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Why do pigs oink in English and chrjo in Russian? What does the word ma ma have to do with the word mammal? In his new book, Alphabet Juice, humorist and author Roy Blount Jr. traces the origins of everyday words and how they have changed over time.

The new novel by Camilla Gibb tells the story of what happens to a young Irish girl abandoned in Morocco when her parents are murdered. Alone in the world, her search for home and family takes her down some surprising paths.

The Director of Iraq's Museum of Antiquities talks about the looted treasures of Babylon, and the few that have made their way home.

An infant is nearly twice as likely to die in the U.S. than in a peer nation, and that rate only gets worse through to the 30s.

On a typical day, about eight million people type "back pain," "migraine," or some other medical symptom into a search engine. Increasingly, the Web is the first stop for health-related information. Guests discuss how the Internet has changed doctor-patient dynamics.

Friday morning in Pakistan, a detention order was imposed on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. By the end of the day, it was lifted. The United States expressed concern about her detention and urged Pakistani authorities "to quickly return to constitutional order and democratic norms."

One of the last novelty-item factories in the country, the S.S. Adams Company in Neptune, New Jersey, manufactures joy buzzers, whoopee cushions, and cans of jumping snakes. Mark Newgarden, author of Cheap Laffs: The Art of the Novelty Item, and NPR's Petra Mayer take a tour.

Dorothy Height, a longtime civil rights leader, talks to NPR's Juan Williams about her new memoir. Height also recounts her experiences as one of the leading figures in the civil rights movement.

Amitav Ghosh's epic novel tells the stories of a disparate group of seafarers aboard a former slave ship that has been retrofitted for the opium trade and its human cargo.

A baboon with "an unsettling mastery of human speech" is the chief protagonist in Mr. Thundermug, the first book by author Cornelius Medvei. The idea for a story about a talking baboon sprang from a dream that one of Medvei's friends described to him.

Last spring in western Iraq, Cpl. Jason Dunham made an instant decision that he had to know would be fatal. Throwing his helmet over a grenade, he saved the lives of others in his Marine unit.

Historian John Hope Franklin has spent much of his life — 90 years, so far — investigating the legacy of slavery in America. Now he has investigated his own life through the biography Mirror to America.

Author Christine Rosen talks about My Fundamentalist Education, her humorous and affectionate memoir of growing up in the 1980s in a fundamentalist household.

Wynton Marsalis puts down his horn and picks up his pen for his latest project: Jazz ABZ. In the book, the jazz trumpeter shares his deep knowledge of jazz in all its forms with children.

Headed to an annual family gathering? Wish you didn't have to deal with your family? Justin Racz and Alec Brownstein, authors of 50 Relatives Worse Than Yours, identify characters you might find gathered around the punch bowl.

As we reach the end of the year, U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser joins host Melissa Block to read a reflection — in prose — on welcoming in a new year, from his book Local Wonders.

The life of David Sedaris took an unexpected, and not entirely unwelcome, turn when his "Santaland Diaries" were first broadcast on Morning Edition in 1992. We reprise his story of holiday cheer.

The authors of a new book, Hungry Planet, set out to see how families in 24 regions feed themselves each week. They wanted to see how globalization, migration and other factors affected the diets of communities around the world.

While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat, a new illustrated children's book, captures the frustration of a little girl who just wants her mother to get off the phone.

Love it or loathe it, domestic work is a common experience and it's celebrated in 'Sweeping Beauty — Contemporary Women Poets Do Housework.' The punch of divorce, the slam of wars at the dinner table, the shroud of a bed sheet; the poems of are peppered with harsh realities.

A new book explores Myanmar's people and brutal military junta by retracing George Orwell's path through Burma, where he lived as a young man in the 1920s.

The first lady of southern cooking, Edna Lewis, was laid to rest this morning in Unionville, Va., at the age of 89. Food writer John T. Edge helps Debbie Elliott remember a woman who helped change the image of southern food.

Students at Harvard University are flocking to a new class that they hope may provide hints to the secret to happiness. Psychology 1504, or "positive psychology," has become the most popular course on campus. It focuses on what makes people happy, rather than just their pathologies.

Who's Alan Smithee and why has he made so many movies? When is a martini not a martini? Camera operator and film industry veteran Dave Knox explains these terms and more. Knox is the author of an insider's guide to film slang, Strike the Baby and Kill the Blonde.

Who needs spinach? There are plenty of other interesting, tasty and healthful greens for your dinner table. Chef Patrick O'Connell offers up some spinach alternatives. He is the executive chef at the award-winning Inn at Little Washington in Virginia.