We could learn a lot from the good boys (and girls) in our life.

That’s the main thesis of philosopher Mark Rowlands new book, “The Word of Dog.”

He says out loud what many dog owners secretly wonder: Is my dog a better person than me? And while Rowlands certainly agrees that humans remain top of the intellectual pyramid, he does theorize that our canine companions inhabit the world in a uniquely uncomplicated way.

“Although dogs have no idea what philosophy is,” he writes, “they live the big questions.”

Join Rowlands and fellow dog lover Kerri Miller for this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to be enlightened and inspired by the dogs in your life.

Guest:

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• Mark Rowlands is a professor of philosophy at the University. His new book is “The Word of Dog: What our Canine Companions Can Teach Us about Living a Good Life.”

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Rules are good. Discretion is better.

So argues philosophy professor Barry Lam in his new book, “Fewer Rules, Better People.” While Lam acknowledges law as the backbone of society, he says America has forgotten the good of discretion. Be it a sports referee, a parent, a police officer or a prosecutor, decision makers need the freedom to exercise discernment about how the rules get applied.

Lam joins Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas for a philosophical and practical discussion about how discretion greases the wheels of our culture and why removing it creates a lumbering bureaucracy.

Guest:

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• Barry Lam is a professor of philosophy at UC Riverside and host of the podcast Hi-Phi Nation. His new book is “Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion.”

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“The story of America in the 21st century is the story of chosen scarcities.”

So begins “Abundance,” the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has politicos abuzz.

In it, they argue that progressives have created a culture of scarcity the last few decades, especially when it comes to solving America’s thorniest problem, like homelessness, housing affordability and green energy. The solution, they say, is to face up to the failures of liberal policies, no matter how well intended, and renew a politics of plenty.

“If you look back in American history, America used to built things — proudly,” Thompson tells Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “And then at some point over the last 50 years, liberalism — which was once defined as the politics of building — became defined as the politics of blocking. [In the book], we’re trying to execute a bit of a paradigm shift here: We want to marry the politics of building with modern progressivism.”

Guest:

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• Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the co-author of the new book, “Abundance,” along with the New York Times’ Ezra Klein.

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