At A Glance...
School of Life: Jonah Lehrer on Genius
29 April 2012
Jonah Lehrer will show how creativity is not a singular ‘gift’ possessed by the lucky few. It's a variety of thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.
You have to be a certain type to be creative. And even among those with talent, there are very few real geniuses. The rest of us can only look on in awe. Or at least that’s what we’ve been taught.
Jonah Lehrer is here to break open that narrow thinking. He will show how creativity is not a singular ‘gift’ possessed by the lucky few. It's a variety of thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.
He’ll uncover how we can do that by embracing the rut, thinking like a child, and daydreaming productively. And, in this exciting event that he won’t be repeating anywhere else, he’ll show us how we can experiment with his ideas for ourselves.
Along the way we’ll learn about Bob Dylan's writing habits, why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar designed its office space to get the most out of its talent.
We’ll leave more certain of our own deep inventiveness and equipped with strategies to deal creatively with the challenges of our increasingly complex world.
Jonah Lehrer is a leading thinker and acclaimed author with an expertise in neuroscience. He is Contributing Editor at Wired and writes the Head Case column for The Wall Street Journal. His books include How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. At his sermon he’ll help us put into practice insights from his new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works (Canongate, 2012).
11.30 start, tickets £12.50 from the link below.
Sunday Lecture - Being Good
29 April 2012
Science teacher and ex-Muslim Alom Shaha, author of the much acclaimed 'Young Atheist's Handbook', talks about how to be good without God.
11.00, £3 on the door/free to members.
Carducci Quartet
29 April 2012
Pre-concert recital, 17.30:
- James Barralet 'cello
- Simon Callaghan piano
- Brahms: 'Cello Sonata in E minor Op.38
Main concert, 18:30:
Carducci Quartet
- Matthew Denton violin
- Michelle Fleming violin
- Eoin Schmidt-Martin viola
- Emma Denton 'cello
- Haydn: Quartet in G Op.74/3 'The Rider'
- Phillip Glass: Suite from 'Dracula'
- Brahms: Quartet in A minor Op.51/2
£8 tickets on the door, £4 for full-time students (free entry for under-16s), box office opens at 17.30.
Carablanca Tango
4 May 2012
19.30 - 00.00
Carablanca is London's longest-running tango club. The friendly, informal atmosphere ensures that beginners and visitors mix easily with the regular dancers.
The dance evening is an Argentine milonga, preceded by a class. There are also classes for beginners in a separate room. Music is traditional Argentine tango, milonga and vals, played in tandas with cortinas by guest DJs.
TICKETS: price £10 for a class or dancing, £12 for both, paid on entry.
Sunday Lecture - The Ethics of Reproduction on a Finite Planet
6 May 2012
Roger Martin, chair of Population Matters, discusses the numerous ethical implications of population growth.
11.00, £3 on the door/free to members.
Gala Concert
6 May 2012, 18.30
Featuring our patron - the actor Timothy West, virtuoso violinist Thomas Gould and other distinguished musicians.
Performances of:
- Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
- Messager: Suite from 'The Two Pigeons' (arr. Palmer) [UK Premiere]
- Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals
£12 tickets on the door (free entry for under-16s), box office opens at 17.30.
London Philosophy Club - Philosophy and Psychology: a new synthesis?
9 May 2012
The new synthesis of ancient philosophy with modern empirical psychology raises fascinating questions for philosophers and psychologists alike. Can psychology provide an evidence base for virtue ethics? Can science prove that a certain model (or models) of the good life really do lead to flourishing, as the ancients claimed? If so, do governments have a role, or even an obligation, to teach their citizens how to live well? Does philosophy still have a role to play or has psychology taken over its most important function - telling us how to live well?
This event brings together a great panel of thinkers who are trying to figure out what philosophy and psychology have to say to each other, and how they can work together.
Kristjan Kristjansson is professor of philosophy at the University of Iceland, and the author of 'Aristotle, education and the emotions', and several other books and papers looking at ancient philosophy and its place in modern psychology and theories of education. He has a book out later this year looking at Positive Psychology from a philosophical perspective.
Donald Robertson is the principal of the UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy and the director of Solutions London Cognitive Therapy Centre. He is the author of The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (2010), which looks at the ancient philosophical roots of CBT - the image above comes from his book.
Tim LeBon is a cognitive therapist and philosophical counsellor, and the author of Wise Therapy: Philosophy for Counsellors (2003). He has organised philosophical workshops within the framework of the NHS.
Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London, and the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, out in May 2012, which explores how people use philosophy to cope with life's challenges.
1900 start, £1 entrance fee.
Tomax Talks: Observing War, with Aernout Van Lynden
9 May 2012
ToMax Talks offer refreshing perspective. They juxtapose different angles and engage young and old. The below talk is part of the Current Affairs stream, the last of which featured the former ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles on the subject of US democracy. ToMax is designed to be accessible to all, and the reasonable booking prices reflect this.
ToMax Talks juxtapose two kinds of war-observation. Veteran video journalist Aernout Van Lynden flies in from Holland to reflect on his unrivalled reportage experience. He will be joined by social anthropologist Dr. Mark de Rond.
Aernout Van Lynden flies in from Holland to reflect on his career as one of the foremost video-journalists and war reporters of his generation. Aernout was one of the few Western journalists in Iraq when Saddam Hussein's attack on Iran opened. He has worked in many war zones, more recently for Sky; His coverage of the civil war in Sarajevo is perhaps his most well-known and can be viewed here
Dr. Mark de Rond, from Cambridge’s Judge Business School, is an expert in how people organise themselves in difficult situations – and he studies how they do so by living among them under the same conditions. He was given permission to work alongside medical teams at Camp Bastion, the Army base in the province of Helmand in Afghanistan, and will expand on his astonishing work there.
19.15 start, £7/£10 tickets from the link below.
Event Page
Carablanca Tango Club
11 May 2012
19.30 - 00.00
Carablanca is London's longest-running tango club. The friendly, informal atmosphere ensures that beginners and visitors mix easily with the regular dancers.
The dance evening is an Argentine milonga, preceded by a class. There are also classes for beginners in a separate room. Music is traditional Argentine tango, milonga and vals, played in tandas with cortinas by guest DJs.
TICKETS: price £10 for a class or dancing, £12 for both, paid on entry.
Sunday Lecture - The Neurobiology and Ethics of Voluntary Amputation
13 May 2012
Mo Costandi details the neurological origins and ethical issues arising from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), an extremely rare condition in which sufferers feel an overwhelming urge to amputate an otherwise perfectly healthy limb.
11.00, £3 on the door/free to members.
