NPR's Book of the Day

In November of 2019, a young man leaped into the Thames River from a London apartment building and died. After 19-year-old Zac Brettler’s death, his parents learned their son had adopted a false identity as the son of a Russian oligarch. The mystery surrounding Brettler’s identity is the subject of Patrick Radden Keefe’s new book London Falling. In today’s episode, the author joins NPR’s Scott Simon for a conversation about Brettler’s life in London among a crowd that worshipped wealth, the teen’s talent for accents, voices, and stories, and how Brettler got mixed up in a mutual con with an older businessman named Akbar Shamji.

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Intergenerational relationships take center stage in two new children’s books. First, in The One About the Blackbird, a little boy learns to play guitar from his grandfather and they form a deep bond over music. In today’s episode, author Melanie Florence and illustrator Matt James join NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe to discuss their collaboration and shared love of The Beatles. Then, And They Walk On deals with a heavy topic: Where do our loved ones go after they die? Author Kevin Maillard and illustrator Rafael López spoke with Rascoe about “walking on” and incorporating Seminole culture in their story.

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Marine Corps colonel Drew Cukor says AI will completely change the way the United States fights wars – and maybe already has. The new book Project Maven focuses on Cukor and the Pentagon campaign to incorporate AI into combat. In today’s episode, the book’s author Katrina Manson speaks with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly about the project's nascent stages in 2017 and how the Department of Defense might be using AI today, including in the war in Iran.

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A famous jeweler in London once became obsessed with a single goal: To produce the world’s largest golden egg. He became fixated with one-upping the famous Fabergé eggs, ultimately producing his own jeweled egg once priced at £7 million. His daughter, Serena Kutchinsky, has a new memoir about the way her father’s “corrosive ambition” led to the demise of the family’s century-old business. In today’s episode, she talks with NPR’s Don Gonyea about Kutchinsky’s Egg, an unusual first-class flight, and the rise and fall of this one-of-a-kind object.

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Writer Rachel Knox says there was a point at which she wanted to escape Florida. She moved away to New York, but eventually returned. Her new essay collection Anywhere Else works through her love-hate relationship with the state through the lens of pop culture. In today’s episode, she speaks with NPR’s Scott Simon about media representations of Florida in shows like The X-Files, and Knox’s reflections on why she once wanted to leave.

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