The Big Ones (Alumni Books Podcast)

01/19/19 • 9 min

Lucile Jones PhD '81 discusses her new book The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them), published in April 2018. Jones is the founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society and a Research Associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2H6y38z

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MIT Alumni Book Club: The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist (Selected by Prof. Nancy Hopkins)

Asked what one book all MIT alumni should read this year, Nancy Hopkins, Amgen Inc. Professor of Biology Emerita at MIT, selected The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist by Ben Barres '76, published this fall by MIT Press. In this Q&A, Prof. Hopkins shares insights on Barres's career, advocacy, and legacy. Join the book club and the conversation on this book at alum.mit.edu/learn. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2EfsF0x

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In Praise of Wasting Time with MIT Professor Alan Lightman

According to novelist/essayist and theoretical physicist Alan Lightman, unstructured time that allows our minds to roam freely can lead to more creativity. “We need a new mental attitude,” he advocates—one “that values our inner reflection, values stillness, values privacy, values personal reflection—that honors the inner self.” Lightman—who is a professor of the practice of the humanities as well as a senior lecturer in physics at MIT—shared these and other thoughts on creativity with an audience of MIT alumni in late 2018. He delivered his lecture at MIT’s Endicott House during a holiday luncheon event jointly organized by the MIT Alumni Association’s Cardinal and Gray Society and Emma Rogers Society. Read more on the Slice of MIT blog: bit.ly/2TTn3MX Read the transcript: https://bit.ly/2UuF2gT Photo: Jack Mohr ’50