Do you remember Poppa Neutrino? I suspect very few people do, but for god’s sake they should! His accomplishment(s) are definitely for the history books. In 1998, Neutrino — who changed his name from David Pearlman after a brush with death some years earlier — built a raft from trash he found on the streets of New York. Pushing off from there, Neutrino sailed across the North Atlantic on his homemade raft, and actually succeeded.

And not only that, he also invented the Neutrino Clock Offense, a nearly unstoppable football play that a former New York Jets coach called “as innovative as the forward pass”.

He’s just that kind of guy.

Now, ten years after his historic voyage, Neutrino, seventy-four, is preparing to take another, similar one across the Pacific. It is around the preparation for this voyage that Alec Wilkinson has based his book, The Happiest Man in the World: An Account of the Life of Poppa Neutrino, which serves both as a biography and an in depth explanation of Neutrino’s philosophical base, a concept called Triads. He believes that that in order for a person to be truly happy, he or she must define their three deepest desires and pursue them without end.

The fun doesn’t end there: Wilkinson appeared on NPR just yesterday. Listen to the full interview.

For those of us who have forsaken sex as a past time of carefree, bygone years, The Today Show offers you this — Prime: Adventures and Advice on Sex, Love and the Sensual Years, a tome, nay bible on the topic of sex past age 50. Dr. Pepper Schwartz has assembled this book from 3 decades of answering questions on sex, emotions and relationships, and in the process, addresses more or less everything you could think of. As The Today Show puts it, “whether you’re looking to wake-up a tired sex life, start a new relationship, explore cyber-dating, indulge in a four-hand massage, flirt with gigolos on vacation or commit to the love of your life,” this book has what you need.

A brief excerpt has been posted on The Today Show Website.

Well, maybe not you, but Daniel Smith’s father. He heard voices. Nothing quite so dramatic as say, Joan of Arc, just simple things. “Move that cup,” for instance. Smith says he led a normal life as an attorney, but for many years felt deeply ashamed by these voices, so much so that he never told anyone outside the family about them.

It was his father that led Smith to write Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination. The author sat down with Stephen Colbert, during which time he said “over the past 100 years, hearing voices has been traditionally associated with mental illness…a symptom of schizophrenia.” But it hasn’t always been like that. “Hearing voices certainly has not always been easy, but also not always thought of in terms of mental illness…[but instead] in terms of poetry, or religion.” Smith noted some famous figures throughout history that have heard voices, the most famous being Moses and his burning bush, and the most amusing being Socrates, who heard a voice warning him that the street he was traveling on was full of muddy pigs, and that he should seek out a different route.

Watch the full interview, in which Smith points out two-thirds of Americans admit to hearing voices. Colbert counters with the fact that his fans hear his voice even when the TV is off.

Nope, no Radiohead here, but we do have Tal Ben-Shahar, and he’s just about as popular…at Harvard, anyway. Ben-Shahar is a professor of positive psychology — a field he pioneered that bridges the gap between psychology and self-help — and teaches an intro class to 1,400 students per semester, or about one-fifth of the student body. Impressive, no?

For the rest of us, Ben-Shahar has recently published his lectures in the form of Happier, a book that promises to make you love the life you live. Or something. He sat down with with Diane Rehm last week and explained just how exactly he teaches happiness: “Look at happiness as both a combination of meaning and pleasure,” the good doctor says. “Many people ask me, ’so, are you happy?’ and it’s very difficult to answer because it’s a continuum. I’m certainly happier now than I am 5 years ago, I know that.” When asked why students take his class, he answered, “They truly want to be happier. They’re doing well academically, socially, but they aren’t happier…everything that society tells us is necessary to be happy, they’re doing.” Uh huh.

For more on exactly what positive psychology entails, and the history of the class at Harvard, listen to the full interview.

Has your ungrateful newborn left you with a flabby stomach and newly-minted self-esteem issues? How do those other, sexier moms do it? I’ll tell you how: Lean Mommy: Bond with Your Baby and Get Fit with the Stroller Strides(R) Program, by saviors Lisa Druxman and Martica Heane. The book is full of simple ways to incorporate fat-burning exercises into your daily routine. Great detail is paid to the changes a pregnant body undergoes, what you’re left with post-baby and what you can do to reclaim your former physique.

Poor posture? Separated abs? Lower back pain? Check out this book.

The Today Show has posted an excerpt of the book on its Website which you may read here.

Emma Forrest has noticed a phenomenon: women share secrets not just with hairdressers, but with their masseurs, Chi Gong teachers, bikini waxers and aestheticians, too. Though who can blame them, really? Those are the people she trusts to keep her aesthetically on track and looking as she feels she should. The sort of intimacy that warrants secret-sharing is inherent in the relationship from the start.

Forrest took this concept and ran with it, assembling essays on how personal grooming has effected personal relationships from notables such as Rose McGowan, Minnie Driver, Francesca Lia Block and Judy Raines. Damage Control: Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers Who Navigate Their Bodies, and The Today Show has made the introduction available on their Website. You may view it here.

Jessica Valenti realized a while back that Feminism just isn’t cool anymore and certainly does not appeal or speak to new generations of young women—most of whom have no idea who Betty Friedan was. To remedy this, she created Feministing.com, a smart-alecky Web site that encourages feminism in the younger set. Now she has a book with many of the same goals.

Full Frontal Feminism brings the movement from the 60s into the present day. And because I can’t write anything nearly so good as this, here’s the interview description from Comedy Central’s Web site: “Jessica Valenti, author of Full Frontal Feminism, thinks “feminism” shouldn’t be a dirty word. Stephen will do her one better and say it shouldn’t be a word.” Watch the interview.

Bachelor Matthew Boggs, having just endured his own parents’ divorce, was understandably jaded about the whole concept of marriage. It does seem like relationships fail a whole lot these days, so what’s the point of even bothering? Right? He/she probably doesn’t even know you exist anyway.

But wait! Boggs’ grandparents were married for 63 years, so is there hope? There must be! He and his friend and fellow bachelor Jason Miller traveled around the country, seeking tips from those rare couples married 40 or more years and have distilled them down into this: Project Everlasting: Two Bachelors Discover the Secrets to America’s Greatest Marriages.

For those couples in more dire straights or just too lazy to read (which could be why your marriage isn’t working), The Today Show has paraphrased Boggs’ and Miller’s book down into seven common sense steps. Save your marriage here.