Shane O`Mara, professor of neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, joins me to discuss how conversations shape our worlds. We draw on his latest book, Talking Heads, coming out this August (!) in which he demonstrates how our conversations, our stories, enter our brains, create memory, and unite us to propel us forward, both as individuals and as nations. Why does this grab me so much? Well, what could be more important than how we build our future together?
I would also like to signal his previous book, In Praise of Walking, that shows the many ways walking stimulates the brain, and, of particular interest for Flow listeners, conversation. Follow Shane on his substack, Brain Pizza, to stay up with his latest ideas, both quirky and profound.
Shane O`Mara recommends... Imagined Communties by Benedict Anderson (a stunning book without which he may not have written the book he did), 1984 by George Orwell (a classic that still haunts), and the Irish poet Thomas Kinsella`s modernist poetry on urban life.
