Free Forum with Terrence McNally

Aired: 03/09/14Last summer author and scholar of religions REZA ASLAN came out with a book that utilized a great deal of historical research to give readers a sense of the man, Jesus of Nazareth. ASLAN had taken on a similar task seven years earlier with his first book NO GOD BUT GOD, in which he tells the story of Mohammed. But the problem for some folks this time around is that Reza Aslan is a Muslim. In an interview that has been viewed at least a million and a half times on YouTube, Lauren Green of Fox News demanded to know, "You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?" - and that interview sent Aslan's book, ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, to the top of best-seller lists for weeks.REZA ASLAN has been a guest on Free Forum a number of times in the past, and I'm happy to welcome him back again, to talk a bit about the reaction, but much more about the content and meaning of his book. He examines Jesus through the lens of the time and place in which he lived, first-century Palestine, and labels him in the book's title, a zealot - a radical political opponent of the Roman occupation. Because Jesus was crucified without overthrowing Roman rule, he is one of many failed messiahs. But why did this particular failed messiah become the starting point of one of the world's great religions, wielding enormous influence over two thousand years later among more people than even existed during his lifetime?

Aired: 2/2/14I am going to take a hiatus from this show in a few weeks, for the first time in 17 years. I need to focus on some other projects, including a book I'm writing, and won't be able to afford the time to produce and host this show probono. In anticipation of this upcoming break, I will be the guest this week and SARA DAVIDSON, best-selling author of Loose Change and Leap, whose new book, The December Project will come out in March, will be interviewing me. I've long thought it is only fair that I have to answer a few questions and this week it's going to happen.

Aired: 1/26/14As we begin a new year, let's look at where we are in the big picture. What are the most critical issues facing the US and the world? How do you see things moving in those areas? How are things getting worse or better? What should we be keeping our eyes on in the year to come? My guest this week will be HAZEL HENDERSON, who's been asking these sorts of questions for at least the last 40 years. We're going to approach this exploration globally as well as nationally, with a long-term view, and with an eye toward relationships and systems that we often miss in our day-to-day focus on the latest news and events. If this sounds familiar, it's because this was my plan a few weeks ago when Hazel was my guest. But we ended up spending so much time on her journey - a remarkable journey it is, a mom in New York who'd never been to college got upset about pollution threatening her young child, became an activist, and developed into a global expert on economics and sustainability.

Aired: 01/19/14I don't have to tell you how many messages, interruptions and distractions you are inundated with every day. Add to that the stress placed on so many of us by the many roles we play everyday - parent, partner, friend, worker, citizen. The very critical skill or quality of attention is under siege. DANIEL GOLEMAN, the psychologist, journalist, and best-selling author who wrote the book on Emotional Intelligence, has a new book, Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. In it, he delves into new, surprising findings from neuroscience labs and explains why attention is a little-noticed mental asset that makes a huge difference in how well we find our way in our personal lives, our careers, and in virtually everything we do. Like a muscle, use attention poorly and it withers; work it in the right way and it strengthens. But Goleman doesn't only consider the personal need for attention but also the way evolution has presented humans a challenge when it comes to dealing with long term threats like climate change.

Aired: 1/13/14According to NOREENA HERTZ, we to make up to 10,000 trivial decisions every single day, 227 just about food. Caffeinated or decaf? Small, medium, large or extra large? Colombian, Ecuadorian, Ethiopian? Hazelnut, vanilla or unflavored? Cream or milk? Sugar or sweetener? If you make the wrong choice when it comes to your coffee, it doesn't matter very much. But make the wrong choice when it comes to your finances, your health, or work, and you could end up sicker, poorer, or without a job.NOREENA has been a guest on this show on her earlier books. But they were both about global economics. Her new book, Eyes Wide Open is sub-titled How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World, and you can bet I'm going to ask Noreena how she decided on such a departure. In any case, I think this is a welcome subject as we face the choices of a new year, and I hope you'll decide to tune in.

Aired: 12/29/13My guest this week is RICK HANSON, neuropsychologist, and author of the best-seller BUDDHA'S BRAIN. We're going to talk about his latest book, HARDWIRING HAPPINESS, where he brings together mindfulness and neuroscience and offers pro-active practices to actually shift the brain's neural structure - the hardwiring - toward calm, contentment, and confidence.This time of year can be challenging for people. Holidays bring us in contact with family, which for many carries a charge. We're all asked to be more social than usual. We need a story to tell. And it feels natural to take stock and self assess at the end and beginning of a calendar year. We can be hard on ourselves.Rick Hanson and I are going to talk about how you can use new lessons science is learning about the brain to overcome it's -- so far evolutionarily successful -- negativity bias - the brain's tendency to hardwire negative and threatening experiences more easily, more quickly than positive ones. It's important that you avoid predators. And the ones who didn't had fewer children.

Aired: 12/22/13As we approach the end of another year, let's step back and look at where we are in the big picture. What do you think are the most critical issues facing the US and the world? How do you see things moving in those areas? How are things getting worse or better? What should we be keeping our eyes on in the year to come? My guest for this conversation will be HAZEL HENDERSON, a woman who's been asking those sorts of questions for at least the last 40 years. We're going to approach this exploration globally as well as nationally, with a long term view, and with an eye toward relationships and systems that we often miss in our day to day focus on the latest news and events.I hope we can shed some light on the most promising possibilities for solving problems, as well as on what's happening under the radar -- for good or ill -- that deserves more of our attention.

Aired: 12/8/13What do you think are the biggest solvable problems facing humanity? Justice and inequality? Violence and war? Climate change and pollution? Today we're going to focus on one that I believe underlies all of those: Population. The last book from today's guest, ALAN WEISMAN, was thought-provoking, award-winning, and best-selling. THE WORLD WITHOUT US, which was made into a powerful documentary, imagined what would happen to planet earth if humans disappeared. Our massive infrastructure would collapse and vanish without human presence, and nature would swiftly begin to heal without our daily pressures. But, Weisman, would rather Imagine a successful world with us, and that led to his newest book, COUNTDOWN: OUR LAST, BEST HOPE FOR A FUTURE ON EARTH. For this one, he traveled to 21 countries asking politicians, scientists, family planning specialists, doctors, and religious leaders, crucial questions about how we can successfully deal with the size of human population.

Aired: 12/1/13What do you know about hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" of natural gas?Probably depends on who you're listening to. The fossil fuel industry tells you it's the biggest energy development of the century, which promises America energy independence for the US and a huge boost to our economy with benefits to local economies. Many of the communities themselves tell a different story - of pollution on the one hand and social disruption on the other.For the spoils of success, I recommend an article in March 2013 Harpers, Where Broken Hearts Stand, Grief and Recovery on the Badlands of North Dakota by Richard Manning. RICHARD HEINBERG has a new book, SNAKE OIL: How Fracking's Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future, looks at fracking from both economic and environmental perspectives, informed by the most thorough analysis of shale gas and oil drilling data ever undertaken.Join us as I try to find out, Is fracking the miracle cure-all to our energy ills, or a costly distraction from the necessary work of reducing our fossil fuel dependence?

Aired: 11/24/13After its recent IPO, Twitter is valued at nearly $25Billion. Now what is Twitter? Millions of tweets created and shared by users plus some ads. But how many users get a piece of that $25Billion? Well, none.Where would Facebook be without Friends? What would Twitter, Amazon, Yelp, and any network whose value is based on our data, be without us - sharing photos and feelings, making purchases, registering opinions. More than programming or advertising, TV has always been about selling our eyeballs. Likewise, today's online giants are selling our visits, our clicks, our shares. JARON LANIER, in his new book, WHO OWNS THE FUTURE?, writes: "At the height of its power, Kodak employed more than 140,000 people and was worth $28 billion. They even invented the first digital camera. Today Kodak is bankrupt, and the new face of digital photography is Instagram. When Instagram was sold to Facebook for a billion dollars in 2012, it employed only 13 people. Where did all those jobs disappear? And what happened to the wealth that all those middle-class jobs created?"He believes the emerging business model in which companies with relatively few employees profit off the participation of all of us, could doom any hope of a rebirth of the middle class. Lanier wants to solve a problem not many are talking about, and he envisions a radical solution -- "a highly humanistic economy - one that will reward people for the valuable information they share with networks and the companies that control and profit from them.