This essay from the original This I Believe series makes good radio on a couple of levels: as a valuable audio artifact and as a timeless snack for thought. You can't have too much crackling, 50-year-old tape on the radio. (OK, maybe you could overdo the archive thing, but it would take some doing.) And this is Aldous Huxley, one of the leading intellectuals of the past century, in his own voice. His reading is ponderous and his writing a bit dense, but Huxley's 1951 statement is provocative and certainly relevant today. My favorite lines: "Men have put forth enormous efforts to make their world a better place to live in. But except in regard to gadgets, plumbing, and hygiene, their success has been pathetically small." In the end, this public intellectual argues for a spiritual path to a better human existence.

So much of what's on the radio--yes, even public radio--is rightly forgotten as soon as the sound waves pass away. Here's five minutes of radio worth chewing on.