Nicholas Cannariato

The show celebrates a kind of ambition — humane and independent — that’s often neglected by Hollywood. Maybe that’s why the setting is so important.

What used to be meaningfully informative programming, delivered by personable but only tangentially notable hosts, is gradually being swallowed up.

His new memoir, “Waxing On,” sees the ’80s star making peace with the role that has brought him back into circulation thanks to “Cobra Kai.”

The physicist ranges widely — from black holes to Buddhism to climate change — in his new book, “There Are Places in the World Where...