Lectures - Autumn 2009

Polymaths in a monopathic world

Speaker: Robert Twigger
10th October

We are all familiar with the idea of a Renaissance Man, but does it take an historical period such as the Renaissance or Islamic Spain to produce one? In this talk Robert Twigger looks at the historical circumstances that give rise to polymaths and polymathic behaviour and asks what, if anything, encourages such outbursts of multi-directional talent.

ROBERT TWIGGER is the author of several non-fiction books on subjects as diverse as martial arts, giant snakes and canoeing. This year Picador published his novel Dr Ragab’s Universal Language with a central character who is a polymath living in 1920s Cairo. There is much more by and about him on his blog.

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