To the Best of Our Knowledge: Family Life Decisions

In this hour, Annie Murphy Paul is a magazine journalist and author of Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives. She talks with Jim Fleming about her research into the field of fetal development. As if pregnancy wasn't scary enough!

Next, Harriet Brown had a smart, happy daughter who was stricken in adolescence by anorexia. Her book describing the family's experience of her daughter's illness is called Brave Girl Eating: A Family's Struggle with Anorexia. Brown talks with Anne Strainchamps (whom she's known for years) about her daughter's illness and treatment.

Then, Jonah Lehrer has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, and he's written two books: Proust Was a Neuroscientist and now, How We Decide. Steve Paulson talks with Lehrer about the bio-mechanics of the decision-making process. What exactly happens in the brain when you "decide" to do something?

And finally, NPR's Scott Simon has endeared himself to listeners as the longtime host of Weekend Edition. He's also a best-selling author. His latest book is Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption. Simon talks with Anne Strainchamps about why he and his wife are such fans of adoption. They've adopted two baby girls from China, and Scott tells the story of what happened when they went to pick up their second little girl. There won't be a dry eye in the house! [Broadcast Date: December 10, 2010]