KERA's Think

[2013-07-16 13:00:00] What can the rules of illusion teach us about magic in everyday life? We’ll find out his hour with Alex Stone, who put a career in journalism aside to chase his dream of becoming one of the world’s best magicians. He tells the story in the new book “Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind” (Harper, Paperback, 2013).

[2013-07-16 12:00:00] How might early predictors of success like IQ tests and SAT scores fail at measuring a child’s true potential? We’ll talk this hour with Scott Barry Kaufman, adjunct assistant professor of psychology at New York University. His new book is “Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined” (Basic Books, 2013).

[2013-07-15 13:00:00] Why do we cast some public figures as bad guys while excusing the sins of others? We’ll investigate the biases and contradictions of our culture this hour with Chuck Klosterman, who reflects on the human need to label “good” and “evil” in his new collection of essays, “I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)” (Scribner, 2013).

[2013-07-15 12:00:00] Could answers to the world’s most urgent environmental and health problems be found in mushroom-producing fungi? We’ll talk this hour with Ken Miller, who explored the experimental farm Fungi Perfecti for his piece “Mushroom Manifesto” in the July/August issue of Discover magazine.

[2013-07-11 12:00:00] From the archive – Could an understanding of the beauty and diversity of South and Southeast Asian art inform and alter our perceptions of what art means today? We spent an hour in March with Anne Bromberg, Ph.D., the Dallas Museum of Art’s Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art. The DMA had just published “The Arts of India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas at the Dallas Museum of Art” (Dallas Museum of Art, 2013).

[2013-07-10 12:00:00] From the archives: What exactly are Americans eating? We talked in February with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter Michael Moss. He explains the masterwork in chemistry and marketing behind phenomena like Lunchables in “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us” (Random House, 2013).

[2013-07-09 12:00:00] From the archives: What makes a character actor good at his or her job and what’s it like to play ordinary people in the movies? We talked with screen veteran Stephen Tobolowsky in February. His memoir is “The Dangerous Animals Club” (Simon & Schuster, 2012).

[2013-07-08 12:00:00] What can we learn about our future from the very few traditional human societies that still exist? We talked in January with acclaimed UCLA biogeographer Jared Diamond author of “The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?” (Viking, 2012).

[2013-07-03 12:00:00] From the archives – Where did the country we know and love today really come from? We’ll explore a few of the lesser-known stories of America’s early history this hour with Kenneth C. Davis, whose new book is “A Nation Rising: Untold Tales of Flawed Founders, Fallen Heroes, and Forgotten Fighters from America’s Hidden History” (Harper, 2010).

[2013-07-02 12:00:00] From the archives – Along with its revolutionary political independence, how did the United States of America gain cultural and social differentiation from its former colonial master Great Britain? We talked in 2011 with Yale University Historian Kariann Akemi Yokota, author of “Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation” (Oxford University Press USA, 2011).

[2013-07-01 12:00:00] Where and when did American ambition for empire fade from possibility? We’ll look back at our 2013 conversation with journalist and historian Gregg Jones, author of “Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America’s Imperial Dream” (NAL, 2012).

[2013-06-27 13:00:00] Could America see energy independence within our lifetimes? We’ll talk about the possibilities in oil and gas production this hour with energy expert Michael Levi, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. His new book is “The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle For America’s Future (Oxford 2013.)”

[2013-06-27 12:00:00] What can we learn by studying the difficult topography, cultural tension, and the darker side of wealth in the American Southwest? We’ll explore this hour with journalist and poet Rubén Martínez. His new book is “Desert America: A Journey Through Our Most Divided Landscape” (Picador, 2013).

[2013-06-26 13:00:00] Can the beginning of tabloid culture be traced to a high-profile murder in 1799 and two rivals’ quest to solve it? We’ll talk this hour with Paul Collins, assistant professor of English at Portland State University. His new book is “Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America’s First Sensational Murder Mystery” (Crown, 2013).

[2013-06-26 12:00:00] How might Arabs’ views on Americans affect both groups in the years to come? We’ll find out this hour with Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and author of “The World Through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East” (Basic Books, 2013).