm and engaging, TTBOOK helps listeners feel less alone and more connected – to our common humanity and to the world we share.



For more from the TTBOOK team, visit us at ttbook.org.


702 Episodes
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The longest nights of the year are here, but how many of us will see them? The global spread of light pollution is making it harder to experience dark skies and natural darkness. Learning how to reconnect with the planet’s ancient nocturnal rhythms can be profoundly restorative. Nature writers and darkness activists tell us what we’re missing.Deep Time is a series all about the natural ecologies of time from To The Best Of Our Knowledge and the Center for Humans and Nature. We'll explore life beyond the clock, develop habits of "timefulness" and learn how to live with greater awareness of the many types of time in our lives.Original Air Date: December 21, 2024Interviews In This Hour: Listening to the song of the night — Adjusting our eyes to wonders of the nocturnal worldGuests: Sam Lee, Leigh Ann HenionNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Can we scale up human flourishing? We know meditation can reduce stress and ease symptoms of depression, but the benefits don’t have to stop there. Some scientists believe just a few minutes of mindfulness practice every day could make entire cities healthier and happier. Original Air Date: August 30, 2025Interviews In This Hour: Can we boost happiness on a city-wide scale? — How music becomes our collective medicine — Healing trauma takes time. Can we speed up psychotherapy?Guests: Richard Davidson, Dalal Abu Amneh, Diana FoshaNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
The Sum of Our Data

The Sum of Our Data

2025-08-2353:00

Every click on your computer, every swipe on your smartphone, leaves a data trail. Information about who you are, what you do, who you love, the state of your mind and body… so much data about you, expanding day by day in the digital clouds. The question is—do you care? Would owning your data, or having more digital privacy, make life better? And what happens to all that data when you die?Original Air Date: November 22, 2024Interviews In This Hour: A former child test subject seeks the data that shaped her life — In an age of surveillance, do you still care about your privacy? — When you die, what will happen to your data?Guests: Susannah Breslin, Lowry Pressly, Carl ÖhmanNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
The bond we share with dogs runs deep. The satisfaction of gentle head scratches or a round of playing fetch is simple and pure, but in other ways, the connection we have is truly unknowable. How do dogs make our lives better? How do they think? And how do we give them the lives they deserve?Original Air Date: February 05, 2022Interviews In This Hour: Adventure, goofiness and trail snacks: Stories from the dog musher's journal — Getting inside the mind of a dog — Nothing makes losing a dog easy. But a bridge dog can help. — Joy and peace, high up on Dog MountainGuests: Blair Braverman, Quince Mountain, Donna Haraway, Sarah MillerFurther Reading:Pet Loss Resource Center: Resources for animal loss and griefNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
What makes food "authentic"? Do we need to feel close to where it's made? Know the complete history of where it comes from? Be able to diagram the chemistry of how it dances along our taste buds? How can we quantify the romance between eaters and the food they love?In this hour, we talk about what it means to truly love what you eat and drink — and we ask why it matters.Original Air Date: June 30, 2018Interviews In This Hour: The Frightening Sameness Beneath Hundreds of Flavors — A Little Grammy, A Little Bubbe: A Writer Embodies Family History Through Food — Anyone Can Cook—With the Right Elements — Does 'Selling Out' Make a Difference You Can Taste? — Two Dishes, Two Tastings: A Dinner Party with Simran, Michael, Samin and JoshGuests: Simran Sethi, Samin Nosrat, Michael Twitty, Josh NoelNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Playing with Words

Playing with Words

2025-08-0253:08

Sometime in the last couple of years, America’s collective morning routine shifted. We used to start the day with coffee. Now it’s coffee and Wordle. Or Spelling Bee. Or both, plus the crossword. We’re living in a golden age of word games – which is fun, and one way to get just a tiny bit of relief when the world feels out of control. Original Air Date: November 09, 2024Interviews In This Hour: Getting into the puzzle mindset — Welcome to my crossworldGuests: A. J. Jacobs, Anna ShechtmanNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
One of the toughest things about trying to understand climate change – arguably the most important story of our time — is wrapping our minds around it. To even imagine something so enormous, so life-changing, we need a story. Some characters, a metaphor, and even some lessons learned. For that, we turn to the novelists and journalists telling the story of climate change – as we – and our children – live it.Original Air Date: August 14, 2021Interviews In This Hour: The Climate Change Stories We Need To Hear — The Climate Crisis Gets Biblical — Lidia Yuknavitch’s Dream World: How Dreams Shaped Her Dazzling Speculative Novel — A Climate Dystopia Of Cold, Concrete, Wind and a WallGuests: Alice Bell, Lydia Millet, Lidia Yuknavitch, John LanchesterNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
When you’re on the clock, you’re always running out of time – because in our culture, time is money. The relentless countdown is making us and the planet sick. But clock time isn’t the only kind. There are older, deeper rhythms of time that sustain life. What would it be like to live more in tune with nature’s clocks?Deep Time is a series all about the natural ecologies of time from To The Best Of Our Knowledge and the Center for Humans and Nature. We'll explore life beyond the clock, develop habits of "timefulness" and learn how to live with greater awareness of the many types of time in our lives.Original Air Date: June 03, 2023Interviews In This Hour: How time came to rule our lives — and how we might free ourselves — The past and future of keeping timeGuests: Jenny Odell, David RooneyNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Life is the sum total of the time between birth and death. But have you ever really wondered, what is life? It’s mysterious - and even science doesn’t quite have an answer. But there’s a new biology of life that’s overturning decades of assumptions. We report from a gathering of biologists, geologists and artists at the Island of Knowledge in Tuscany.Original Air Date: July 12, 2025Interviews In This Hour: Why we need a new theory of life — Beyond the genome: A new science of life — How humans can learn to be animalGuests: Marcelo Gleiser, Bob Hazen, Phil Ball, Melanie ChallengerNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Everyday Magic

Everyday Magic

2025-07-0553:34

What would it be like to live in a world where magic is still alive? Not weird, not woo-woo, just ordinary. 400 years ago, consulting a magician in downtown London was as unremarkable as calling a plumber today. Even now, there are places where magic never died – like Iceland, where 54 percent of the population believes in elves, or thinks they might exist. Original Air Date: October 12, 2024Interviews In This Hour: Why do Icelanders believe in elves? — Deborah Harkness uncovers the real history of witches — Practical magic and the 'cunning folk' of Tudor EnglandGuests: Nancy Marie Brown, Deborah Harkness, Tabitha StanmoreNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Cultivating Wonder

Cultivating Wonder

2025-06-2853:27

Do you ever feel like there’s something missing in your life? You don’t know exactly what it is. And there’s never enough time to really think about it. You might get a glimpse of it if you slow down, or look deeply at something (or someone), or remember some childhood joy. What if that thing you’re missing is a sense of wonder?Original Air Date: March 18, 2023Interviews In This Hour: A sense of wonder through the eyes — and ears — of a child — What goosebumps, tears and grief can teach us about being awestruck — Finding sacred meaning through poetryGuests: Lulu Miller, Dacher Keltner, Jennifer Michael HechtNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
America is in the midst of a new debate over how we tell our history. You can see it everywhere – in arguments over critical race theory and AP history classes, in museums and state capitals, in the news and on talk radio. It’s fueled in part by an emerging generation of public historians who are re-shaping our national narratives.Original Air Date: February 25, 2023Interviews In This Hour: Uncovering The Blind Spots In Historical Narratives — Columnist Jamelle Bouie on dispelling 'civic myths' with American history — How 'Praise Houses' Reclaim A Lost Piece of Black History Guests: Rund Abdelfatah, Ramtin Arablouei, Jamelle Bouie, Charmaine MinniefieldNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Cult of the Self

Cult of the Self

2025-06-1453:19

In the world of internet influencers and YouTube stars, it’s not enough to be ordinary anymore. You need to be special. But where did this craze for personal branding come from? Why are we so obsessed with ourselves? To understand this cult of the self, we need to go back to 19th century spiritual movements and the rise of the huckster — and also the myth of rugged individualism. But if we’re always shouting “Me me me,” what are we losing? What has it cost us?Original Air Date: February 03, 2024Interviews In This Hour: If nobody sees you online, do you exist? — How personal branding became an American religion — Why rugged individualism is a dangerous myth — The philosophers who invented the modern selfGuests: Angelo Bautista, Tara Isabella Burton, Alissa Quart, Andrea WulfNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Contemplating the infinite is a time-tested way to shrink the present down to size. But if you think about it for very long, infinity can really mess with your mind. There’s something fundamentally paradoxical about it, and beautiful.Deep Time is a series all about the natural ecologies of time from To The Best Of Our Knowledge and the Center for Humans and Nature. We'll explore life beyond the clock, develop habits of "timefulness" and learn how to live with greater awareness of the many types of time in our lives.Original Air Date: June 07, 2025Interviews In This Hour: The glorious mathematics of infinity — Checking into the infinity hotel — Finding solace in the nature of space-time — The math and mysticism of Albert EinsteinGuests: Jordan Ellenberg, Jon Halperin, Michelle Thaller, Kieran FoxNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Avian Obsessions

Avian Obsessions

2025-05-3153:25

It’s summer, and you might be pulling out your binoculars, filling your bird feeders, and looking up as you hear a melodious song. But for many birdwatchers, it's not just a simple pastime. Identifying bird calls, tracking rare breeds through marshes and waters, and watching our feathered friends as they watch you has turned into true love of birds — an avian obsession.Original Air Date: June 17, 2023Interviews In This Hour: 'Utterly unlike other birds': The inscrutable brilliance of owls — Mark Obmascik on Competitive Bird Watching — The Indelible Myth and Meaning of Ravens — Christopher Benfey on 'A Summer of Hummingbirds'Guests: Jennifer Ackerman, Mark Obmascik, Charles Monroe-Kane, Christopher BenfeyNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams

2025-05-2453:15

What’s the last dream you remember having? Some of us dream every night. But we’re in too much of a hurry to remember our dreams or think about them the next day. Others of us are dream-deprived. What if we embrace our dreams — and our night selves — as a way to understand ourselves better, to connect to each other, even to lead a better life?Original Air Date: February 24, 2024Interviews In This Hour: The perils of a 'wake-centric' world — The lives we live inside our dreams — A dreaming mind, illustrated — Embracing your night selfGuests: Rubin Naiman, Kelly Bulkeley, Roz Chast, Annabel Abbs-StreetsNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Beyond Death

Beyond Death

2025-05-1753:07

Most of us have no idea what will happen when we die. But some do — people who actually started the process of dying and then came back with remarkable stories — like meeting dead relatives. Science is not only extending the lives of patients who’ve been declared clinically dead; it’s also beginning to tell us what happens in near-death experiences.Original Air Date: September 21, 2024Interviews In This Hour: Sebastian Junger reckons with the possibility of an afterlife — How science is revolutionizing our ideas about life and deathGuests: Sebastian Junger, Sam ParniaNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
For The Love Of Moms

For The Love Of Moms

2025-05-1053:15

We celebrate Mother's Day with a collection of stories from our archives, by and about moms. Stories about care and about courage — about the work of mothering.Original Air Date: May 13, 2023Interviews In This Hour: The all-encompassing worlds of motherhood and poverty — Eula Biss on 'The Argonauts' — Jacqueline Plumez on Mother Power — Amanda Henry on the Road to Motherhood — Ayelet Waldman on Trying to Be a Decent MotherGuests: Stephanie Land, Eula Biss, Jacqueline Horner Plumez, Amanda Henry, Ayelet WaldmanNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
It can be hard to enjoy the natural world these days without anxiety. You notice a butterfly on a flower and wonder why you don’t see more. How’s the monarch population doing this year? And shouldn’t there be more bees? The challenge is to live in this time of climate change – but still find joy and refuge in it. Original Air Date: July 27, 2024Interviews In This Hour: Ecologies of love: Heather Swan’s stories of insects and the web of life — Becoming edible: Philosopher Andreas Weber’s mystical biologyGuests: Heather Swan, Andreas WeberNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
Docupoetry

Docupoetry

2025-04-2653:342

Rooted in reality, written with a keen observer’s eye, and shaped with a sense of song, documentary poetry tells the truth in an artist’s voice. For generations, through wars, crisis, and political upheaval, documentary poets have helped make sense of some of our most difficult moments – by expressing what might otherwise be impossible to say. So what are they writing about today?This episode was produced in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.Original Air Date: January 13, 2024Interviews In This Hour: The gospel of Suncere Ali Shakur — This is how I drew you — The poetry that bears witness to the everydayGuests: Philip Metres, Suncere Ali Shakur, Kaia Sand, Camille DungyNever want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.
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Comments (28)

Jenny Mummert

The guest speaks way too quickly. I get her enthusiasm, but listening to her is annoying. She sounds over stimulated by something .. coffee??

Aug 14th
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Jenny Mummert

This is fascinating and helpful.

Apr 9th
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DA Morales

excellent discussion on serious aspects of mathematics

Jun 16th
Reply

Leo Van Doorn

You lost me at, "This is what the nazis must have felt like", when talking about killing chickens.

Jun 14th
Reply

BC

Cinderella chopped her stepmother's head off? Wild.

May 3rd
Reply (1)

Paul Clancy

Excellent podcast. Good ideas for me. Thank 3

Apr 11th
Reply

BC

Lineas? what were you smoking.

Feb 21st
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BC

I think queer people wouldn't choose to be straight, they would choose to avoid the persecution and bullying and threat of violence that comes with being visibly queer.

Feb 15th
Reply

BC

That's true, Colin Kaepernick still isn't playing for the NFL

Nov 8th
Reply

BC

Smh they didn't even mention Fullmetal Alchemist

Sep 19th
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BC

very informative.

Jul 15th
Reply

Aydin Kocabas

you are the best podcast, i have been listening for years, greetings from Turkey

May 24th
Reply

BC

I wasn't paying much attention in the beginning, is this a rebroadcast?

Apr 15th
Reply (1)

BC

the govermne t would be able to buy things if you paid your fucking taxes mr billionaire

Dec 12th
Reply (1)

BC

This episode is thought-provoking in that it makes you consider different perspectives on what kind of help you decide to give people. I think what I've learned is that it's always better to offer help than just helping when it's unnecessary.

Dec 12th
Reply (1)

Inna S

This podcast deserves more attention and love from everyone. It's a good as radiolab or even better!

May 11th
Reply

Armin Halilovic

I wish the hosts didn't use so much vocal fry. Once you notice it you can't unnotice it, and then it's all you hear. It's a coastal liberal affectation

Apr 19th
Reply (4)

orianna syed

My boyfriend has been dealing with depression for a long time. It definitely hurts to see him in this condition. He has tried many medicines and many psychologists and it just seems the depression won’t go away. He has mentioned ayahuasca before and I all for it. I am all for supporting him and doing what I can To see his happiness again.

Feb 7th
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Jamie Barrios

I am wondering why the producers chose to put such emotionally affecting music as a background to Anand Giridharadas' speech. Do you want to maximize his impact by adding music composed by someone else? shouldn't his ideas be allowed to stand alone without that artificial aid? I see this in documentaries a lot and it feels manipulative because we barely notice it but it is so powerful.

Jan 25th
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Jones

Came across this show in my 'suggestions' feed. It didn't really seem like something I'd normally listen to but the stories are actually pretty interesting. Each episode offers different accounts from people of different backgrounds surrounding whatever theme they are discussing. I think, so far at least, the ideologies expressed and represented are a little one sided. But, it's not presented in a way that it feels that a particular narrative is being forced upon you since the hosts remain mostly neutral and just let the guests tell their stories from their own point of view. It actually reminds me a lot of This American Life. I'd definitely suggest giving it a listen.

Jun 10th
Reply