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Jean Sibelius was a fascinating man. He was born the year the American Civil War ended and he died in the year of Sputnik.

Many composers over the years have tried to express in writing what the music of Mozart has meant to them—and to the world.

Clathrus columnatus, commonly known as the columnar stinkhorn, is a saprobic species of basidiomycete fungus in the family Phallaceae.

A family calls on Rudy to help identify some of the things that they found walking in the Appalachian Mountains.

Ruddy shares a quote from Richard Jeffries' novel, "The Dewy Morn."

The anhinga (Anhinga anhinga), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas.

uning the drums to specific pitches is a matter of adjusting the tension of the drumheads—tighter for higher, looser for lower. This is done with a pedal mechanism on most modern timpani, although hand screws around the rim are still used for fine adjustments.

Yesterday I spoke about picturesque titles of musical compositions, and I quoted Robert Schumann on what he called the “clumsiness” of taking those titles too literally. Schumann’s friend Franz Liszt, on the other hand, coined the term “program music,” and said that when a piece has a program, or story, the musical ideas should clearly reflect the unfolding of the story.

In his latest book, Origins of The Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan (2022, Tor), author Michael Livingston, a professor of medieval literature at The Citadel, takes a deep dive into the real-world history and mythology that inspired the world of the late Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. This series of books has sold over 100 million copies worldwide and has been adapted as a streaming television series for Prime Video, with season one released in 2021. James Oliver Rigney Jr., whose pen name was Robert Jordan, was a native of Charleston, graduated from The Citadel with a degree in physics. He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army and received multiple decorations for his service. Michael Livingston’s book is a companion to Jordan’s internationally bestselling series and it delves into the creation of his masterpiece, drawing from interviews and an unprecedented examination of his unpublished notes.Michael Livingston joins Walter Edgar to talk about The Wheel of Time universe and Robert Jordan’s life.

"I find an exquisite joy when I search deeply in the recesses of myself, and if anything original is to come from me, it can only come that way."