Big Ideas (audio)

Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry.

Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, on The Three New Commandments.

Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Hazel Carby looks at the historic relationship between England and Jamaica, including the history of the slave trade in Bristol and the complex question of identity for those of mixed British and West Indian heritage.

Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie.

Thomas Merritt, Canada Research Chair in Genomics and Bio-informatics at Laurentian University 19s department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, on the extent to which our genetic makeup is responsible for our talents and aptitudes.

The editor of Skeptic Magazine, Michael Shermer, delivers a lecture on his book Why People Believe Weird Things.

Michael Fullan of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education delivers a lecture entitled Schools in Need of Re-Education

Christopher Hitchens voices his opinion on the subject of the Hart House Debating Club debate: Be it resolved: Freedom of speech includes the freedom to hate.

Michael Ruse is professor of the philosophy of biology at Florida State University. In this lecture he addresses the question Is Darwinism Past its Sell-by Date?

Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the 1964 novel Herzog by Saul Bellow.

Simon Winchester on his book A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906.

Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel No Great Mischief by Alastair MacLeod.

Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek delivers his contribution to the Nuit Blanche symposium inspired by Wim Wenders film, Until the End of the World.

Robert Adams, author of A Love of Reading, discusses the novel The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

Salmon Akhtar on The Trauma of Geographical Dislocation, how immigration can affect a person's mental health.

Jordan Peterson on Slaying the Dragon Within Us. Peterson, a University of Toronto professor of psychology, talks about fear of the unknown and fear of dealing with problems.

Harvard University psychology professor, Steven Pinker, dicusses his book The Blank Slate.

Marc Abrahams, editor of The Annals of Improbably Research and one of the organizers of the annual Ig-Nobel Prize ceremonies at Harvard University, discusses the work of scientists and academics that, "first makes you laugh, and then makes you think".

Maude Barlow, National Chair of the citizens' advocacy organization The Council of Canadians, on Water: The Most Pressing Women's Issue of All.