TED Blog » Elizabeth Gilbert

In short: A powerful spoken word reflection on bullying, the history of Bill Cosby’s sweaters

Thu-Huong Ha — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:20:04 +0000

Here, some staff picks of smart, funny, bizarre and cool stuff on the interwebs this week:

In case you haven’t seen it yet, To This Day is a beautiful collaborative project that combines spoken word poetry and a flurry of eclectic animations to raise awareness about bullying.

Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printingSoon you, too, will turn out to be a replica of yourself made from a 3D printer. For now, a two-million-year-old whale fossil will suffice. [CENtral Science] Watch seven TED Talks on the wonder of 3D printing.

The famous Bill Cosby sweater has a surprisingly interesting history. [Smithsonian.com]

In the 1950s, nuclear bombs increased the amount of Carbon-14 in the air, allowing scientists today to carbon date human tissue. [Smithsonian.com]

Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?A new paper by TED Fellow Jessica Green on better ways to estimate diversity in the body. [Phys.org]

Did you know: You only need 39 digits of pi to be able to measure the circumference of the observable universe? Now you do. [YouTube] Watch 9-year-old Chirag Singh confess his irrational love for Pi at TEDxYouth@BommerCanyon.

The true story of a false story that just wouldn’t die. [Ars technica] Check out our playlist, Media with Meaning, for many talks on the future of journalism.

Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative geniusAre all writers miserable? Philip Roth says yes; Elizabeth Gilbert says no; writer Avi Steinberg weighs in. [The New Yorker Page-turner blog] Watch Gilbert’s classic TED Talk, “Your elusive creative genius.”

A thoroughly fascinating look at the “extraordinary science of addictive junk food.” [NY Times] Reminds us of Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish.

Go behind the scenes of a TEDTalk

Emily McManus — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:00:00 +0000

It’s our third anniversary of posting TEDTalks free to the world! We started in June 2006 with our first six talks — including Sir Ken Robinson, Al Gore, Majora Carter … Three years and 486 talks later, we hope you’ll enjoy this mini-documentary, “Behind the TEDTalk.” It stars TED Curator Chris Anderson and the TED team, and a roster of speakers you love: Elizabeth Gilbert, Hans Rosling, Seth Godin and more, in a 6-minute look behind the scenes:

Download the “Behind the TEDTalk” documentary:

+ Zipped MP4
+ Unzipped MP4
+ Unzipped high-def (480p)

Our thanks to the m ss ng p eces team, and to the speakers, thinkers and doers whose interviews tell this story.

4 great talks for International Women's Day

Emily McManus — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:30:00 +0000

To celebrate March 8, International Women’s Day, we suggest these four TEDTalks gems from some amazing speakers — artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women.

Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism — and the power of passionate thinkers and doers:

The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, talks about one key opportunity to grow African economies — by investing in women and the businesses they start:

(For more, watch Jacqueline Novogratz >>)

Scientist Nalini Nadkarni explores the world of the forest canopy — and shares her findings with the world below, through dance, art and bold partnerships. She’s working to inspire the next generation of women scientists:

The wonderful Nellie McKay sings “Mother of Pearl” (with the immortal first line “Feminists don’t have a sense of humor”) and “If I Had You” from her sparkling set at TED2008:

Find these four and many more astonishing women (including the legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, oceanographers Sylvia Earle and Tierney Thys, games theorist Brenda Laurel, Zipcar inventor Robin Chase … ) on TED.com >>

A different way to think about creative genius: Elizabeth Gilbert on TED.com

tedstaff — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Fresh from TED2009, Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 19:29.)

Watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 360+ TEDTalks — including more talks about creativity.

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TED2009 minutes from Erik Hersman: Elizabeth Gilbert on ruining genius

tedstaff — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:22:13 +0000

Erik Hersman is liveblogging his experience at TED2009 while Ethan Zuckerman takes a day off to accept an award in another location. His most recent update is on Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”. Just an excerpt from the piece:

“Elizabeth weaves an insightful story of artists, success and pressure. She asks if she’s doomed. What if she never replicates the success of her past book? Is it rational or logical to be afraid of the work that we were put on this earth to do? Why have artists and writers had this history of manic depressive and mental illnesses? Why does artistry always lead to mental anguish?”

Elizabeth poses an interesting question — should we be romanticizing tortured geniuses, or helping them?

Photo: Elizabeth Gilbert at TED2009, Session 5: Understand, Feb. 5, 2009, Long Beach, CA credit: TED / Asa Mathat