Exciting news! Starting next episode, "The New York Public Library Podcast" will be renamed "Library Talks." We'll still be featuring the same public talks recorded live at NYPL with today's top writers and thinkers—we're just updating with a new logo, name, and release date. Weekly episodes will now be released Sunday mornings to round out the weekend and inspire you for the week ahead. Stay tuned for the new changes in your feed this Sunday September 2nd!

Questions or comments? You can contact us at podcasts@nypl.org

Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist. In his new book, The Order of Time,  Rovelli asks "Why do we remember the past and not the future…What ties time to our nature as persons, to our subjectivity?" Rovelli is the head of the Quantum Gravity group at the Centre de Physique Théorique of Aix-Marseille University and has devoted his life's work to understanding what time might truly be. Author and philosopher, Jim Holt spoke with Rovelli about the past, future, and why there isn't exactly a "now."

Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad's most recent book, Two Daughters: A Father, his Daughters, and their Journey into the Syrian Jihad, is a heart-pounding thriller tracing the radicalization of two teenage girls. In 2013, the two Somali youth abandoned their family and their adopted home in Oslo to travel into Syria and become part of a jihadist movement. As soon as they disappeared, their father dedicated his existence to finding them and bringing them home. Seierstad explains the family narrative, her sources, and the ethical concerns of telling their complicated story.

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For as far back as she can remember, writer Porochista Khakpour has been sick. She was recently diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease and has written her first memoir about her illness, Sick. Khakpour sat down with one of her literary heroes Eileen Myles for a conversation about her experience with the disease and how it has affected her as a writer, activist, and lover of New York City. Khakpour says "it's a diaristic book and I wanted there to be a lot of honesty... a lot of capturing myself, not at my best but at my worst."

The best way to support this podcast is with a gift to The New York Public Library. Click here to donate.