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Our guest today is Eric Weiner. He is a former correspondent for NPR and the bestselling author of Geography of Bliss. We talk with him about his second book, Geography of Genius. This is where I could write about his great travel writing, philosophical thoughts, and humor, but I prefer to equate reading one of his book to an experience. Imagine you see a large painting that is askew. You walk by this painting everyday. But upon noticing that it's out of kilter you also notice that you've never seen the painting. And the painting is in your house. It's not that it wasn't there before, you just never stopped to see it. Weiner's writing is fun and thought provoking. To learn more about him, you can visit his website at EricWeinerBooks.com.

You can make a convincing case that food defines who we are, and often who we are not. We talk about this and much more with food writer and memoirist David Leite about his most recent book, Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression. He's the founder of Leite's Culinaria, which was the first food blog to win a James Beard Award in 2006 and again in 2007. David Leite was also awarded the Julia Child first book award for his cookbook The New Portuguese Table. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Los Angeles Times, among many others. He joins us to talk about his memoir. Join us next week on The Gluten Free Baking Show podcast (GFbakingshow.com) to learn more about Leite's recipes.

We're talking today with bestselling author Rick Hanson about his book Resilient. Dr. Hanson is a therapist. He has a PhD in clinical psychology and a lot of his writing is at the intersection of psychological science, neuroscience, and mindfulness. He shares insights with us about how to manage stress, as well as the origins of it, and what it really takes for most of us to reduce it. Toward the end of the interview we talk about motivation: how it works and how we can refuel.

There is something magical about the way some people can push their physical limits. Think about Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile in 1954, or Diana Nyad's 103 mile swim from Cuba to Florida, or the countless people who have climbed Everest. Their physical limits impress us but we also know it's not all about the body. So much is influenced by the mind, their motivation, and their shear ability to put themselves on the line. Today we talk about the role the brain plays when it comes to pushing the limits of endurance. Alex Hutchinson is an award-winning journalist and the author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.

Fariba Nawa is a journalist who covers war, corruption, cultural trends, and human rights. She is drawn to the dire situations that war creates—the victimhood, the violence, and the people who are silenced by their circumstance. Mostly she wants to tell the stories of people who aren't able to share their own. But for her going back to Afghanistan, eventually to live there, had another dimension: she was going home. I ask Fariba questions that we all, at times, wonder about: What does belonging look like to you? Do you feel at home? How have you been shaped by feelings of guilt? Fariba reported on the U.S. War in Afghanistan and researched what became her book: Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords, and One Woman's Journey Through Afghanistan.

Dr. Ron Friedman is an award-winning psychologist, business consultant, and the author of The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace. He writes for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and CNN. Dr. Friedman's research sheds light on how to build healthy workplaces, which includes embracing failure, giving up the mindset of perfection, and taking care of yourself. We start the interview with Ron talking about what motivated him to pursue such an extensive project—what became his book.

As humans we have an emotional life that is always active. And if you're like me, you might find yourself wondering: Why is my mind so busy all the time? Does my brain really know what is best? Are my judgements accurate? I am very excited to have Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett joining us. She is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, and the author of the book How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. The Harvard professor of psychology and bestselling author Daniel Gilbert has this to say about her work: "A brilliant and original book on the science of emotion by the deepest thinker about this topic since Darwin." We begin with Lisa explaining how we as humans shape each other.

The theory of emotion, through much of the twentieth century, was dominated by the idea that emotion is learned through the culture you grow up in. But a man by the name of Paul Ekman, thought this thinking was faulty. He believed Darwin's theory of emotion was correct, which supports the idea that there are basic emotions that are a product of our biology. In other words, they're universal, something we all have in common. So Ekman and his colleagues set out to test this idea in 1967 and, after traveling across the globe to run cross cultural experiments, they found support for six emotions that we all share: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. But today the study of emotion is a burgeoning field. It's believed that all of our decisions and actions are spurred by emotion, so researchers are studying other emotions—ones that go beyond our basic need to survive and look at how we thrive. We talk with Jessica Tracy, a researcher and professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, about her new book, Pride.

The majority of people say they want to write a book, as much as 80-90% by some estimates, so today we're diving into what makes a good story. It turns out, there are some rules that writers use, and once you know them, you will start to recognize them in the books you read, the movies you watch, and—hopefully—in the stories you write. Matthew Bird, the author of Secrets of Story, shares some insights. And, yes, I recommend his book because it is not only brimming with ideas, it is laugh-out-loud.

If you ever find yourself banging your head against a wall because you can't solve a problem in your life, it's you and everybody else, which brings us to our expert today. As a business consultant, speaker, and co-author of the book Innovation as Usual, Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg has worked with managers all over the world to reframe how they think about their problems and how they go about solving them.

Dacher Keltner is a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkley and the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center. He has authored several books on human emotion and he is here today to talk with us about his most recent book: The Power Paradox.

Andy Molinsky, a professor of organizational behavior at Brandeis University's business school, talks about his new book, Reach, and shares ideas about "just right" challenges that help us expand our comfort zone.