 Archaeology writer Brian Fagan will be at National Geographic tonight discussing his book, The Great Warming. Photograph by Lesley Newhart, courtesy of National Geographic. |
DCist’s guide to lectures and panel discussions in the D.C. area
This week, we’ve got discussions on climate change, the Muslim world, sex, freedom, finances and the new Don DeLillo.
Monday:
>> Tonight at 6:30 p.m., the Goethe Institute presents a lecture with author, classical music lover and amateur organist Jean-Pierre Grivois. His biography of Johann Sebastian Bach is based on 20 years of research and is stock full of anecdotes about the composer’s life. RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext.164 or rsvp [at] washington.goethe.org.
>> At 7:30 p.m., archeology writer Brian Sagan will be at National Geographic discussing his book, The Great Warming: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations. The book focuses on the Medieval Warm Period, which brought happy harvests to Europe but drought and famine to North and Central America, and explores how we can learn from the climate changes of the past. $18.
>> The 14th Street location of Busboys and Poets has an interesting book reading tonight at 6:30 p.m. Josh Barkan will be reading from Blind Speed, about which Busboys claims “Not since Don DeLillo and George Saunders has a writer caught the humor and irreverent seriousness of our time like Barkan has through his protagonist Paul Berger, a flawed hero whose so-called fate drives him toward enlightenment just as surely as it propels him to destruction.” Sounds promising.
Tuesday:
>> MacArthur Genius Grant award winner and author of such awesome compendiums as The Way Things Work and Castle, David Macauley is releasing his first book in five years, The Way We Work, an illustrated explanation of complete human anatomy. He’ll be at an unfortunately scheduled early reading at Politics and Prose tomorrow (seriously P&P, this book is not really for kids!). 10:30 a.m.
>> Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., a panel discussion titled Iran: Another Intelligence Failure in the Making? will be at the Spy Museum. The panel consists of three authors: a former CIA staffer, an economist and a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation. $15.
>> As part of the four part Focal Point series, National Geographic presents Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World at 7:30 p.m. Photojournalist Alexandra Avakian show her photographs and tell of her two decades spent documenting the Muslim world. Tickets cost $18, or $60 for the whole series.
>> The 14th Street Busboys hosts another interesting option tonight at 6 p.m., an open mic titled Raise Your Voice against Intimate Partner Violence. The Rainbow Response Coalition asks participants to share how they have been affected by “intimate partner violence” in spoken word or song. Email info [at] RainbowResponse.org for more info.
