Latest news
Elaine Fox nominated for Transmission Prize
We’re delighted to announce that University of Essex professor Elaine Fox, author of Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, has been
shortlisted for Salon London’s inaugural Transmission Prize. The prize will be awarded to the speaker who has done the most to engage the Salon’s audience and beyond in a new and interesting idea. Salon is launching the Transmission prize to reward non-fiction, not only in book form but also through other media and live presentation.
The winner and prize will be awarded on 7th February 2013.
Find out more about the Transmission Prize at www.salon-london.com/content/Transmission/ or visit the following page to cast your vote: www.salon-london.com/content/Transmission/Vote/
Conville & Walsh announce of Transmission Prize shortlisting here: www.convilleandwalsh.com/index.php/news-views/news/elaine-fox-shortlisted-for-transmission-prize/
Forthcoming talks
Are you a glass half-full, or a half-empty type of person? You can hear Elaine Fox talk about the science of Optimism and Pessimism at a number of events in the UK.
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival (24th March)
Pioneering psychologist and neuroscientist Professor Elaine Fox explores why some of us are optimists and some pessimists and what we can do about it.
Essex Book Festival (19th March)
Leading psychologist and neuroscientist, Professor Elaine Fox from the University of Essex shows how we can brighten our lives and help ourselves flourish by retraining our brains, in her highly popular new book.
http://lakesidetheatre.org.uk/events/rainy-brain-sunny-brain/
Bath Literary Festival (2nd March)
Charles Fernyhough and Elaine Fox use genetics, neurology, and psychology to discuss memory and optimism.
Brighton Science Festival, Catalyst Club (28th February)
How full is that glass? And does it matter? Elaine Fox explores the connection between optimism and happiness, and shows the new techniques for training happiness into the brain.
www.brightonscience.com/2013/category/28th-catalyst-club/
Sceptics in the Pub, Oxford (6th February)
Thinking and drinking. That is the unlikely goal of Sceptics in the Pub. Each month a speaker is invited to talk about an area of belief and to invite critical debate. Sceptical though, challenging discussions and humour are encouraged!
Café Scientifique in The Minories, Colchester (9th January)
What makes us happy or sad and how we can brighten our lives by retraining our brains will be discussed at the latest Café Scientifique talk in Colchester.
Rainy Brain Sunny Brain out now in Sweden
Rainy Brain Sunny Brain has just be released in Sweden with the title Håll koll på din hjärna or “Keep track of your brain”.
The book is published by Norstedts and available to buy online from www.bokus.com
Can we learn to be happy?
Elaine Fox will be giving a talk at the Stevens Institute in New York on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 3-4:30pm, in the Babbio Auditorium at The Center for Science Writings.
Are happiness and optimism primarily inherited traits, products of our genes? Or can they be learned and cultivated? If so, how? Elaine Fox, a psychologist and neuroscientist with joint appointments at the University of Oxford and University of Essex, is one of the world’s foremost researchers of these urgent questions. In this talk, she will present findings from her marvelous new book Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain.
The Center for Science Writings (CSW) is part of the College of Arts & Letters. All CSW events are free and open to the public. For more information see the CSW website, www.stevens.edu/cal/csw, or contact CSW Director John Horgan, jhorgan@stevens.edu.
Richard Bacon Show
Elaine appeared on the Richard Bacon Show on BBC Radio 5 Live this week to discuss optimism and pessimism and her new book Rainy Brain Sunny Brain.
Win a free copy of Rainy Brain Sunny Brain
Research Digest have five copies to give away of Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain by Professor Elaine Fox, kindly provided by William Heinemann.
For a chance to win a copy, please post a comment to their blog entry explaining why you’re optimistic about the future (please leave an email address). Research Digest will pick five winners at random next Friday.
Good luck!
Dublin book tour
Elaine recently took a book tour of her hometown Dublin. She was interviewed on The John Murray Show on RTE Radio and also appeared on The Ray Darcy Show on Today FM. Elaine also made a guest appearance on Ireland AM with Sinead Desmond and Mark Cagney and was such a success that the local bookshops sold out of Rainy Brain Sunny Brain!
You can find further details of her radio and television interviews and watch Elaine’s appearance on Ireland AM in the Media section.
Up-coming events
Elaine will be chatting to Ray Darcy on this Today FM show in Ireland on Tuesday 31st July at 10.30 am.
She will also be chatting to Richard Bacon about Rainy Brain and Sunny Brain on his BBC Radio 5 Live Show on Wednesday 15th August from around 2:45 until 3:15.
Are you a glass half-full, or a half-empty type of person? Or do you swing both ways? Could you change your approach if you wanted to? Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers because Professor Elaine Fox will be on hand to help you understand just what makes you tick from an entirely scientific point of view.
Incurable Optimist Michael J. Fox on Rainy Brain Sunny Brain
Actor and famous optimist Micheal J. Fox offers the following thoughts on Rainy Brain Sunny Brain. “Every day I send my kids out the door to school with this admonition, “you can choose to be happy.” More often than not, they roll their eyes, but in Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain Elaine Fox (no relation) offers a scientific argument for my contention. After much research, and in comprehensive, but comprehensible detail, Professor Fox provides a mental map to the sunny side of the street. For optimists and pessimists alike, this fascinating book is a must read, (and I’m not just saying that because I’m in it).”
In 2009, Elaine Fox flew to New York to take part in ABC TV programme ‘The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist’ with Micheal J. Fox to explore the nature of optimism and its transformative power.
As part of the programme Professor Fox was asked to test the actor, renowned for maintaining an optimistic outlook despite a long-term battle with Parkinson’s Disease, to see whether he had the so-called ‘happy gene’ identified by the research.
Professor Fox said: ‘It was fantastic to take part in the programme which attracted 10.6 million viewers and did indeed show that Michael had the variation of the gene which we have shown is linked to a tendency to look on the bright side of life. The interest from the media and the wider public in this work has been fantastic as I think it’s crucial to try to use these opportunities to communicate research as widely as possible.’
Rainy Brain Sunny Brain: The Lost Lecture
In this short talk Elaine Fox discusses how our fear systems and reward systems connect with higher centres to shape how positively (or negatively) we perceive life.
She uses the analogy of a river carving out a valley to describe how it is that we end up thinking a certain way, and discusses ways that we can ‘change’ the way we think using some well established methods.
Available online now!
In Rainy Brain Sunny Brain, Elaine Fox describes a range of techniques that can actually alter our brains’ circuitry so lifelong pessimists can train themselves to think positively and find happiness, while pleasure-seekers inclined toward risky or destructive behavior can take control of their lives.
