The Optimism Bias published by Constable & Robinson
1st November 2012 6:30pm – 9pm Charing Cross Road Literary Event
Salon, London’s leading cultural fest showcases the UK’s leading lights in science, arts and psychology. Salon covers everything from beat boxing to quantum mechanics to extreme survival skills, all within easy walking distance of a well-stocked bar and a large helping of gung ho.
Now, specifically for Foyles, Salon curators Helen Bagnall and Juliet Russell are putting together a very bookish series.
For our first Salon at Foyles, we will be comparing the effects on the brain of looking on the bright side of life with neuroscientist Tali Sharot, author of The Optimum Bias; with the pleasures of not knowing, and not thinking with philosopher Robert Rowland Smith, a process he terms ‘Endarkenment’. And just so we avoid a fight between the two eminent academics, we’ll have a harpist on hand to ease your mind, provide history of the angelic instrument, said to soothe your brain as you make up your mind what to think.
Venue: The Cafe at Foyles, First Floor, 113 – 119 Charing Road, London WC2H 0EB
For more about Salon London and to book tickets visit: http://www.salon-london.com
Tali Sharot a Wellcome Trust fellow and principle investigator at the Cognitive Perceptual and brain Science Division at University College London. Her research on the neuroscience of optimism, emotion, memory and decision making has been published in top scientific journals including Nature and Nature Neuroscience, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, the New Scientist, the BBC, and more. She has previously taught courses in psychology and neuroscience and conducted research at New York University (where she received her PhD), Harvard University, and the University of California.
She is from Israel