Hey, it's M. here's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Why do we do the things we do?

When you get up in the morning, drink a glass of water, get dress, go to work, all of these

steps are for what exactly? I don't mean to hit you with an existential crisis on a Friday,

but January is usually the time for that

kind of thing, eh? And there are two books out now that take different approaches to helping you

take stock of your life. In a bit, if you're feeling like your living life on autopilot, a new book

argues that humor is the perfect remedy. But first, let's hear about some people who are really going for it,

trying to live their lives to the fullest, even if the people around them are a bit skeptical.

Mark Medley's book, Live to See the Day, is a collection of profiles of people trying to achieve

a goal that likely won't happen. I'm not talking about going scuba diving or building a car or something.

I'm talking about people trying to find creatures that may or may not exist.

NPR's A. Martinez talks to Medley about some of these people and what we, people who aren't

trying to make contact with aliens or whatever, can learn from them. That's coming up.

On the TED Radio Hour, if you won the lottery, your life would be amazing, right?

So I think everyone's got a vision of what it's like to win the lottery in their head when they're playing.

The reality, of course, is very different.

Ideas about making the most of what you've got and finding agency.

Listen to the TED Radio Hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

As a new year kicks off, some may be busy checking off a list of goals and dreams they hope to accomplish in 2026.

Now, our next guest has traveled the world learning about people who have spent their

lives chasing a reward that may never come, at least not in their lifetime. There's the chase for a

pink-headed duck, largely known to have gone extinct in South Asia. There's a team in the United

...