Think from KERA

The swift emergence of ISIS has military and security experts across the world rethinking how we wage war and fight terrorism. This hour, we’ll talk about how we got to now with Joby Warrick, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS” (Doubleday). Warrick speaks tonight to the World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Five Texas cities are among the top 15 in the nation in terms of population growth. That’s great for the tax base and a strain on natural resources. This hour, we’ll talk about how the state can best cope with the environmental impact of a growing population with David Todd, co-author of “The Texas Landscape Project: Nature and People” (Texas A&M Press).

In the run-up to the presidential election, we’re showered on an hourly basis with new poll numbers and other data. And there’s so much of it that it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. This hour, we’ll talk about how we can identify the truth with Daniel. J. Levitin, author of “A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age” (Dutton).

In the age of social media and 140-character limits, writing that can pass as prose feels like a thing of the past. This hour, we’ll talk about why a dedication to putting pen to paper is as important as ever with University of Virginia professor Mark Edmundson. He writes about the topic in “Why Write?: A Master Class on the Art of Writing and Why it Matters” (Bloomsbury).

Aaron Mak was a newspaper intern this summer sent to cover a Black Lives Matter protest in Milwaukee. As an Asian-American, he was surprised to become a target of violence – and equally surprised when his race saved him from further damage. This hour, we’ll talk with him about his experience, which he recently wrote about for Politico. And later in the hour, we’ll further examine how minority groups relate to one another with Kat Chow of NPR’s “Code Switch” podcast.

For most people aging is seen as something to be denied and resisted. Willard Spiegelman instead finds joy in growing older. This hour, we’ll talk to him about finding optimism in old age, which he writes about in his memoir, “Senior Moments: Looking Back, Looking Ahead” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

In a typical year only eight whales are found dead in the western Gulf of Alaska. In 2015, though, a staggering 45 whales were dead by the end of the year. This hour, we’ll talk about recent mass fatalities of marine wildlife due to warming seas with Craig Welch. His article, “The Blob That Cooked the Pacific,” appears in the September 2016 issue of National Geographic.

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).

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).

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).