Midday on WNYC

Kent Jones, director of programming for the New York Film Festival, discusses what’s in store for the festival this year. He also talks about the new book, New York Film Festival Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration that celebrates the past five decades of cinema and the New York Film Festival.

Timothy Beardson discusses the challenges that stand in the way of China’s rise to global supremacy and the inadequate policy responses to those challenges. Stumbling Giant: The Threats to China’s Future focuses on China’s situation, including an aging labor force, extreme gender disparity, social instability, environmental devastation, the absence of an effective welfare safety net, and an inflexible governance structure.

Journalist Anabel Hernandez describes how Mexico became a base for the mega-cartels of Latin America and one of the most violent places on the planet. Narcoland: The Mexican Druglords and their Godfathers takes readers to the front lines of the “war on drugs,” which has so far cost more than 60,000 lives in just six years and reveals the mind-boggling depth of corruption in Mexico’s government and business elite.

Tom Barbash talks about his new collection of short stories, Stay Up With Me, which explores the myriad ways we try to connect with one another and with the sometimes cruel world around us.

David Plante discusses his memoir, Becoming a Londoner: A Diary. This first volume spans his first 20 years in London, beginning in the mid-1960s, and pieces together an intimate portrait of a relationship and a luminous world of writers, poets, artists, and thinkers.

Legendary musician Graham Nash talks about his life, from his lower-class childhood in post-war England to his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies to his time as the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell to reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In his memoir Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life he also writes about his career as a solo musician and political activist.

Barnard College President Debora Spar discusses how American women’s lives have—and have not—changed over the past 50 years. In Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection, she draws on her own personal experience as one of the youngest female professors to be tenured at Harvard Business School and as a mother of three. She also describes that the challenges confronting women are more complex than ever, and these challenges come inherently and inevitably from being female.

The Leonard Lopate Show Book Club’s September selection is Zoë Heller’s first novel, Everything You Know. It’s a cynical dark comedy about a hack writer and accused murderer who becomes engrossed in his estranged daughter’s diaries after she commits suicide. They lead him to confront his failings as a father and in life. The New York Times called it “an acerbic, sneakily touching novel about the rehabilitation of a monster.” Do you have a question for the author—leave it as a comment!

Journalist Bill Dedman tells the story of a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune describes the battle over her $300 million inheritance.

Anya von Bremzen, a James Beard Award-winning writer, describes life in the USSR. Born in 1963, in an era of bread shortages, Anya grew up in a communal Moscow apartment where 18 families shared one kitchen. Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking is about feasts, famines, and three generations of her family, and how, in the USSR, every edible morsel was packed with emotional and political meaning.

As the weather starts to get cooler, canning and pickling season begins. Jack Bishop, editorial director of America’s Test Kitchen, walks us through the basics of pickling and how to get creative with pickles. Pickle with us! For the first month of Food Fridays, we'll be making pickles. If you're a pickling newbie, try a recipe below or the one from our video. And if you're a pro, show us what you got! Be as creative as you want. Here's how: Either way, once it's done, post a photo of your creation to Instagram and tag it #LopatePickles. Happy Pickling!

Food is measured in calories. People sometimes count calories and cut calories, and this week’s Please Explain is all about what calories are, how they’re measured, how we burn them, and if they differ from food to food. Joining us are: Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy and Professor of Public Policy at Duke University. And Russell Rising, Research Associate in the Metabolic Laboratory at the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital.

Martha Stewart gives advice on how to live the good life—from the best ways eat healthy to tips for organize your home to protecting your mental health as you age. Living the Good Long Life: A Practical Guide to Caring for Yourself and Others is a handbook for living your healthiest life after 40—with expertise from doctors and specialists on eating, exercise, wellness, and caring for others.

Seven-time Grammy award winner Gary Burton talks about his 50 years in the jazz scene. He made his first recordings at age 17, has toured and recorded with a long list of famous jazz greats, and is one of only a few openly gay musicians in jazz. His autobiography Learning to Listen is one of the most personal and insightful jazz books ever written. Gary Burton is performing at the Blue Note through Sunday, September 22. More information and tickets here.

Lasker Award-winners Richard Scheller and Blake Wilson talk about the research that earned them this coveted science prize this year. Dr. Richard Scheller is receiving an award for discoveries concerning molecular machinery and regulatory mechanism that underlie the rapid release of neurotransmitters, and  Dr. Wilson is receiving an award for the development of the modern cochlear implant, a device that allows individuals with profound deafness to hear.