Think from KERA

In the 20th Century, the white working class occupied the political and economic middle in both the United States and Great Britain. This hour, we’ll talk about how many in this demographic have come to feel disenfranchised and taken up positions on the political margins with George Mason University’s Justin Gest. He’s the author of “The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Era of Immigration and Inequality” (Oxford).

Dolphins, chimpanzees and other mammals are among the smartest creatures on Earth. Deep in the ocean, though, lives another class of highly intelligent animals – cephalopods. This hour, we’ll talk about how the octopus and its close relatives were likely the first to develop a complex nervous system – and about how that evolution took place independent of land animals – with City University of New York professor Peter Godfrey-Smith. He’s the author of “Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness” (Farrar Straus and Giroux).

When a gambler steps into a casino, nearly every element of these buildings is designed to keep the player playing. This hour, we’ll talk about how this can be particularly tough on gambling addicts with John Rosengren. His story “How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts” appears in the December issue of The Atlantic magazine.

When we hide or anger from friends, family and co-workers, we set ourselves up for larger problems going forward. This hour, we’ll talk about how to deal with conflict directly with Dr. Tim Murphy, co-author of “Overcoming Passive-Aggression: How to Stop Hidden Anger from Spoiling Your Relationships, Career, and Happiness” (Da Capo).

The ability to multitask is a virtue in our plugged-in society. That’s not how our brains are built to function, though. This hour, we’ll talk about strategies for working on one task at a time – and about how we can block out the interference that keeps us from getting things done – with Adam Gazzaley, director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at UC-San Francisco. He writes about the topic in “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World” (MIT Press).

This month, shoppers across the country are hitting stores and online retailers in search of holiday deals. This hour, we’ll get practical advice for stretching our dollars from David Pogue. His newest book is called “Pogue’s Basics: Money – Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You)” (Flatiron Books).

Woodrow Wilson held the first presidential press conference in the White House in 1913. This hour, we’ll talk about how every administration since then has used these interactions as opportunities to craft the messages they want the American public to hear with Rutgers University presidential historian David Greenberg. He writes about the topic in “Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency” (W.W. Norton and Co.).

When a person suffers a severe head injury, finding signs of brain activity is a challenge. This hour, we’ll talk about how doctors search for brain function – and about the moral imperative to keep looking – with Dr. Nicholas D. Schiff and Dr. Joseph J Fins of Weill Cornell Medicine. Their story “In Search of Hidden Minds” appears in the current issue of Scientific American Mind.

We all have co-workers who sometimes make our jobs difficult. This hour, we’ll talk about how to navigate those office mates who complain, undermine and even bully us with Amy Cooper Hakim, author of “Working with Difficult People: Handling the Ten Types of Problem People Without Losing Your Mind” (TarcherPerigee).

This hour, we’ll talk with National Endowment for the Arts chair Jane Chu about how her organization distributes its funding and about the intersection of politics and the arts.