Eleanor Wachtel is a journalist on C.B.C. radio. At the turn of the millennium she set out to interview some of the most inspiring men and women of our time in a radio series called “Original Minds”. Some of the people she interviewed include Bernardo Bertolucci, Umberto Eco, Gloria Steinem, Susan Sontag, Desmond Tutu and Jane Goodall. This book is a record of these interviews.
Reading this book is like watching the movie “My Dinner with Andre” or evesdropping on a really interesting dinner conversation. Wachtel’s questions are insightful and informed with her extension background knowledge of each of the interviewees. The participants speak spontaneously about their childhoods, their education, their philosophies and beliefs.
All of these people seemed to have unique educational experiences in one way or another. All of them spoke of their love of reading and books from an early age. Many of these thinkers are older and speak about their experiences of the twentieth century in their own interesting perspectives. They convey their hopes and concerns for the next millennium in deeply moving ways.
Some of the interviews that I found the most interesting were those from the people whose work was across disciplines. Jonathan Miller, George Steiner, Harold Bloom, Jared Diamond and Umberto Eco in particular and known for their educational background and work in more than one field. I’ve always found the ideas of people who work across disciplines to be the most enlightening.
I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good intellectual discussion and some interesting insights on where we have been and where we are going.
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