Friday, May 11, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
From climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing—and science writer Chris Mooney explains why. Explaining the psychology behind Republicans’ refusal to accept things that most experts agree on, Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science and the new The Republican Brain, discovers that conservatives and liberals don’t just have different ideologies; they have different psychologies …
Friday, May 11, 2012, 6:00 – 7:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
The Presidents Club is a real group, forged at Eisenhower’s inauguration and made up of men bound forever by the Oval Office experience, yet rivals for history’s favor. It’s also the newest book by journalists/historians Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, who expose the secret deals, the shared scars, and the private cease-fires among our last 13 commanders in chief, whose relationships and interactions have changed history.
Thursday, May 10, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
Pamela Matson, dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford and author of Seeds of Sustainability, spent 15 years in Mexico as part of the Yaqui Valley research project designed to discover new ways to make agriculture more productive and sustainable; she shares the implications of this work for our food-supply system …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 7:30 – 9:30pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
Drawing on a surge of new research, Leonard Mlodinow unravels the complexities of the subliminal mind and reveals its profound influence. The bestselling author (The Drunkard’s Walk, which he brought to Town Hall in 2008, and the new Subliminal) examines how the mind’s subliminal processes, not the conscious ones, largely drive our experience, perception, behavior, memory, and social judgment …
Monday, May 7, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
For the past three decades, Americahas steadily become a nation of haves and have-nots, with the top 1% collecting some 21 percent of the nation’s income. Tim Noah, author of The Great Divergence (based on his award-winning series of articles in Slate), calls this potentially the country’s most important change during our lifetimes; he explains how it happened, the threats it poses, and how we can begin to reverse it.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
The best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve and the new DNA USA takes a historical genetic tour of one of the most genetically variegated countries in the world, illuminating our genetic mosaic, contributing to how we perceive race, and defining what it means to be American.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 6:00 – 7:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
More often than not, says the Stuart Firestein, author of Ignorance: How it Drives Science, science is like looking for a black cat in a dark room—and there may not be a cat in the room. But this hit-or-miss process, this “not knowing,” is exactly what propels researchers into the lab early and keeps them there late; it also helps program their work, identify what should be done, and direct where to concentrate their energies.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 6:00 – 7:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
Ecologist Rafe Sagarin, author of Learning from the Octopus, shows that our best national security strategy will emerge not out of Homeland Security, but out of proactive, holistic, and adaptable strategies inspired by nature: detecting danger, understanding behavior, and defending against disaster or disease.
Sunday, April 29, 2012, 6:00 – 7:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
Francis Fukuyama, author of The Origins of Political Order, provides a sweeping account of how today’s basic political institutions developed, raising essential questions about the nature of politics—and its discontents.
Baratunde Thurston: How to Be Black
Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5.
Comedian and director of digital for The Onion, Baratunde Thurston delivers a talk tailor-made for Seattle and our historical discomforts and secret desires. Based on his book How to Be Black, Thurston brings the audience on a journey from the birth of his great-grandfather into slavery through the (possible) re-election of the nation’s first black president.