Constant Wonder

Hosts Marcus Smith and Tennery Taylor explore some of our favorite lost-and-found stories from previous episodes of Constant Wonder.

Join Mensun Bound as he searches the Antarctic seabed for a ship frozen in time, experiencing the wonder—and perils—that Shackleton and his crew faced as they fought to stay alive in some of the harshest conditions on Earth. Follow Mas Masumoto as he reconnects with Shizuko, a long-lost aunt with an intellectual disability. Mas learns of the heartache of separation endured when his family was sent to Japanese internment camps. He also celebrates the joys and sacrifices of the caretakers who grew to love and adjust to the mischievous and lighthearted Shizuko. Finally, search with Pico Iyer who, after a fire takes his childhood home and nearly his life, looks for peace in simplicity and silence. He finds it in an old, humble monastery in Central California, where peace is a natural consequence of years of worship.

Guests:
Mensun Bound, marine archeologist and author of “The Ship Beneath the Ice”
David “Mas” Masumoto, farmer and author of “Secret Harvests: A Hidden Story of Separation and the Resilience of a Family Farm”
Pico Iyer, journalist and author of “Aflame: Learning from Silence”

Chapters:
(0:00) The Search for Shackleton’s Ship
(13:42) The Breath of Shackleton on Your Neck: The Ship is Found
(24:16) An Unexpected Call: Learning the Lost History of an Estranged Aunt
(36:44) Throwing Coffee and a Joyful Reunion
(47:06)  ”My House Burnt Down. I Can Now See Better the Rising Moon."
(51:36) The Strength of Silence: Time Spent in a Secluded Monastery

After the death of a close friend, Erica Buist found herself consumed by anxiety about dying. In this episode of Constant Wonder, she tells host Marcus Smith how she set out to face that fear by visiting death festivals around the world, and found more celebration than mourning.

From the Day of the Dead in Mexico to a rollicking festival in Madagascar where she gets hit in the head with a corpse, Erica explores the bonds between the living and the dead. She visits a cow festival in Nepal and the mummies of Sicily, and asks why Western cultures are so somber about death, and what we can learn from the carnival atmosphere of these celebrations.

Guest: Erica Buist, journalist and author of This Party's Dead: Grief, Joy and Spilled Rum at the World's Death Festivals

Originally aired August 31, 2022

Chapters:
 (0:00) Erica Buist and death anxiety
 (8:07) Confronting death close to home
 (16:31) Day of the Dead in Mexico
 (23:14) Gai Jatra, Nepal's cow festival
 (29:33) The mummies of Sicily
 (34:08) Love after death

George Forster didn't begin life as a revolutionary. He was an 18th-century botanist whose life ended in Paris during the Reign of Terror. In this episode, historian Andrea Wulf tells host Marcus Smith about how, as a teenager, Forster sailed with Captain James Cook through the Southern Hemisphere and around Antarctica. Forster developed a transcendent love for the people he met along the way. And, as Andrea Wulf followed in his footsteps, she felt the distance of 250 years collapse on itself.

George Forster grew up helping to support his family as his father’s assistant in botany and later on as a translator. When he got the chance to travel on a voyage to the southern hemisphere, he studied the wildlife and the people he met, fascinated by everything from phosphorescence to islanders' ingenious toolmaking. On his return to Europe, he brought new ideas about social equality, developed through observations of South Pacific cultures. Ultimately, though, his political activism led to his personal ruin. But to Andrea Wulf, Forster represents hope, progress, and the power of a singular mind.

Guest: Andrea Wulf, historian and author of “The Traveler: One Man’s Quest for Humanity from the South Seas to Revolutionary Paris” andreawulf.com

Tim Kovar leads climbing tours high up in the canopy of massive trees. In this episode of Constant Wonder, he tells host Marcus Smith about how he used to fell trees as an arborist. But now, he's traded in his chainsaw for ropes and climbing saddles; so, instead of cutting trees down, he can take regular people high into old-growth canopies to experience unparalleled views of nature.  The trees have taught him to be more in tune with the natural world and with himself.

Tim Kovar has been climbing trees since he was a kid, when he pretended to be a master tree ninja. But these days, you'll find him climbing slowly and carefully, using a system of ropes and harnesses and always asking the tree for permission first. He quit cutting trees down after felling a centuries-old tree and hearing it cry out for help. Now, he finds a sacred peace up in the treetops, and helps others to discover it as well.

Guest: Tim Kovar, Master Tree Climbing Instructor treeclimbingplanet.com

Lea Korsgaard felt a tug toward the natural world and followed it, setting out to find all 64 species of butterfly in her native Denmark. What began as an impulse became a consuming quest that transformed her understanding of nature, mortality, grief, and joy. In this episode, Lea and host Marcus Smith revisit the journey: the small tortoiseshell butterfly that connected her to her mother’s story, the family members drawn into her search, and the exhilaration of finding out that maybe her quest hadn't been about butterflies at all.

Their conversation explores how learning to see the natural world can open us to realities larger than ourselves—and how encounters with nature can hold grief and joy at the same time.

Guest: Lea Korsgaard, author of "The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature’s Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life"