New books argue that far-off goals and humor can help shift daily routines
January is the month for people to take stock of their habits and routines – and two new books offer unconventional approaches to shaking up our lives. First, Mark Medley’s Live to See the Day is about the pursuit of far-fetched goals. He spoke with NPR’s A Martínez about what we can learn from no-hope political candidates, amateur creature-hunters, and dreamers. Then, comedian Chris Duffy’s Humor Me asks readers to find the funny alongside the grim. In today’s episode, he tells NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer about the inspiration for the book, which came from his experience as a teacher.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
More description
January is the month for people to take stock of their habits and routines – and two new books offer unconventional approaches to shaking up our lives. First, Mark Medley’s Live to See the Day is about the pursuit of far-fetched goals. He spoke with NPR’s A Martínez about what we can learn from no-hope political candidates, amateur creature-hunters, and dreamers. Then, comedian Chris Duffy’s Humor Me asks readers to find the funny alongside the grim. In today’s episode, he tells NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer about the inspiration for the book, which came from his experience as a teacher.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
2026-01-23
15 min
Listen elsewhere
Available Results
Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.
No generated results are available for this episode yet.
Transcript
No transcript is available for this episode yet.
Sign in to generate a transcript for review.
Sign in
Chapters
No chapters available.