1/21/15:
CHRISTINE CARTER
THE SWEET SPOT: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work
2/11/15:
MICHAEL GAZZANIGA
TALES FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE BRAIN: A Life in Neuroscience
2/19/15:
DAVID AXELROD
BELIEVER: My Forty Years in Politics
in conversation with Robert Reich
3/31/15:
KAZUO ISHIGURO
THE BURIED GIANT
4/2/15:
BARNEY FRANK
FRANK: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage
Wednesday, February 11
MICHAEL GAZZANIGA
TALES FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE BRAIN: A Life in Neuroscience
in conversation with Emiliana Simon-Thomas
More than fifty years ago, Michael S. Gazzaniga was in the middle of the most important observation in all of neuroscience—the now foundational theory that the right and left hemispheres of the brain can act independently from one another and have different strengths. Hailed “the father of cognitive neuroscience,” Gazzaniga’s work is renowned for its wit and accessibility, as well as its scientific elegance, and has inspired some of the most important minds in the field including Steven Pinker, Oliver Sacks and V.S. Ramachandran.
Now, for the first time in his new book, Tales from Both Sides of the Brain, Gazzaniga looks back over the evolution of an idea, and the incredible characters—from famous scientists to split-brain patients, and to many curious souls along the way (comedian Steve Allen, William F. Buckley and other non-scientists) —who have accompanied him on the road of intellectual discovery. Part field guide, part memoir, this unprecedented work describes a life in science that has exemplified the epitome of collaboration and networking to move the science forward.
From his early days in Roger Sperry’s Caltech lab to today’s counterintuitive view that each of us actually has multiple minds, Gazzaniga tells the impassioned story of his life in science and his decades-long journey to understand how the separate spheres of our brains communicate and mis-communicate with their separate agendas. Over the course of his career Gazzaniga has studied countless neurologic patients. Tales from Both Sides of the Brain focuses on six split-brain patients who have changed the way we think about how the brain carries out its work. These include two famous cases: Case W.J. – his first human study that showed that the left and right side of the brain could act independently from one another; and Case P.S. – which showed that the left hemisphere could understand language and speech, while the right could understand language, but not speech.
Michael S. Gazzaniga is the director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the president of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, the founding director of the MacArthur Foundation's Law and Neuroscience Project, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Gazzaniga offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how breakthrough science is achieved and all the people that play a role in its discovery, a look both humorous and moving.
Talking with Gazzaniga this evening is Emiliana Simon-Thomas, the science director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, A neuroscientist who earned her doctorate from UC Berkeley, her research has explored the neurobiological roots of pro-social emotion and behavior, as well as the psychosocial benefits of emotional authenticity and connection. A gifted teacher, Simon-Thomas has presented on the science of happiness and compassion to the Dalai Lama and audiences worldwide.
7:30 PM at the Hillside Club (2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley)
Tickets $15 ($8 students) in advance only at Brown Paper Tickets online (or 800-838-3006); tickets at the door $20
Thursday, February 19
DAVID AXELROD
BELIEVER: My Forty Years in Politics
Interviewed by ROBERT REICH
The strategist who masterminded Obama’s historic election campaigns opens up about his years as a young journalist, political consultant, and ultimately senior advisor to the president
The man behind some of the greatest political changes of the last decade, David Axelrod has devoted a lifetime to questioning political certainties and daring to bring fresh thinking into the political landscape. Whether as a child hearing John F. Kennedy stump in New York or as a strategist guiding the first African-American to the White House, Axelrod shows in Believer how his own life stands at the center of the tumultuous American century.
Believer begins in the inimitable world of 1960s New York, but rapidly moves west. As a young newspaperman in the Chicago of the 1970s and 1980s, Axelrod reported on the dissolution of the last of the big city political machines, along with the emergence of a black, independent movement that made Obama’s ascent possible. Seeing the golden age of Chicago journalism collapse, Axelrod switched careers to become a political strategist, working for path-breakers like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and morally-conflicted characters like John Edwards. For better and worse, Axelrod helped to redefine the techniques by which modern political campaigns are run.
The heart of Believer is devoted to Axelrod’s twenty-year friendship with Obama, a warm partnership that inspired both men even as it propelled each to great heights. As senior adviser to the president, Axelrod served during one of the most challenging periods in national history and worked at Obama’s side as he battled an economic disaster, navigated America through two wars, and fought to reform health care, the financial sector, and our grid-locked political institutions. In Believer, Axelrod offers a deeper and richer profile of this extraordinary figure -- who in just six years vaulted from the Illinois State Senate to the Oval Office -- from the perspective of one who was at his side every step of the way.
In frankly sharing his life and work over the decades, Axelrod ultimately traces the continuing evolution of the Democratic Party and the country at large. Believer is a powerful and inspiring memoir enlivened by the charm and candor of one the greatest political strategists in recent American history.
Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the UC Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers Aftershock and The Work of Nations, His latest, Beyond Outrage, is now out in paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His new film, "Inequality for All," is now available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD, and On Demand.
7:30 PM at First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way at Dana, Berkeley
Tickets $25 - $54, available only at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006
Tuesday, March 31
KAZUO ISHIGURO
THE BURIED GIANT
Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day, comes to the US with an extraordinary new novel awaited for over ten years.
"You've long set your heart against it, Axl, I know. But it's time now to think on it anew. There's a journey we must go on, and no more delay . . ."
The Buried Giant begins as a couple set off across a troubled land of mist and rain in the hope of finding a son they have not seen in years.
Sometimes savage, often intensely moving, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel in nearly a decade is about lost memories, love, revenge, and war.
Ishiguro's seven previous books have won him wide renown and numerous honors. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. Both The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go have more than 1,000,000 copies in print across platforms, and both were adapted into highly acclaimed films. Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear and meet a unique, sublimely talented master writer.
7:30 PM at First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way at Dana, Berkeley
Tickets $25 - $45, available only at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006
Thursday, April 2
BARNEY FRANK
FRANK: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage
America’s smartest, feistiest, and funniest politician tells his own story.
How did a disheveled, intellectually combative gay Jew with a thick New Jersey–Massachusetts accent become one of the most effective politicians of his time?
In Frank, a candid and witty political memoir, Barney Frank relates his journey from the outskirts of New York City to Boston’s city hall and the Massachusetts legislature, and then to the U.S. Congress, where he played a vital role in the struggle for personal freedom and economic fairness for more than four decades. With his trademark directness and insight, Frank explores the emotional toll of living in the closet and how he became the first member of Congress to voluntarily disclose his homosexuality. And he chronicles his lifelong struggle against inequality, which culminated in cowriting the most significant Wall Street regulations since the Great Depression. He also demonstrates how he used his rhetorical skills to expose his opponents’ hypocrisies and delusions, and details the endless favors, grudges, and fears that compose a legislator’s career. From the Clinton impeachment to the economic meltdown of 2008 to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Frank’s words and deeds mattered, and Frank shows why. Here is a guide to how political change really happens—composed by a master of the art—and a testament to how Democrats, if they reject purism and passivity, can rebuild trust in an active government.
Barney Frank represented the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts for nearly five decades, and chaired the House Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2013. He is the first member of congress to enter a same-sex marriage while serving in office. He is a regular commentator on MSNBC and lives near Portland, Maine, with his husband.
7:30 PM at First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way at Dana, Berkeley
Tickets $44 - $54, available only at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006
