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Ever wonder how a song gets stuck in your head? Neurologist Oliver Sacks explains this and other mind-music mysteries in his new book, Musicophilia.

Johan Grimonprez's film charts both the hopes and the tragedies of Africa's freedom movements in the shadow of the Cold War, as the Soviet Union and the U.S. jockey for influence in the "new world."

When Andy Marra came out as a transgendered woman, she got lots of support from her adoptive American parents. She wanted to move forward with hormones or surgery, but not until she found her birth family in South Korea. She shared that journey in an essay titled 'The Beautiful Daughter: How My Korean Mother Gave Me the Courage to Transition.'

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author Mia Mercado about her new book She's Nice Though, which explores why women, in particular, feel the need to perform niceness in so many situations.

Since the end of World War II, many of the world's preeminent photojournalists have become members of the international photographer's cooperative Magnum. More than 60 members of the exclusive club share their work in a new book called Magnum Stories.

When the candidate was assassinated 40 years ago, Hamill was there: He was Kennedy's friend and had helped persuade him to run for president. A journalist and author, Hamill covered the story for The Village Voice.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) says the United States needs to get out of Iraq as soon as possible. He has a withdrawal plan, which he outlines in this essay.

Commentator Lois Shea coaches youth softball in Warner, N.H. The team is made up of girls 10 and younger. Earlier in the season, Shea let the girls on the team suggest team names. They came up with things like "The Goats" "The Wiz" and "The Whales." Lois Shea has an essay in the book Mommy Wars, a collection published by Random House in March.

Tim Brookes, who occasionally contributes essays to NPR, is also a passionate and talented guitar player. He has just published Guitar: An American Life, which he describes as part history and part love song. He talks about what he learned in working on the book.

The humorist, who made his name with personal essays and other nonfiction, tells Steve Inskeep that his return to fiction kept taking him to surprising places. But the unhappy endings? Those he could have predicted.