Allan Gregg In Conversation (audio)

The publisher, political activist and author argues we are no longer the people we think we are. He has combed world statistics to see how Canada really measures up and has published his important, astonishing, and truly appalling findings in The Truth about Canada.

With turmoil in Tibet as China prepares to host the Olympic games, the world's focus is on Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Journalist Pico Iyer has known him personally for more than thirty years and now he's written a book about him called The Open Road: the Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

What makes us curse and what does it say about us? Steven Pinker explores this and other linguistic mysteries in his new book. Pinker is a world-renowned cognitive scientist at Harvard University. His book is called The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature.

China in the early 1970's -- it's the height of the Cultural Revolution. Journalist Jan Wong, then a student and a Maoist, travels from Canada to study at Beijing University. Her book about that time is called "Beijing Confidential: A Tale of Comrades Lost and Found".

While global warming grabs the headlines, there's another environmental disaster unfolding -- the world is running out of fresh water. Political activist Maude Barlow addresses these and other issues in her new book "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water".

Margaret Atwood is one of Canada's leading activists on a wide range of environmental and cultural issues. Atwood delivered this year's Massey Lectures, which have been collected in a new book called Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.

To some he's a visionary who wants to reform Christianity. To others he's a heretic, out to destroy the Church. John Spong's latest book is called "Jesus for the Non-Religious".

Nine-eleven. the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina. According to Naomi Klein, these and other crises have been exploited by neo-conservatives to impose radical free-market policies on unwitting citizens. Her provocative new book is called "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism".

Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien sits down with Allan Gregg for a wide-ranging interview. They discuss Chretien's new memoir, "My Years as Prime Minister", his views on the state of politics in Canada and his recent heart surgery.

Norman Doidge is a psychiatrist and medical researcher. In his new book he explores the remarkable powers of the brain to regenerate itself. It's called "The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science".

In a new biography, Walter Isaacson argues that Albert Einstein's brilliance stemmed from his imagination and rebellious personality. His book is based on Einstein's newly released personal letters. It's called "Einstein: His Life and Universe".

In a new book, journalist and historian Gwynne Dyer has some surprising predictions about what will likely happen in the Middle East after the Americans leave. It's called "The Mess They Made: The Middle East After Iraq".

He's a self-made billionaire and one of Canada's greatest philanthropists - Seymour Schulich. Now, at the age of sixty-seven, he distills a lifetime of experience in his new book. It's called "Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons".

He's been called the world's most famous atheist - Richard Dawkins. The evolutionary biologist has touched off a storm of controversy with his bestseller "The God Delusion". In it he argues that a belief in God is irrational and religion is divisive and dangerous.

Veteran political writer Richard Gwyn has written the first in a two-volume biography on Canada's first Prime Minister called "John A: The Man Who Made Us".

It's part of our national identity - how we define ourselves - we're Canadians, not Americans. Journalist Andrew Cohen argues we're not as different as many of us like to think in his new book "The Unfinished Canadian: The People We Are".

Nixon is the subject of a new biography by Lord Black. The former media baron, now in the middle of his own legal battle, has just published a hefty tome about the embattled former president. It is called "The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon".

He's Canada's latest literary sensation. Vincent Lam won this year's prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize for his collection of short stories about young medical students. It's called "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures".

"Freakonomics" -- the runaway bestseller comes up with some surprising conclusions about everything from the crime rate to dealing with real estate agents to raising successful kids. Its author, Steven Levitt, is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

It's the ultimate question: what happens when we die? Is there life after death? Deepak Chopra is a spiritual guru to millions. In his new book, he builds his case for the afterlife. The book is called "Life After Death: The Burden of Proof".