137: The Book That Changed Your Life
This American Life
05/31/26
•61m
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We want to believe our lives can be changed by the ideas contained in a book.
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- Prologue: When Alexa was seven, she started going through her grandfather's books. Her grandfather was a playwright and teacher, and through the books—and especially through his notes in the margins—she entered the world of 1930's American theater. And she found a book that changed her life: writer Moss Hart's autobiography Act One. (5 minutes)
- Act One: More of Alexa Junge and how Moss Hart's autobiography changed her life. She followed his path, learned specific lessons, and had a vision of him that was absolutely clear—until she met his widow. (10 minutes)
- Act Two: A book that changed a family's life—temporarily, and not for the better. David Sedaris on what happened when he found a dirty book in the woods and passed it along to his sisters. (9 minutes)
- Act Three: Reporter Jeremy Goldstein tells the story of a man who had many books change his life, even though he'd never read them. (14 minutes)
- Act Four: Writer Meghan Daum travels to De Smet, South Dakota—where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and set most of her Little House books. What surprises her is how much it matches what she'd imagined. The people there seem to be genuinely living by the values Laura wrote about. (15 minutes)
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Previous Episode
676: Here’s Looking at You, Kid
May 24
•62m
Adults telling kids who they are, and kids wondering — are they right?
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- Prologue: Host Ira talks with comedian Gary Gulman about his transformation from high school nobody to football star. (8 minutes)
- Act One: Gary puts on a tough guy costume, but will it turn him into a tough guy? Ira continues Gary Gulman’s story. (17 minutes)
- Act Two: Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells the story of a woman who wants to know why she was taken away from her mom as a kid. A version of this story is in Eleanor’s book Stop Being Reasonable: How We Really Change Our Minds. (30 minutes)
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Next Episode
888: Not Today, Hades!
June 8
•58m
Regular people trapped inside Greek myths.
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(00:00:00) Prologue: When a mysterious, ripped-open package arrives on Pablo's doorstep, he takes it as a sign. (4 minutes)
(00:04:47) Act One: Pablo flies closer to the sun. (14 minutes)
(00:18:29) Act Two: In Greek mythology, a three-headed dog named Cerberus guards the gates to Hades, making sure only those who are actually dead get in. This story is about a real person who had that job in America — a 25-year veteran of the Social Security Administration who was asked, in a secret meeting with DOGE, to declare 6,000 living people dead. He said no. Then the list grew to 2.7 million. (24 minutes)
(00:43:15) Act Three: A mortal gets the assignment of a lifetime — to go interview an actual god who is living on earth, traveling under the name of Lionel Messi. (11 minutes)
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