Thus began Bonny Doon Vineyard, and the world of wine has never been the same. Bonny Doon's biodynamically produced, adventurous wines are blended with Grahm's imaginative miscellany: satirical soliloquies, rollicking literary parodies ("Howlbarino" by Alain Gainesberger, "Da Vino Commedia: The Vinferno" by Al Dente Allegory); sermons on the virtues of screwcaps, and reflections on Bonny Doon as a creative endeavor as well as a winery. Grahm's new vinthology, Been Doon So Long, collects his viterature, poesy, and doon-tunes, as well as articles and insights on sustainability, terroir, and what makes a good wine. In this video, Grahm reflects on Bonny Doon's evolution over the years. For more, visit his blog, beendoonsolong.com.

Based on letters written by Darwin and other 19th century scientists, Milner's lyrics weave humor and imagination with factual history. He dramatizes the moment Darwin's friend Thomas Henry Huxley first read On the Origin of Species:

In the Gilbert and Sullivan-style "Darwin's Nightmare", (co-written with John Woram), Darwin tosses and turns all night, worrying about the fallout from his publishing his discoveries:

Milner creates wit and hilarity from the great discoveries of science, but his songs do more than entertain—they pay tribute to Darwin and to the spirit of human curiosity.

Watch Milner's New York Times music videos: "Why Didn't I Think of That?" and "Darwin's Nightmare", and listen to an interview with Milner on Voice of America.

Darwin: Live and in Concert's next appearance is November 10 at the Linnean Society of London, followed by the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center in Walnut Creek, CA on November 14. Find the full schedule, plus more songs and information, at Milner's website.

With only an hour to catch my breath after arriving at my hotel from the airport, Maureen and I walked to Villa Celimontana which houses the Societa Geografica Italiana. Our panel consisted of a geographer, an anthropologist, the author, translator, and myself. Fifty people attended. These were scholarly types, very interested in the extensive research the author had completed in preparation for writing her book. Zanini is very assured about her subject. As her publisher, I came away confident that we had published THE expert on pasta shapes. The Almost Corner Bookshop, one of only three remaining English-language bookshops in Rome, was there to sell copies of the book. A reception followed, with beautiful pastas served on the balcony. Fortunately, I was warned not to eat because a group of us were treated to a special dinner of—you guessed it—five courses of pasta:  ravioli with ricotta and artichokes, tagliolini with little shrimp, penne with red mullet and cherry tomatoes, large shells with scampi and basil, and tortellini with pork jowl and tomato.  I ate everything—whew!

As a television critic for the San Jose Mercury News, Nachman's first review was of the Ed Sullivan Show. "I packed the review with wisecracks," he recalls in the book. Nachman (above, at a book launch party hosted by friends) characterizes primordial TV as a grey and dismal entity, shrouded in the shadow of radio and Hollywood, and the Ed Sullivan show as a kind of revolution, a catalyst not only for TV's initial success, but for popular culture across America: "Sullivan's show was something beyond even what it first envisioned for itself: it became the great equalizer, relentlessly democratic, cutting across all age, class, cultural, and ethnic boundaries..." he says in the book. It was the place for aging stars and new talent, and and harnessed the social changes that were transforming the country, entertainment, and celebrity. And it brought people together—as Sullivan and McMahon both point out, the Ed Sullivan Show drew 47 million viewers on a weekly basis in 1955, compared to 35 million who watched the American Idol finale in 2008.

Read the San Francisco Chronicle article, A Toast to Bygone Era of 'Ed Sullivan Show'

Listen to an interview with Gerald Nachman on our podcast page

You may subscribe to the monthly podcast feed that contains the individual episodes using your RSS aggregator or directly via the iTunes store. You can listen to individual author interviews from the episodes at our podcast page. Listen to this podcast now.

You may subscribe to the monthly podcast feed that contains the individual episodes using your RSS aggregator or directly via the iTunes store. You can listen to individual author interviews from the episodes at our podcast page. Listen to this podcast now.

In his book Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in a Web of Life, Sampson places dinosaurs in the context of the entire natural world, from the origins of life to the present. Illustrating how dinosaurs lived and what we can learn from them, Sampson imparts a sense of wonder about paleontology and the scientific revelations that still wait to be unearthed. 

Sampson now lives in California, and continues his research while taking on new projects related to education. He is the paleontologist and host of the Discovery Channel series Dinosaur Planet, and of the PBS Kids series Dinosaur Train, produced by the Jim Henson Company. In the video below, from PBS's coverage of the of the TV Critics Press Tour, Sampson talks to Zadi Diaz about Dinosaur Train, and how learning about dinosaurs is a great way to start learning about science and the natural world.