Big Ideas (Audio)

Art historian, Francis Broun, delivers an informative and entertaining lecture on the sculptures of Michelangelo. Broun is a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Studies at the Ontario College of Art

In her best-selling book, Dead Aid, economist Dambisa Moyo, argues that aid to Africa breeds corruption and dependence and should be replaced with more innovative ways of financing, including capital markets and microfinance. Her lecture, Innovating Away from Aid, was delivered at the University of Waterloo.

The theory of evolution is credited to Charles Darwin but important contributions were also made by Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Wallace. The stories of these three adventurers are chronicled by Sean B. Carroll, author of the book Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species.

Author Harold Kushner on his latest book Conquering Fear

Anthropologist and author, Wade Davis, delivers the 2009 Massey Lecture The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. Davis explores the importance of the myriad and diverse cultures of the world and the impact on all of us when a culture disappears.

Dr. Peter Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, a non-profit initiative focused on designing and launching large incentive prizes, such as the Google Lunar X PRIZE, to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. This lecture entitled The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent it Yourself! was delivered at the Quantum to Cosmos science festival at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo.

University of Toronto English professor Nick Mount discusses Samuel Beckett?s controversial play Waiting For Godot.

The author of A Love of Reading, acclaimed book reviewer Robert Adams, discusses the Man Booker Prize winning novel Mister Pip by New Zealand author Lloyd Jones.

Harvard sociologist and noted public intellectual, Nathan Glazer, presents the 2009 Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture entitled Democracy and Diversity: Dealing with Deep Divides.

Harvard psychologist and author, Howard Gardner, best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, delivers a lecture based on his book Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet.