Just how important is food to the stability of a society? We’ll examine the Romans and Mayans, modern challenges in the United States and China and more this hour with agricultural expert Evan D. G. Fraser, co-author of the new book “Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations” (Free Press, 2010).
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Do certain psychiatric conditions commonly referred to as disorders go hand-in-hand with outstanding creativity and success in other fields? Our guest this hour thinks we should consider it. We’ll talk with Thomas Armstrong author of “Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences” Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2010).
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What are environmental degradation, fish farming and commercial fishing doing to the wild fish populations in the world’s oceans? We’ll talk with Paul Greenberg, seafood and ocean authority and author of “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food” (The Penguin Press, 2010).
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How is language changing and what do we lose when a language disappears forever? We’ll find out this hour with linguist and author David Crystal. His latest work is “A Little Book of Language” (Yale, 2010).
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What does the world owe to steam? We’ll look back this hour at the marvelous invention that started the modern era with William Rosen, author of “The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention” (Random House, 2010).
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Can making things and accomplishing projects yourself change your outlook on life? We’ll spend this hour with Mark Frauenfelder, founder of the popular blog boingboing.net, editor in chief of the do-it-yourself publication Make Magazine and author of the new book “Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World” (Portfolio, 2010).
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How can we preserve the endangered historic sites in the urban areas of North Texas? We’ll talk with Jerre Tracy, Executive Director of Historic Fort Worth about the pressure to protect landmark buildings targeted by developers and which locations top the list of Fort Worth’s Most Endangered Places. What’s new in puppetry? Lake Simons, actress and puppet-maker, takes her work in far more sophisticated and poetic directions than we’ve come to expect from a marionette. Her one-woman show “Etiquette Unraveled” will have just closed at Hip Pocket Theater, and she’ll perform “Lowdown Wax” at the Cowtown Puppetry Festival Aug. 6. She’ll join us for the Art&Seek segment.
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He prospected for gold, hunted seals and wrote some of the most popular adventure novels of the early 20th Century. But what was Jack London really like? We’ll talk this hour with biographer, historian and novelist James L. Haley whose new book is “Wolf: The Lives of Jack London” (Basic Books, 2010).
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Why has it been so hard for our country to deal decisively with climate change and what will it take to get the world on a more environmentally-sound path? We’ll talk this hour with Bloomberg BusinessWeek deputy editor Eric Pooley, who spent three years researching his new book “The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth” (Hyperion, 2010).
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What is the current state of U.S. – Japan relations and how are political changes in Japan influencing that relationship? We’ll talk this hour with Hiroki Takeuchi, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Fellow of the John G. Tower Center of Political Studies at Southern Methodist University. He addresses the Japan-America Society of Dallas Fort Worth tomorrow.
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Is there any way to prove the existence of the soul? With a nod to the Texas Observer, where we first saw his story, we’ll talk with David Eagleman, Director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action at Baylor College of Medicine and author of the book “Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives” (Vintage, Paperback, 2010).
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From the Archives – Who was the man who killed Martin Luther King Jr.? We talked with acclaimed journalist and author Hampton Sides in May about his new book “Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin” (Doubleday, 2010). Sides speaks to the 6th Annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference this weekend.
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