Podcasts Culture Point of Inquiry Carl Zimmer - This is Your Brain on iPad

Carl Zimmer - This is Your Brain on iPad

Published: Oct. 23, 2010, 12:32 a.m.

Host: Chris Mooney

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On the show this week, Point of Inquiry features one of our most distinguished science writers\u2014Carl Zimmer. He's the author of many acclaimed books, including Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, and now he\u2019s taken on an experiment: Publishing his next book, Brain Cuttings, as an e-book, digital only.

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The book collects Carl\u2019s many writings about the brain\u2014including essays about why we zone out, whether Google is making us stupid, and perhaps most memorable of all, the Singularity folks who think our brains will soon be downloadable. Needless to say, Zimmer isn\u2019t quite so sure.

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In a wide ranging conversation, Zimmer also discussed why science\u2019s biggest undiscovered continent is inside our heads\u2014and what our growing understanding of the brain means for the future of religion.

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Carl Zimmer has been called "as fine a science essayist as we have" by the New York Times Book Review. He contributes regularly the New York Times science section, as well as numerous other publications, and blogs for Discover magazine\u2019s Discover Blogs site. In addition, he\u2019s the author of seven books, including Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life, and teaches science and environmental writing at Yale University.