Attend an Evening with NYT Science Writer Carl Zimmer & Sadie Dingfelder

 An evening with author Sadie Dingfelder and G.O.A.T. NYT science writer Carl Zimmer.  

Possible Futures bookstore and community space

Sept. 30, 6:30 p.m.

Seats are limited, arrive early to claim a chair!

Close your eyes and imagine an apple. Now, open your eyes. Which of the below apples best describes what you just “saw” in your mind’s eye?

If you picked apple 5, you have aphantasia, which is an inability to visualize. Aphants tend to lean towards STEM professions, and often have a poor autobiographical memory. They also tend to get over setbacks easily. 

If you picked apple 1, you have hyperphantasia. Hyperphants tend to have vivid inner lives, lean towards the arts, and have trouble getting over setbacks and breakups.

Until recently, scientists had never studied individual variation in imagination. Investigating people’s lived conscious experience was considered the purview of potheads and philosophers. But scientists are now beginning to investigate people’s subjective conscious experience using objective measures, such as brain scans. And they are discovering that there’s more variation in the human experience than anyone ever thought possible.

Join science writers Sadie Dingfelder and Carl Zimmer in a rousing discussion of the new science of subjectivity. Are you an outlier? Is anyone neurotypical? And what does the new NBC show starring Zachary Quinto playing a character based on neurologist Oliver Sacks have to do with all of this? 

After their conversation, Sadie will be available to sign Do I Know You? and Carl will sign A Planet of Viruses and She Has Her Mother’s Laugh! 

 Find information for the FREE event here! https://possiblefuturesbooks.com/events/735320240930  About Sadie Dingfelder:Sadie Dingfelder is a science journalist who is currently obsessed with hidden neurodiversity and science-based answers to the question: If you were beamed into the mind of another person or animal, what would that be like? Her debut book is, “Do I Know you? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination.” She spent six years as a reporter for the Washington Post Express, where she focused on high-impact public service journalism, such as this review of every single bathroom on the National Mall. From 2016 to 2019, she also penned a biweekly column, “The Staycationer,” detailing her DC adventures, which included a walk-on part in the Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker, auditioning to be a “Nationals Racing President,” and playing one of the Smithsonian’s priceless Stradivarius violins. She contributed feature stories to other sections of the paper, including the tale of a crane who fell in love with her zookeeper. As a freelance writer, Dingfelder’s work has appeared in National Geographic, Washingtonian magazine, Connecticut Magazine and the Washington City Paper. Prior to working at the Post, Dingfelder spent almost a decade as the senior science writer for the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology magazine, covering new findings in neuroscience, cognitive science, and ethology. WebsiteFollow on InstagramFollow on Facebook

Author: Yeshaa Thompson