Mike Royko discusses his book "Up Against It" which is a collection of early columns from the Chicago Daily News. The topic in his columns varies from machine politicians and gangsters to professional athletes, from well-heeled Chicagoans to down-and-out hoodlums.

Laurie Anderson discusses her album "Big Science" and talks about he creative process. Talks briefly about her transition from plastic arts to performance artist and her perspective of the world after World War II and her collection of short stories and songs called "United States"

In this interview with Random House President and CEO Bob Bernstein and James Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of the new Random House Encyclopedia, the three gentlemen discuss the content and revolutionary layout of the single-volume 3,000 page tome, which was divided into 2 sections: the Colorpedia and the Alphapedia. Bernstein and Mitchell demonstrate how to use the encyclopedia and point out the explanatory diagrams throughout, which served a two-fold purpose: to catch the reader's attention, and then provide further information.

H.E.F Donahue discusses his book "The Higher Animals". Donahue goes into depth about the characters in his book and touches on the subjects of evolution, history, literature, and his life. H.E.F. Donahue quotes Charles Darwin.