Midday on WNYC

Scientists recently determined that Páramos, small, high-elevation ecosystems in the Andes, are the fastest evolving places on earth. Science writer Carl Zimmer explains what makes these tiny mountainous enclaves—and their giant daisy trees—so diverse.

Tim Cope tells us about traveling on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea, and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary. He writes about the journey, which was inspired by the nomadic life of the Mongols, in On the Trail of Genghis Khan.

Jonathan Franzen has been called one of the most important living fiction writers in America. His 2001 novel The Corrections won the National Book Award and Freedom was named as one the best books of 2010 by Time, the New York Times Book Review, and Publishers Weekly, among publications. We’re going back to his very first novel, The Twenty-Seventh City, written in 1988 and set in his home town, St. Louis. In the novel, St. Louis is a quietly dying city until it hires a charismatic young woman from Bombay, India, as its new police chief. The story predicts a number of shifts that were to come decades later in American life: suburban malaise, surveillance culture, domestic terrorism, and paranoia. Leave your questions for Jonathan Franzen below!

Actors Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry, and Paul Chahidi discuss their roles in Shakespeare’s Globe repertory productions of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Richard III on Broadway. Mark Rylance stars as the love-struck noblewoman Olivia in Twelfth Night and as the ruthless and conniving title monarch in Richard III. Stephen Fry makes his Broadway acting debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Paul Chahidi plays witty maid Maria in Twelfth Night, and dual roles Hastings and Tyrrell in Richard III. Both plays are at the Belasco Theatre.

Greg Pierce, who wrote the book and lyrics, and John Kander, who wrote the music, talk about the Vineyard Theatre's world-premiere production of “The Landing.” It’s a beautiful and haunting new musical made up of three thematically connected tales of desire, love and loss. It's playing at the Vineyard Theatre through November 24.

New Yorker staff writer Ian Frazier and Mary Brosnahan, president of Coalition for the Homeless, discuss why New York has more homeless now than it had for decades, what life is like for many of the homeless families in the city, and what the new mayor should do to address the problem. Frazier’s article “Hidden City” appeared in the October 28 issue of The New Yorker.    

Russell Banks discusses his new collection of short stories, A Permanent Member of the Family. The 12 stories in the collection examine the ways we try—and sometimes fail—to connect with one another. Banks looks at the families we make for ourselves and the ones we're born into.

When you drop your Coke can or yesterday’s newspaper in the recycling bin, where does it go? Adam Minter—journalist and son of an American junkyard owner—tells us. He gives an account of a vast, often hidden, multibillion-dollar industry that’s transforming our economy and environment. In Junkyard Planet, Minter traces the export of America’s recyclables and the massive profits that China and other rising nations earn from it.

Mike Tyson, philosopher, Broadway headliner, fighter, felon, and onetime heavyweight champion of the world, talks about his life in and out of the ring. Bullied as a boy in the poorest neighborhood in Brooklyn, Tyson grew up to become one of the most ferocious boxers of all time—and the youngest heavyweight champion ever. But his brilliance in the ring was often compromised by reckless behavior. He tells his story in his memoir Undisputed Truth, which chronicles his tumultuous highs and lows.

A virus has been killing bottlenose dolphins off the East Coast, and it seems to be spreading south toward Florida. Marjorie Mooney-Seus, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, explains what we know about this disease and how it’s affecting ocean life.

Directors Sierra Pettengill and Jamila Wignot discuss their documentary “Town Hall,” which follows two impassioned Pennsylvania Tea Party activists in the lead-up to the 2012 election. They’re determined to restore their version of a theoretically “lost” America, but are faced with complicated, if not contradictory, decisions. It’s playing as part of DOC NYC November 17 and 20 at IFC Center.

Sculptor Richard Serra discusses his monumental works and his new show at Gagosian Gallery. “Richard Serra: New Sculpture” is on view through January 25, 2014.

Simon Winchester explains how America became “one nation, indivisible.” What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? His book The Men Who United the States: Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible explores this question, and follows America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators, and builders who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States.

Acclaimed Czech writer Ivan Klima reflects back on his life and on decades of war, totalitarianism, censorship, and the fight for democracy. Klíma’s memoir My Crazy Century begins in the 1930s on the outskirts of Prague. During WWII, most of his family survived the Terezín concentration camp, but when they returned home, their city was falling into the grip of Communism.

Mike Pesca and Josh Levin, who host (along with Stefan Fatsis) Slate’s “Hang Up and Listen” podcast, talk about the Jets, the World Series, the Giants, head trauma, the Nets, Knicks, soccer, hazing in the NFL, the best sports book ever written, and anything else sports-wise.