Modern Tek News
An Interview about Science Books for Children with Tumblehome Learning, Kepler's Books & The Booksmith:
In this interview Dr. Penny Noyce talked to KZSU about how she started Tumblehome Learning to publish books about science for children, and how she plans to make Tumblehome Learning a leading publishing house. Dr. Noyce received her MD from Stanford University and has practiced medicine since the 1980s. While working as a physician, Dr. Noyce started the Noyce Foundation to help improve science education in the United States. Dr. Noyce has written several books including a new book called Magnificent Minds about 16 leading women in science, and a recent book:The Perilous Case of Zombie Potion. Dr. Noyve's new book, Magnificent Minds tells the story of sixteen women over four centuries, from the Queen of France's midwife to the discovery of nuclear fission and the invention of cancer medicine; some of the women included in the book are two Nobel Prize winners: Marie Curie who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1911 and her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 .
Mr. Owen Liu was our second guest from Tumblehome Learning. Owen discussed his new book, The Confounding Case of Climate Crisis; the book targets Middle School children and teaches them about how climate change is changing fisheries and what we can do to help mitigate climate change. Owen received a Masters Degree from the Earth Science Program at Stanford University and is now working on his Doctorate degree at UC Santa Barbara.
Our third guest Ms. Christin Evans has a big passion for books and owns two of the leading bookstores in Silicon Valley: Kepler's Books in Menlo Park and The Booksmith in San Francisco. Christin shared with us the business model that helped make Kepler's and The Booksmith successful in the 21st Century and made them able to compete with online booksellers; the model relies on the bookstores' talented staff, their events programming and strong grass roots efforts to reach out to schools and institutions in the Bay Area's communities. Christin also discussed how Keplers and The Booksmith select books and host events. and what she thinks the trends in science books for children are going to be.
KZSU broadcast this interview in January, 2015 and is available from this link.
Modern Tek News on KZSU, Stanford 90.1 FM
News about new books and publishing trends!
In 2014 Brother Consolmagno, a well known astronomer and Curator at the Vatican Observatory's Meteorite Collection was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science. We were fortunate to interview Brother Consolmagno during a recent trip to the Bay Area where he was speaking at NASA Ames.
In this interview, we asked Brother Consolmagno about his new book Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? and his
best selling book, Turn Left at Orion. We also discussed why he studied science, why students can use their parents' books about Plato and Shakespeare, yet they would not be able to use their parents' science books. Brother Consolmgano shared with us why he believes religion should not be tied to science and he pointed out that the Father of the Bing Bang Theory, George Lemaitre was a Catholic priest who did not want the Church to favor the Big Bang Theory because he reasoned that in 100 or more years,the Big Bang Theory might be proven wrong.
Brother Consolmagno also discussed the educational outreach and the astronomy tours that are organized by the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
At the end of the interview, Brother Consolmagno had some advice for students and for what might help people find their calling in life. The interview was broadcast on KZSU in March, 2015 and it is available from this link.
Mr. Gerry Spence, America's most successful and renowned trial lawyer, talked to us about why he wrote his new book POLICE STATE How America's Cops Get Away with Murder. In Police State, Mr, Spence gives examples from the criminal cases that he won of how the police violated the law " by covering up their own corrupt dealings, by the falsification or manufacture of evidence, or by the outright murder of innocent civilians, those individuals." In our interview Mr, Spence discussed the role of the media in maintaining the status quo.
Mr. Spence also answered our questions about his 2005 bestseller WIN YOUR CASE How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail--Every Place, Every Time. This book describes how Mr. Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College trains trial lawyers to win for the people and how it is the only school that trains trial lawyers. The book also described how Mr. Spence won many famous cases, including how he won the case against Imelda Marcus.
Lois Driggs Aldrin in an interview about the Moon, on KZSU:
Lois Driggs Aldrin helped start a successful publishing and media business about the Moon with Buzz Aldrin, the 2nd astronaut to walk on the Moon. In this interview Lois talked about what she studied at Stanford, why she was nicknamed 'Mighty Mouse' and how she met Buzz Aldrin after his trip to the Moon. Lois talked about how her background in business helped her start a successful business with Buzz Aldrin, they published 7 books, including 2 children's books: Reaching for the Moon and Look to the Stars.
Lois also talked about her interest in the Moon and her work as a member of the Advisory Committee for Stanford on the Moon Alumni Club. However, despite that interest, Lois had no interest in going to the Moon because she said that in the 1960s and 70s NASA was only sending men to the Moon.
Interview with Alfred Cooper about his 2017 book Desde el Palacio (Out of the Palace):
In this interview Chaplain Alfred Cooper talked to KZSU about the miracle of the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile in 2010, which took 5 months. He discussed the power of prayer and his new book Desde el Palacio ..(Out of the Palace). In the book, Chaplain Alfred Cooper takes readers inside La Moneda - The Presidential Palace in Chile - during the four years of Sebastián Piñera's first presidency from 2010 - 2014. Sebastián Piñera was re-elected in December, 2017 and will begin his second term as President of Chile in March, 2018.
In our interview, Chaplain Alfred Cooper discussed how in Chapter 8 of Desde el Palacio he discussed why President Sebastián Piñera lost in 2014; he also told us why Piñera got re-elected in 2017. The interview ends with a discussion of some of countries in Latin America and how people today are seeking spirituality, more so than organized religion.
Our guest also discussed the role and possible influence of chaplains in a secular state.
