A simple chair is more than just a place to sit. From colonial rockers to the ergonomic tasks chair, where we choose to sit reflects a social history of our own tastes and attitudes. This hour, we’ll talk about the history of the chair with Witold Rybcznski, University of Pennsylvania emeritus professor of architecture. He writes about the topic in, “Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair – A Natural History” (Farrar Straus & Giroux).

Robert Hoge was born with a giant tumor in the middle of his face. Doctors removed it and were able to build him a new nose – out of one of his toes. This hour, we’ll talk with Hoge about coming to terms with his appearance, which he writes about in his memoir, “Ugly” (Viking).

The names of some presidents – Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Reagan – echo throughout history. Meanwhile, most of us would be hard pressed to say much about Fillmore, Pierce, Harding and Hoover. This hour, we’ll learn why some presidential names are carved into the bedrock of our country with Talmage Boston, author of “Cross-Examining History: A Lawyer Gets Answers From the Experts About Our Presidents” (Bright Sky Press).

Humans think of animals as many things – beasts of burden, wild and free creatures of beauty, companions, trophies and food. But what are the animals thinking? We’ll discuss non-human joy, grief, anger, love and other emotions this hour with conservationist, scientist and writer Carl Safina. His latest book, “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel,” is now out in paperback (Picador).

As the 2016 election season reaches a crescendo, you might be wondering if this year’s campaign antics are just the beginning of a wild political future for the United States. Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is wondering too. We’ll talk with him this hour about his recent piece in The Atlantic, “How American Politics Went Insane.”

For decades, college has been touted as the best path to economic success for young Americans. But according to our guest this hour, this push toward a four-year degree and a lack of vocational training has left millions of important “middle-skilled” positions – jobs that don’t require a Bachelor’s Degree – unfilled. We’ll talk with Katherine Newman, provost and professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She’s the co-author of the new book “Reskilling America: Learning to Labor in the Twenty-First Century” (Metropolitan Books).

Werner Herzog is the rare director who’s known as much for making documentaries as he is for his narrative films. This hour, we’ll talk with the prolific German filmmaker about “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo,” “Grizzly Man” – and his newest effort, “Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World.” Herzog speaks tonight at the Winspear Opera House.

The U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia is a well-known and established cornerstone of our country’s foreign policy efforts in the Middle East. Less well-known are the details of America’s arms sales to the Saudi monarchy and the war-fighting capabilities they enable. This hour, as part of a NPR’s “A Nation Engaged,” we’ll discuss those multi-billion-dollar deals and the recent U.S.-backed Saudi intervention in Yemen this hour with Andrew Cockburn. His article “Acceptable Losses” appears in the current issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Since the turn of the century, we’ve seen an alarming rise in the number of hate groups operating in America – 892 at last count. This hour, we’ll talk about why these organizations form, what they hope to accomplish and how they’re being monitored with Mark Potok of the Sothern Poverty Law Center, which recently published its Hate Map.

As scientists continue to discover technological solutions for when our natural bodies fail, future generations will be faced with new ethical challenges. This hour, we’ll talk about the how society might handle people living to be hundreds of years old – and how life-extending breakthroughs can be evenly shared – with Eve Herold, author of “Beyond Human: How Cutting-Edge Science Is Extending Our Lives” (Thomas Dunne Books).