On this week’s Bookwork, Michael Silverblatt talks to Robert Alter about his book, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary.

From the Bookwork site: “Biblical scholar Robert Alter faces a barrage of questions: What are psalms? Who wrote them? If they are prayers, why does he consider them poems? If they are poems, why are they so repetitive? If repetition is crucial to psalms, how does it go beyond the rhythms of ancient Hebrew to address God and achieve solace?”

You can listen to the interview here.

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.