A sprawling conversation with R. Buckminster Fuller including his great aunt Margaret Fuller, future communication, the nature of work, human nature, and physics.

Discussing the book "An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales" (published by Knopf) with the author, neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks.

Discussing the book "Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf" (published by University of California Press) with the author, neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks. Includes passage from the book.

Margaret Mead discusses different cultures, anthropology, and society. Margaret Mead discusses topics such as immigrants, American society, poverty, and population explosion.

Joan Cook discusses her book "In Defense of Homo Sapiens" and talks about research done by other scientists working with Chimps and other primates. She explains her stance that not all humans lean towards violence and that nature, not nurture, and the environment creates aggression and violence. The conversation compares economics and Darwinism for a view of humanistic economics.

Dr. Alan Solem, a malacologist, and Dr. John Engle, a bryologist, from the Field Museum discuss a research trip they plan to take to Australia. The two doctors also discuss climate and ecology in the Americas and in Australia. Dr. Solem will be researching land snails and Dr. Engel moss and liverworts.

Discussing the book "Margaret Mead and Samoa the making and unmaking of an anthropological myth" with the author Derek Freeman.

Discussing the book "The legacy of Malthus" with the author Allen Chase.