You’ve been hosting “Fresh Air” for 37 years. Is there an endpoint? Or do you hope to drop dead at the microphone?

No, when you put it that way. That sounds so horrible in every way.

Too graphic? I was picturing decades hence.

I still really like my work. My goal in life has always been to work less. It’s a goal I’ve constantly failed at until recently when Dave Davies joined us as a guest host.

In preparation for your interviews, you are said to read at least a book a day and to work every night except Fridays and Saturdays.

I read more than is healthy. With writers, I might have to go through two or three books in one day. I love reading. I don’t love having to read at the pace that I read at for the show.

Did you choose “Fresh Air” over having children?

First of all, I never really felt called to have children. And when I started hosting “Fresh Air,” I had a lot of plants. After a few weeks of hosting “Fresh Air,” I had no plants. I couldn’t even keep up with watering them. I know I’m missing out on very, very special things; things I will never understand, because I will never get a chance to experience them.