News

The radio series Total Eclipse of Descartes starts on Radio 4, 12th September at 6.30pm.

New live dates announced! Book your tickets now for Total Eclipse of Descartes.

Robert's new book Neuropolis - A Brain Science Survival Guide is published by Harper Collins on 20th April, and the new Radio 4 comedy series Robert Newman's Neuropolis will be broadcast every Tuesday at 6.30pm from April 18th to May 9th, and stars Claire Price and Tony-award winner Richard McCabe.

"A mesmerising storyteller... His erudite and splenetic critiques of key neuroscientific papers had the audience spellbound... Robert Newman strikes the perfect balance between scalpel-sharp analysis, romantic optimism and generous, genuine humour." The Psychologist

"Has it ever struck you that some of the odd things which neurologists tell us about our brains may be, not just odd, but actually mistaken, pure superstitions, inventions thought up by excited scientists out of outdated philosophy? That is what, after careful digging, Robert Newman has been finding... Read him!" Mary Midgley

"A fantastic book!" Stuart Maconie, 6 Music

Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution won the award for Best Scripted Comedy with a Live Audience at the BBC Audio Drama Awards.

Listen to Rob being interviewed about The Brain Show by Kerri Smith on the science journal Nature's podcast.

Read Rob's Food for Thought interview in the Independent.

From History Today to Philosophy Now - here's my article taking exception to what the science journal Nature call 'ethical robots'.

The Entirely Accurate Encyclopedia of Evolution book is here! It was published on 1st October to tie in with Rob's Radio 4 series, which begins on 15th October at 11.00pm.

Here's the skull xylophone as mentioned on Essential Classics, Radio 3.

On May 22nd it was my privilege to compere philosopher Mary Midgley's talk at the RSA about her brilliant new book, Are You An Illusion?

The book is a witty, punchy tour de force. In 150 pages she takes us from deep-ocean plankton to the spinning moons of Saturn, from the domestic virtues of wolves to the story of how left-brain thinking that did for Pliny the Elder on the slopes of Vesuvius. She takes us from Aristotelian teleology to fMRA scans, by way of Lynn Margulis, Marie Curie, the composition of soil, Napoleon's brainwaves before invading Russia and the enlarged hippocampi of London taxi drivers.

As with so many of Mary Midgley's books, you feel your mind shifting geologically as you read. As well as being a terrific read, the book is very timely and, I think important. And here's a link to the lunchtime event that was held at the Royal Society of Arts in the Strand. I hope it comes across how Mary held the audience spellbound, and how much everyone enjoyed spending an hour in the company of this wonderful philosopher. I hope you do too.