01-31-15:A 2015 Interview with Christine Carter, Ph.D.
Click image for audio link.
"...being able to see what happens in the brain really helps us to understand certain things..."
—Christine Carter
I prefer to do my interviews in person, and my gig was Christine Carter is a great exmple why. We sat down to talk about her book, 'The Sweet Spot: How to Find your Groove at Home and At Work,' and before I knew it, we'd whooshed past the hour marker that we had at KQED effortlessly. I suppose I should not be surprised it was an interview that took place in the sweet spot, but the experience was nonetheless a bit eerie.
It's certainly as close as you're going to get to eerie with Carter. The appeal of this book, and Carter in person for me is her no-nonsense approach. She knows how to dial in the right degree of science without ever getting out into the sticks. She knows how to be upbeat in a manner that feels generous. You know when you're with her, in person or on the page, that the spo0tlight is on you and how you can make your own life better. No woo required,
I just admit that I was greatly enamored of her take on habit; what they are, how they are formed and unformed. It reminded me of an old Stanislaw Lem riff on the search for artificial intelligence, where he suggests that it's much smarter and easier to try to create artificial instinct (in my tiny brain, "habit"), and that with little intellectual horsepower, you can accomplish a great deal of good work.
What you hear when you listen to Christine Carter is, simply put, authenticity. She has a down-to-earth presence that enables those in her general vicinity to also reach a state of both feet on the ground. If I heard her speak, I'd read the book. Having spoken with her and read the book, I have to admit that my do-list, which has grown ever larger, somehow seems less imposing. You can hear her speak by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
01-31-15 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 194: Christine Carter, Ph.D.
Click image for audio link.
Here's the one-hundred ninety-fourth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read.
I've been worjking for more of a live format lately, and to this end in this Time to Read "lightning round," I've included some of the banter beforehand, to give a feel for the atmosphere when we run these little mini-interviews. The boom line: THey're a fun way to finish off the gig.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
