Think airs Monday to Thursday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. Encore airings of Think can be heard Monday to Thursday nights on KERA FM beginning at 9:00 p.m. Podcasts and streamed video are available online at www.kera.org/think.

Monday, 8/13

Hour 1:  Which country will control the earth’s limited resources in the future? Our guest this hour, economist Dambisa Moyo, explores the role that China is playing in the global competition in her new book “Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What It Means for the World” (Basic Books, 2012). We’ll talk with Moyo this hour.

Hour 2:  What’s it like behind the scenes at a Cirque du Soleil performance? How do the athletes, musicians and technicians make it work night after night? Our guests this hour will bring Cirque du Soleil: KOOZA to the area next month. We’ll spend this hour with Michael G. Smith, the artistic director for KOOZA and Jason Berrent, who performs the role of “Trickster” in the production.

Tuesday, 8/14

Hour 1:  How important is your privacy and what role does the privilege of privacy play in our ever-evolving democratic society? We’ll talk this hour with Garrett Keizer, who takes an in-depth look at the issue in his new book “Privacy” (Picador, BIG IDEAS/small books, 2012).

Hour 2:  How many great and forgotten stories are hidden inside a strand of human DNA? We’ll find out this hour with science writer Sam Kean whose new book is “The Violinist’s Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code” (Little, Brown and Company, 2012).

Wednesday, 8/15

Hour 1:  With devastating drought, ever-more destructive storms, and record-breaking temperatures, there is no doubt that something is happening to our weather. But how does the weather reflect on-going climate-change and what should we expect in the future? We’ll talk this hour with Michael Lemonick, co-author of “Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas and the Weather of the Future” (Pantheon, 2012). The book is a collective production of Climate Central, a non-profit, non-partisan science and journalism organization.

Hour 2:  Can a convicted murderer be redeemed in the eyes of society and the friends and families of their victims? We’ll talk this hour with Nancy Mullane, who produces and reports stories for PRI’s This American Life, National Public Radio, and KALW in San Francisco. She tells the stories of several convicted murderers and their struggles to redefine themselves in her new book “Life After Murder: Five Men in Search of Redemption” (PublicAffairs, 2012).

Thursday, 8/16

Hour 1:  How does Columbus’ famous 15^th Century arrival in the New World continue to reverberate in our political and social disputes today? We’ll talk this hour with Charles C. Mann, whose book “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” (Vintage, 2012) has just been reissued in paperback.

Hour 2:  Do boys need special attention in today’s society? What can parents do to help ensure that boys get off to a good start on a promising future? We’ll talk this hour with attorney, author, and advocate Lisa Bloom. Her new book is “Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness, and Thug Culture” (Vantage Point, 2012).

###