Lists feel especially suited to the digital age, but humans have been creating lists for a long time.

So why are we drawn to lists?

This hour, the art and the utility of the list.

GUESTS:

• Matthew Dicks: A West Hartford elementary school teacher and the author of Twenty-One Truths About Love

• Dan Kois: Editor and writer at Slate, where he recently wrote the list “The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time”

• Ann Powers: NPR Music’s critic and correspondent

• Liam Young: Author of List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 4, 2022.