Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 21 May
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Creativity and ingenuity are the qualities that set our species apart, argues neuroscientist David Eagleman. ‘Obviously, a little bit of credit needs to go to the opposable thumb and larynx, but fundamentally it’s about this massive mashup of ideas that we have … Most of them stink, but occasionally, something gets generated that works for our society.’
Eagleman has dedicated his life to understanding the inner workings of the brain, through his books The Brain: The Story of You and Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain and the television series The Brain with David Eagleman. For the past few years, the Stanford University professor has turned his attention to the link between the brain and creativity.
With composer Anthony Brandt he’s co-authored a book, The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, which explores the key components and possibilities of creativity through the lens of neuroscience. The pair propose that there are three key elements to all acts of human creativity: bending, blending and breaking.
At the Athenaeum Theatre, Eagleman will expand on these ideas, explaining how the human brain can remake the world. Join him for an optimistic talk on grey matter and great ideas.
Embiggen Books will be our bookseller for this event.
Featuring
David Eagleman
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist, an internationally bestselling author, a Guggenheim Fellow, and an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He is the writer and presenter of The Brain, an Emmy-nominated television series on PBS and BBC. Dr. Eagleman’s areas of research include sensory substitution, time perception, vision, and synesthesia; he also studies the intersection of neuroscience with the legal system, and in that capacity he directs the Center for Science and Law.
Eagleman is the author of many books, including The Runaway Species, The Brain, Incognito, and Wednesday is Indigo Blue. He is also the author of a widely adopted textbook on cognitive neuroscience, Brain and Behavior, as well as a bestselling book of literary fiction, Sum, which has been translated into 32 languages, turned into two operas, and named a Best Book of the Year by Barnes and Noble.
Dr. Eagleman writes for the Atlantic, New York Times, Discover Magazine, Slate, Wired, and New Scientist, and appears regularly on National Public Radio and BBC to discuss both science and literature. He has been a TED speaker, a guest on the Colbert Report, and profiled in the New Yorker magazine. He has spun several companies out of his lab, including NeoSensory, a company which uses haptics for sensory substitution and addition.
Natasha Mitchell
Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award-winning journalist, radio presenter, podcaster, and audio storyteller. She is host of the ABC Radio National's flagship Big Ideas program and podcast, was founding host and producer of the ...