The John Batchelor Show

Friday 15 April 2022

Air Date: 
April 15, 2022

CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR
 

FIRST HOUR

9-915    1/4: The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence, by Marilyn Brookwood  @MarilynBrookwo1    @wwnorton.  Hardcover – July 27, 2021
https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Davenport-Depression-Childrens-Intelligence/dp/1631494686

The fascinating―and eerily timely―tale of the forgotten, Depression-era psychologists who launched the modern science of childhood development.

“Doomed from birth” was how the psychologist Harold Skeels described two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934. Their IQ scores, added together, totaled just 81. Following prevailing eugenic beliefs of the times, Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak assumed that the girls had inherited their parents’ low intelligence and were therefore unfit for adoption. The girls were sent to an institution for the “feebleminded” to be cared for by “moron” women. To Skeels and Skodak’s astonishment, under the women’s care, the children’s IQ scores became normal. 

Now considered one of the most important scientific findings of the twentieth century, the discovery that environment shapes children’s intelligence was also one of the most fiercely contested―and its origin story has never been told. In The Orphans of Davenport, the psychologist and esteemed historian Marilyn Brookwood chronicles how a band of young psychologists in 1930s Iowa shattered the nature-versus-nurture debate and overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development.
 
 

915-930  
2/4: The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence, by Marilyn Brookwood  @MarilynBrookwo1    @wwnorton.  Hardcover – July 27, 2021
https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Davenport-Depression-Childrens-Intelligence/dp/1631494686

The fascinating―and eerily timely―tale of the forgotten, Depression-era psychologists who launched the modern science of childhood development.

“Doomed from birth” was how the psychologist Harold Skeels described two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934. Their IQ scores, added together, totaled just 81. Following prevailing eugenic beliefs of the times, Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak assumed that the girls had inherited their parents’ low intelligence and were therefore unfit for adoption. The girls were sent to an institution for the “feebleminded” to be cared for by “moron” women. To Skeels and Skodak’s astonishment, under the women’s care, the children’s IQ scores became normal. 

Now considered one of the most important scientific findings of the twentieth century, the discovery that environment shapes children’s intelligence was also one of the most fiercely contested―and its origin story has never been told. In The Orphans of Davenport, the psychologist and esteemed historian Marilyn Brookwood chronicles how a band of young psychologists in 1930s Iowa shattered the nature-versus-nurture debate and overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development.
 
 

930-945  
3/4: The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence, by Marilyn Brookwood  @MarilynBrookwo1    @wwnorton.  Hardcover – July 27, 2021
https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Davenport-Depression-Childrens-Intelligence/dp/1631494686

The fascinating―and eerily timely―tale of the forgotten, Depression-era psychologists who launched the modern science of childhood development.

“Doomed from birth” was how the psychologist Harold Skeels described two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934. Their IQ scores, added together, totaled just 81. Following prevailing eugenic beliefs of the times, Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak assumed that the girls had inherited their parents’ low intelligence and were therefore unfit for adoption. The girls were sent to an institution for the “feebleminded” to be cared for by “moron” women. To Skeels and Skodak’s astonishment, under the women’s care, the children’s IQ scores became normal. 

Now considered one of the most important scientific findings of the twentieth century, the discovery that environment shapes children’s intelligence was also one of the most fiercely contested―and its origin story has never been told. In The Orphans of Davenport, the psychologist and esteemed historian Marilyn Brookwood chronicles how a band of young psychologists in 1930s Iowa shattered the nature-versus-nurture debate and overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development.
 
945-1000   
4/4: The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence, by Marilyn Brookwood  @MarilynBrookwo1    @wwnorton.  Hardcover – July 27, 2021
https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Davenport-Depression-Childrens-Intelligence/dp/1631494686

The fascinating―and eerily timely―tale of the forgotten, Depression-era psychologists who launched the modern science of childhood development.

“Doomed from birth” was how the psychologist Harold Skeels described two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934. Their IQ scores, added together, totaled just 81. Following prevailing eugenic beliefs of the times, Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak assumed that the girls had inherited their parents’ low intelligence and were therefore unfit for adoption. The girls were sent to an institution for the “feebleminded” to be cared for by “moron” women. To Skeels and Skodak’s astonishment, under the women’s care, the children’s IQ scores became normal. 

Now considered one of the most important scientific findings of the twentieth century, the discovery that environment shapes children’s intelligence was also one of the most fiercely contested―and its origin story has never been told. In The Orphans of Davenport, the psychologist and esteemed historian Marilyn Brookwood chronicles how a band of young psychologists in 1930s Iowa shattered the nature-versus-nurture debate and overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development.
 

SECOND HOUR

10-1015   
1/4  A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without Humans, by Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff  Hardcover – October 26, 2021   

https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-World-Imagining-without-Humans/dp/0691196184

What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive―and possibly even thrive―and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now.

Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff―two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs―explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own―and could do so in a world without us.

 

1015-1030  
2/4  A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without Humans, by Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff  Hardcover – October 26, 2021   

https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-World-Imagining-without-Humans/dp/0691196184

What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive―and possibly even thrive―and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now.

Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff―two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs―explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own―and could do so in a world without us. 
 
 

1030-1045 
 3/4  A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without Humans, by Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff  Hardcover – October 26, 2021   

https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-World-Imagining-without-Humans/dp/0691196184

What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive―and possibly even thrive―and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now.

Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff―two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs―explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own―and could do so in a world without us.
 
 
 
 1045-1100  
4/4  A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without Humans, by Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff  Hardcover – October 26, 2021   

https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-World-Imagining-without-Humans/dp/0691196184

What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive―and possibly even thrive―and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now.

Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff―two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs―explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own―and could do so in a world without us. 
 

THIRD HOUR

1100-1115  
1/4: Révolution Française, by Sophie Pedder.  @PedderSophie 

https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Française-Emmanuel-Macron-reinvent/dp/1472948602

The extraordinary story of how an outsider candidate—an unknown technocrat and economics minister on the fringes of French politics—made his way to the Élysée palace, with expert analysis of his first year in office.

Two years after Emmanuel Macron came from nowhere to seize the French presidency, Sophie Pedder, The Economist's Paris bureau chief, tells the story of his remarkable rise and time in office so far. In this paperback edition, published with a new foreword by the author, Pedder reflects on Macron's troubles and triumphs: his dwindling popularity: the 'gilets jaunes' protests and resulting civil unrest: his efforts to transform France and lead the global fight against climate change: the Benalla affair; his erratic relationships with Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Theresa May, and the future of the European project. 

On the eve of important European elections, and with nationalist and populist forces rising across the continent, she considers if Macron can hold the centre ground and defend the multilateral liberal order against the axis of such figures as Italy's Matteo Salvini and Hungary's Viktor Orbán. Pedder also analyses the domestic situation in France, the evolution of En Marche, and the fallout from Macron's controversial reforms.

Meticulously researched and written in Pedder's gripping and immensely readable style, this is the essential, authoritative account for anyone wishing to understand Macron and the future of France in the world.
 
 

1115-1130   
2/4: Révolution Française, by Sophie Pedder.  @PedderSophie 

https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Française-Emmanuel-Macron-reinvent/dp/1472948602

The extraordinary story of how an outsider candidate—an unknown technocrat and economics minister on the fringes of French politics—made his way to the Élysée palace, with expert analysis of his first year in office.

Two years after Emmanuel Macron came from nowhere to seize the French presidency, Sophie Pedder, The Economist's Paris bureau chief, tells the story of his remarkable rise and time in office so far. In this paperback edition, published with a new foreword by the author, Pedder reflects on Macron's troubles and triumphs: his dwindling popularity: the 'gilets jaunes' protests and resulting civil unrest: his efforts to transform France and lead the global fight against climate change: the Benalla affair; his erratic relationships with Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Theresa May, and the future of the European project. 

On the eve of important European elections, and with nationalist and populist forces rising across the continent, she considers if Macron can hold the centre ground and defend the multilateral liberal order against the axis of such figures as Italy's Matteo Salvini and Hungary's Viktor Orbán. Pedder also analyses the domestic situation in France, the evolution of En Marche, and the fallout from Macron's controversial reforms.

Meticulously researched and written in Pedder's gripping and immensely readable style, this is the essential, authoritative account for anyone wishing to understand Macron and the future of France in the world.
 
 

1130-1145    
3/4: Révolution Française, by Sophie Pedder.  @PedderSophie 
https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Française-Emmanuel-Macron-reinvent/dp/1472948602

The extraordinary story of how an outsider candidate—an unknown technocrat and economics minister on the fringes of French politics—made his way to the Élysée palace, with expert analysis of his first year in office.

Two years after Emmanuel Macron came from nowhere to seize the French presidency, Sophie Pedder, The Economist's Paris bureau chief, tells the story of his remarkable rise and time in office so far. In this paperback edition, published with a new foreword by the author, Pedder reflects on Macron's troubles and triumphs: his dwindling popularity: the 'gilets jaunes' protests and resulting civil unrest: his efforts to transform France and lead the global fight against climate change: the Benalla affair; his erratic relationships with Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Theresa May, and the future of the European project. 

On the eve of important European elections, and with nationalist and populist forces rising across the continent, she considers if Macron can hold the centre ground and defend the multilateral liberal order against the axis of such figures as Italy's Matteo Salvini and Hungary's Viktor Orbán. Pedder also analyses the domestic situation in France, the evolution of En Marche, and the fallout from Macron's controversial reforms.

Meticulously researched and written in Pedder's gripping and immensely readable style, this is the essential, authoritative account for anyone wishing to understand Macron and the future of France in the world.
 
 

1145-1200    
4/4: Révolution Française, by Sophie Pedder.  @PedderSophie 

https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Française-Emmanuel-Macron-reinvent/dp/1472948602

The extraordinary story of how an outsider candidate—an unknown technocrat and economics minister on the fringes of French politics—made his way to the Élysée palace, with expert analysis of his first year in office.

Two years after Emmanuel Macron came from nowhere to seize the French presidency, Sophie Pedder, The Economist's Paris bureau chief, tells the story of his remarkable rise and time in office so far. In this paperback edition, published with a new foreword by the author, Pedder reflects on Macron's troubles and triumphs: his dwindling popularity: the 'gilets jaunes' protests and resulting civil unrest: his efforts to transform France and lead the global fight against climate change: the Benalla affair; his erratic relationships with Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Theresa May, and the future of the European project. 

On the eve of important European elections, and with nationalist and populist forces rising across the continent, she considers if Macron can hold the centre ground and defend the multilateral liberal order against the axis of such figures as Italy's Matteo Salvini and Hungary's Viktor Orbán. Pedder also analyses the domestic situation in France, the evolution of En Marche, and the fallout from Macron's controversial reforms.

Meticulously researched and written in Pedder's gripping and immensely readable style, this is the essential, authoritative account for anyone wishing to understand Macron and the future of France in the world.

 

FOURTH HOUR

12-1215  
1/4    Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific, by Nicholas Thomas. @MAACambridge.

https://www.amazon.com/Voyagers-Settlement-Pacific-Nicholas-Thomas/dp/1541619838

An award-winning scholar explores the sixty-thousand-year history of the Pacific islands in this dazzling, deeply researched account.

The islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia stretch across a huge expanse of ocean and encompass a multitude of different peoples. Starting with Captain James Cook, the earliest European explorers to visit the Pacific were astounded and perplexed to find populations thriving thousands of miles from continents. Who were these people? From where did they come? And how were they able to reach islands dispersed over such vast tracts of ocean?

In Voyagers, the distinguished anthropologist Nicholas Thomas charts the course of the seaborne migrations that populated the islands between Asia and the Americas from late prehistory onward. Drawing on the latest research, including insights gained from genetics, linguistics, and archaeology, Thomas provides a dazzling account of these long-distance migrations, the seagoing technologies that enabled them, and the societies they left in their wake.
 
 

1215-1230  
2/4: Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific, by Nicholas Thomas. @MAACambridge.

https://www.amazon.com/Voyagers-Settlement-Pacific-Nicholas-Thomas/dp/1541619838

An award-winning scholar explores the sixty-thousand-year history of the Pacific islands in this dazzling, deeply researched account.

The islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia stretch across a huge expanse of ocean and encompass a multitude of different peoples. Starting with Captain James Cook, the earliest European explorers to visit the Pacific were astounded and perplexed to find populations thriving thousands of miles from continents. Who were these people? From where did they come? And how were they able to reach islands dispersed over such vast tracts of ocean?

In Voyagers, the distinguished anthropologist Nicholas Thomas charts the course of the seaborne migrations that populated the islands between Asia and the Americas from late prehistory onward. Drawing on the latest research, including insights gained from genetics, linguistics, and archaeology, Thomas provides a dazzling account of these long-distance migrations, the seagoing technologies that enabled them, and the societies they left in their wake.
 

1230-1245   
3/4: Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific, by Nicholas Thomas. @MAACambridge.

https://www.amazon.com/Voyagers-Settlement-Pacific-Nicholas-Thomas/dp/1541619838

An award-winning scholar explores the sixty-thousand-year history of the Pacific islands in this dazzling, deeply researched account.

The islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia stretch across a huge expanse of ocean and encompass a multitude of different peoples. Starting with Captain James Cook, the earliest European explorers to visit the Pacific were astounded and perplexed to find populations thriving thousands of miles from continents. Who were these people? From where did they come? And how were they able to reach islands dispersed over such vast tracts of ocean?

In Voyagers, the distinguished anthropologist Nicholas Thomas charts the course of the seaborne migrations that populated the islands between Asia and the Americas from late prehistory onward. Drawing on the latest research, including insights gained from genetics, linguistics, and archaeology, Thomas provides a dazzling account of these long-distance migrations, the seagoing technologies that enabled them, and the societies they left in their wake.
 

1245-100 AM  
4/4:  Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific, by Nicholas Thomas. @MAACambridge.

https://www.amazon.com/Voyagers-Settlement-Pacific-Nicholas-Thomas/dp/1541619838

An award-winning scholar explores the sixty-thousand-year history of the Pacific islands in this dazzling, deeply researched account.

The islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia stretch across a huge expanse of ocean and encompass a multitude of different peoples. Starting with Captain James Cook, the earliest European explorers to visit the Pacific were astounded and perplexed to find populations thriving thousands of miles from continents. Who were these people? From where did they come? And how were they able to reach islands dispersed over such vast tracts of ocean?

In Voyagers, the distinguished anthropologist Nicholas Thomas charts the course of the seaborne migrations that populated the islands between Asia and the Americas from late prehistory onward. Drawing on the latest research, including insights gained from genetics, linguistics, and archaeology, Thomas provides a dazzling account of these long-distance migrations, the seagoing technologies that enabled them, and the societies they left in their wake.