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If you've used a GPS system — or if you happen to be using the Internet to read this — you can thank DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. For 50 years, the smallish, somewhat secretive division of the Pentagon has been mostly off-limits to reporters. Now author Michael Belfiore has profiled the agency in a new book.

British author Martin Jacques witnessed the decline of the British Empire over his lifetime. He predicts that Americans will have a similar experience as the power of the United States declines in the coming years, yielding to an ever more powerful China. He discusses his new book, When China Rules the World.

The latest film in the teen supernatural romance series Twilight opens Friday. This installment, New Moon, pits dreamy vampires against hunky werewolves in a battle for the hearts of teenage girls across America. Meanwhile, two humorists — Joe Garden and Bob Powers — have authored self-help books for new members of the vampire and werewolf communities. The authors talk with Guy Raz about the misconceptions and challenges facing the vampire and werewolf communities.

President Obama is just getting to know the Japanese premier, who took office less than three months ago. It is a period of adjustment for U.S.-Japanese relations. Obama pledges, "We will be deepening our engagement in this part of the world." His Asian trip also takes him to Singapore, China and South Korea.

President Obama is just getting to know the Japanese premier, who took office less than three months ago. It is a period of adjustment for U.S.-Japanese relations. Obama pledges, "We will be deepening our engagement in this part of the world." His Asian trip also takes him to Singapore, China and South Korea.

The West in recent years has been busy discussing how to handle China's rise. But in an odd symmetry, China has been debating how to respond to America's decline — and how much of a leadership role it wants to take on.

In American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, author Joan Biskupic examines the justice's life as the son of Italian immigrants. She also explores his conservative views from interviews with him, his critics — and his writing. "His core essence comes out not so much in the majority opinion, but in his dissents," she says.

Did you know that the word "Frisbee" is derived from Mary Frisbie, a woman who made pies in Connecticut? Or that "silhouette" originated with Etienne de Silhouette, an 18th century French finance minister? John Marciano shines light on these and many other etymological mysteries in Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words.

In the new collection Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, author Zadie Smith explores her writing process and the people who have influenced her. Smith tells NPR she doesn't write every day, though she wishes she did — and that she used writing as a way to mourn her father.

The journal,16 years in the making, in which psychoanalyst Carl Jung documented his inner life was long hidden. After a painstaking translation and reproduction, it is finally available to the public.