Join Science Writers in New York for
An Evening with Science Journalist Lydia Denworth,
Author of
Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond
Tuesday, March 3
6:30 to 8 pm
Science Writers in New York invites you to spend an evening with science journalist Lydia Denworth, who will discuss her new book Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond (published January 20th by W.W. Norton Inc).
Lydia will talk with SWINY co-chair David Levine about her book. She will answer questions about content and craft, and sign books, which will be sold at a discount.
In Friendship, Lydia takes us in search of friendship’s biological, psychological, and evolutionary foundations. She finds friendship to be as old as early life on the African savannas―when tribes of people grew large enough for individuals to seek fulfillment of their social needs outside their immediate families.
Lydia sees this urge to connect reflected in primates, too, taking us to a monkey sanctuary in Puerto Rico and a baboon colony in Kenya to examine social bonds that offer insight into our own. She meets scientists at the frontiers of brain and genetics research and discovers that friendship is reflected in our brain waves, our genomes, and our cardiovascular and immune systems; its opposite, loneliness, can kill. At long last, social connection is recognized as critical to wellness and longevity.
Lydia weaves past and present, field biology and neuroscience, to show how our bodies and minds are designed for friendship across life stages, the processes by which healthy social bonds are developed and maintained, and how friendship is changing in the age of social media. Blending compelling science, storytelling, and a grand evolutionary perspective, Lydia delineates the essential role that cooperation and companionship play in creating human (and nonhuman) societies.
The book has received high praise. It has been named (to date) one of six must-read nonfiction books for winter by the Next Big Idea Club, one of 20 best leadership books for 2020 by Adam Grant and one of best books of 2020 by Real Simple.
Booklist starred review: “Denworth’s work achieves the best of science writing by making complicated concepts clear. She uses intelligent observation, empathy, and curiosity to offer a friendship manifesto that will absolutely affect readers’ own personal approaches to friendship.”
Wall Street Journal: “[Denworth] has a solid command of the complex material before her and a seemingly effortless ability to make it not just digestible but engaging…[She] sticks to the science, calmly telling us the truth no matter what we need to hear. What else are friends for?”
Library Journal: “Verdict: After reading Denworth’s treatise on friendship, you may want to immediately call your best friend or make a new one.”
Kirkus Reviews: “Convincing evidence that evolution endowed us with a need for friends, support, comfort, stimulation, and, ultimately, happiness.”
When:
Tuesday, March 3
6:30 to 8 p.m.
Refreshments will be provided.
Where:
The home of Chip and Susan Fisher
1060 5th Avenue on the northeast corner at 87th Street
Admission:
$10 for 2020 SWINY/NASW members
$15 for nonmembers
Space is limited. Please RSVP by Monday, February 24
RSVP: https://form.jotform.com/swiny/march-3-evening-with-lydia-denworth
