We use cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the use of such cookies. For more info, see our privacy policy.
Skip to main content

Hi. We love you. Be our Life Partner.

Support the show to get ad-free listening, bonus content, and our new Greatest Hits Archive.

Learn more
This American Life Partners logo
00:00
00:00
  • Transcript
  • Share
This American Life
  • Life Partners
  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Follow Us
  • Life Partners
448
October 7, 2011

Adventure!

Sometimes you choose the adventure and sometimes the adventure chooses you. This week, stories that pinpoint when people's boring old lives turn into something wildly unfamiliar. Including a story of one young man's time served in a Chinese prison, and a handful of adventure stories from some of our favorite writers.

  • Download
    Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
  • Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Subscribe
  • Transcript

Prologue

We sent a reporter named Dan Grech to the Hundred Year Starship Public Symposium, which aims to tackle the technological problems related to interstellar space travel. And as host Ira Glass explains, Dan found this gathering to be way more adventurous than your average scientific conference. (6 1/2 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act One

Chinese Checkmate

Some adventures you seek out on purpose, and others hunt you down. Producer Alex Blumberg tells this story, about the experience a guy had in China...which started out as first kind of adventure, then quickly turned into the second kind. Alex is one of the creators of Planet Money. (23 minutes)

By

Alex Blumberg

Song:

“Wake Up America” by Gianluca Zanna
Act Two

Oh the Places We'll Go

Any adventure show would be incomplete without some swashbuckling, dinosaur-chasing, time-traveling madness. So we asked a few of our favorite writers to offer up short stories. Dave Eggers, Jeanne Darst, Wendy McClure, Fiona Maazel and Neil Gaiman answered the call. The first four stories are fiction. Neil's is autobiographical. Wendy's story is read by Cristin Milioti. Fiona's is read by John Conlee. The others are read by the writers themselves. (26 minutes)

By

John Conlee
Jeanne Darst
Dave Eggers
Neil Gaiman
Fiona Maazel
Wendy McClure
Cristin Milioti

Related

If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these
548: Cops See It Differently - Part Two
Feb. 13, 2015

Act One: Inconvenience Store

Miki Meek reports on how bad things got for black residents of Miami Gardens, Florida – and why they got so bad – by telling the story of two men, a convenience store owner and one of his employees.
655: The Not-So-Great Unknown
Aug. 24, 2018

Act Three: A Fly On the Call

A man tries something he’s never done before and discovers a new passion.
384: Fall Guy
June 26, 2009

Act Two: Be Careful Who You Love

The story of a famous but not well-understood political fall guy, someone who became a scapegoat for American policies worldwide.

Staff Recommendations

View all
38
Oct. 11, 1996

Simulated Worlds

Civil War reenactments, wax museums, simulated coal mines, fake ethnic restaurants, an ersatz Medieval castle, and other re-created worlds that thrive all across America.

487
Feb. 15, 2013

Harper High School - Part One

We spent five months at a high school in Chicago where in the last year 29 current and recent students were shot.

This American Life

This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.

  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Contact
  • Life Partners
  • Serial
  • S-Town
© 1995 - 2025 This American Life Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Subscribe

  • on Spotify
  • in Apple Podcasts

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email