A Change of Address

It's time to update the URL for THE BOOKCAST in your podcast aggregator.

We love Blogger, but it's time to have our own address.

Please make a note to modify the URL from the old one, which is "thebookcast.blogspot.com" to the new one, which is "thebookcast.com/latest.xml"

If you need help, feel free to email me and I can try to get you back on track: bill@eyeonbooks.com

In the meantime, to listen to today's program, and to subscribe to THE BOOKCAST or change the URL in your aggregator, you can go to www.thebookcast.com.

Thanks for listening!

Gary Berntsen & Greg Mortenson

Both of the men you'll meet today have been active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but for vastly different reasons. We'll talk with Greg Mortenson, who, in the last dozen years or so has built more than 50 schools in some of the poorest rural areas of those countries. His book is called Three Cups of Tea. But first, we're going to meet Gary Berntsen. He went to Afghanistan in 2001, on a mission that came oh-so-close to succeeding, but fell short. His assignment was to find and capture, or kill, Osama bin Laden. His book is called Jawbreaker.

Rita Mae Brown "Sour Puss"

A murder in Virginia's wine country drives Rita Mae Brown's mystery Sour Puss. It's the thirteenth book in Brown's series of mysteries in which heroine Harry Haristeen gets to the bottom of a homicide, with the help of her cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and her dog Tee Tucker.

Larry L. King "In Search of Willie Morris"

When famed Harper's magazine editor and author Willie Morris died in 1999, among those who felt the sting the worst was his longtime friend and colleague, author Larry L. King. But it was when King set out to write a biography of his friend that he was forced to admit maybe he didn't know Willie as well as he thought he did. His book is called In Search of Willie Morris.

Judith Levine "Not Buying It"

Could you stop shopping for an entire year? What if you decided you were going to buy nothing but the barest necessities, for the next 365 days? Could you do it? Judith Levine did it, and writes about it in her book Not Buying It.

Molly Worthen & Anya Kamenetz

Today we'll meet two young women who are both recent graduates from Yale. And each has a bestselling book. Molly Worthen will join us to talk about the biography she's written about one of her professors, Charles Hill, called The Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost. But first we'll meet her fellow Yale alum Anya Kamenetz, whose new book Generation Debt is subtitled, "Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young."

Anthony Rapp "Without You"

As a budding young actor, Anthony Rapp was in movies like "Adventures in Babysitting" and "Dazed and Confused." Later Rapp was part of the original cast of the Broadway hit "Rent," and later starred in the movie version, as well, in the role of videographer Mark Cohen. But in cruel contrast to the exhilaration of stardom, Rapp was forced at the same time to confront the approaching death of his mother from cancer, as he now describes in his book Without You.

Bruce Bartlett "Impostor"

President George W. Bush has betrayed the conservative movement, says a former member of the Reagan White House. Bruce Bartlett says Bush has turned his back on a tradition of fiscal conservatism and small government. But saying so publicly has a price. Bartlett lost his private-sector job, for writing his book Impostor.

Tee Morris "Podcasting For Dummies"

The next big thing in online communications is the phenomenon called podcasting. Hundreds of new podcasts are being launched every day, and there is no reason you can't have your own podcast, says Tee Morris. He is a novelist, a playwright, an actor, and a podcaster. And he is now your amiable guide as you embark on podcasting, with his book Podcasting For Dummies.