In Human Intelligence, Naomi Alderman dissects the minds of brilliant thinkers from the past; examining the myriad ways in which humans think and realising that great minds don't, in fact, think alike.
In Human Intelligence, Naomi Alderman dissects the minds of brilliant thinkers from the past; examining the myriad ways in which humans think and realising that great minds don't, in fact, think alike.
Naomi Alderman looks at the remarkable way Denis Diderot connected ideas and people. In 18th-century Paris, he edited one of the very first encyclopaedias: twenty-eight volumes with tens of thousands of articles on everything from the concept of liberty to cutting-edge medical research, the manufacture of silk stockings and a recipe for apricot jam. Diderot was the perfect man for the job – energised by veering from one subject to the next and undeterred by fierce opposition from the Church or even a government ban on the entire project.
Special thanks to Kate Tunstall, Professor of French and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones Fellow in Modern Languages at Worcester College, University of Oxford.
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.