The On The Bookshelf Podcast

interviews--Steve Katz of BS&T, Melissa Gilbert and Ralph White

we combine three shorter interviews into one half hour show:

Guitarist, musician, songwriter and singer Steve Katz on "Whatever Happened to Blood Sweat & Tears", the global phenomenon that got cancelled by underground press;

Actress & author Melissa Gilbert of "Little House on the Prairie" discusses her new book "Back to the Prairie" and how she's maturing as an actress and getting back to nature; 

 Ralph White on how as a 27-year-old American banker he managed to save 113 Vietnamese civilians from the communists overrunning South Vietnam. His  book is "Getting Out of Saigon". 

interview--Dr. Rosanne Leipzig gives a detailed account of her excellent book ”Honest Aging””

Rosanne Leipzig, MD and PhD, shares her experience and research for those of us age 65 and older: what can we expect of our minds and bodies as we age? Is it all downhill from here? Or is joy still possible? (answers: we shrink as backbone compresses, eyes don't discern color as well, hearing loses high pitches. HOWEVER one of the best ways to keep our minds and bodies operating at their best is to get some exercise, and to get sufficient sleep!) Did you know that very few drug trials are held on 65+ people? That means we aren't sure exactly how those pharmaceuticals react in older bodies! Forgetting a few words from time to time? Don't worry. Forgetting something you just learned? Get it checked out.

This is an excellent resource for people who are blessed enough to live longer!

interview-Steve Berry & Grant Blackwood bring a Luke Daniels novel about JFK death

Two best-selling (and very good) authors combine their talents to branch off a character from the popular Cotton Malone series by Steve Berry, and this first in the series investigates a mysterious murder, a deadly old political operative and spy, and two young warriors trying to uncover the truth about the JFK assassination. (As a Baby Boomer who remembers Nov. 22, 1963, this is a terrific novel and theory!)

interview-Steven Rabb brings a unique perspective in ”The Founder’s Speech to a Nation in Crisis”

WWFS--What Would the Founders Say? Steven Rabb has created a way to address the serious issues facing our nation in 2023 by looking at how the Founders and the Sustainers viewed this incredible unique political experiment. The author got into a “robust political debate” with his two adult sons, and that led to his grabbing an armful of books on the Founding Fathers and their perspective on how America could continue. This great democratic republic constantly requires introspection, for we are forging new ground with every decision since 1763. When we debate whether the US Constitution is a “living document” or “the document that settles disagreements and therefore only needs tweeking not reinventing”, isn’t it wise to read the word of the people who wrote it, debated it, and accepted it originally?

The author envisioned a dialog among men of letters from the pre-Revolutionary time through the US Civil War: what did America mean to them? His purpose for the book is” to bring to life the ethos and principles of America’s founding while reminding us of who we are as Americans—as a nation of citizens with a common history, as a people with a faith-rooted belief in virtue, and as patriots with a shared commitment to liberty.” This book is the result, with hundreds of lines from the founders and sustainers of liberty over a century of thought and debate. In chapters on Liberty, Conscience, Agency, Knowledge, Speech, Constitution, Tyranny, Property, Law and Call, he presents the words of the Founders.

 

interview-Leslie Iwerks, co-director of new documentary on DC Comics ”Superpowered”

I have read DC comics since 1963, and I've seen a lot of changes. Most were good, a few bothersome. That's because we love our superheroes (and villains). This is one of the many fascinating aspects from this three-part documentary now streaming on MAX, from an award-winning producer of documentaries. Leslie Iwerks gathered over 60 interviews from archives and from creators and animators still working for the company that invented the concept of super-heroes, DC.