Did I mention to you how much I love this festival? There are so many interesting talks all the time that it’s hard to choose or not overdo it… Also, the subjects are so vary that they make my head spin… I wouldn’t be very good at being a specialist of any kind… I like to know about a lot of things… a polymath… (or a jack of all trades and masters of none more likely).
Example no 1, Sunday afternoon: Booker Prize Winner Alan Hollinghurst. Chosen because I had never read anything by him but he keeps being recommended to me by friends. Very interesting and clever man.
Of course I bought one of his books. I’ve started it… looks promising. (Probably the most damning critique to a Booker prize winning nobel… oops. I don’t normally go for British writers that much… but will keep you posted).
Example no 2, Tuesday night. Neuroscientist David Eagleman and composer Anthony Brandt. Yeah… why not? I don’t know anything about either neuroscience or composing music BUT I’m fascinated by the brain and how it works and this was a very absorbing talk.
It wasn’t about how to use creativity to change the world… it was how ‘creativity’, (call it imaginations… whatever) does change the world, by which mechanism…
I absolutely believe that ‘creativity’ in its broader sense (not just ‘art’ related creativity) is THE thing that shapes the world as it is, that advances our civilisation – for the good or bad – and without it we would still be eating cold berry under a prehistoric sky. It’s important to study history and sciences and to know how things work… but without this urge for the new, we wouldn’t be creating anything new and we wouldn’t have anything new to know anything about. Does it make sense?
Anyway, fascinating stuff.
Example No 3, … because I know hardly anything about the Russian Revolution that started 100 years ago this month. And that’s reason enough, right? If you don’t know … you have to find out.
Super interesting although it kind of highlighted my huge hole of ignorance on the subject rather than fill its gaps…
… BUT I came out having seriously brain work out and with some interesting knowledge to boot.
And that can’t be bad right?
I love history.
And science.
And books.
I’m a knowledge butterfly.
while you're ahead... 