Notes on Modern Irrationality with Bestselling Author Amanda Montell

Join us as we chat with the New York Times bestselling author, Amanda Montell about her newest book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality. 

In a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking, Amanda Montell now turns her erudite eye to the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in her most personal and electrifying work yet.

“Magical thinking” can be broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell argues that in the modern information age, our brain’s coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our irrationality turned up to an eleven.

In a series of razor sharp, deeply funny chapters, Montell delves into a cornucopia of the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains, from how the “halo effect” cultivates worship (and hatred) of larger-than-life celebrities, to how the “sunk cost fallacy” can keep us in detrimental relationships long after we’ve realized they’re not serving us. As she illuminates these concepts with her signature brilliance and wit, Montell’s prevailing message is one of hope, empathy, and ultimately forgiveness for our anxiety-addled human selves. If you have all but lost faith in our ability to reason, Montell aims to make some sense of the senseless. To crack open a window in our minds, and let a warm breeze in. To help quiet the cacophony for a while, or even hear a melody in it. 

Don't be irrational, register now for a conversation you just don’t want to miss! 

Join the conversation and register at https://libraryc.org/santacruzpl/64986.

For upcoming author talks, visit https://libraryc.org/santacruzpl/upcoming.

SCPL's Virtual Author Talks are made possible by the Friends of the Capitola Library.

About the Author: Amanda Montell is a writer and linguist from Baltimore. She is the author of the acclaimed books Wordslut, Cultish, and The Age of Magical Overthinking. Along with hosting the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and more. She holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in Los Angeles with her partner, plants, and pets. Find her on Instagram @Amanda_Montell.

Tasting Life Twice

Stephany's story is one of Triumph over adversity. As an only child of two alcoholic parents, she had no one to confide in or help her. She was told time and time again she would amount to nothing. So she found another family, the hippies. They believed they could change the world and as the Vietnam war raged she did too, tripping on LSD and smoking pot. Then her parents died and she was left an orphan. But the one thing she had going for her was a huge determination to prove people wrong about her. She could amount to something and baking was her way in! 

Stephany Buswell is now a retired pastry chef instructor. She worked in the baking industry for many years. Mostly at local places like the Staff of Life Bakery, Gayles Bakery, her own place Stephany's Desserts and the Buttery before she landed a job teaching at Cabrillo College Culinary Arts Department and the International Culinary Center. 

Her stories will reflect the time she learned about her craft at these local institutions. 

Elbina Batala Rafizadeh, a local poet and former public health nurse for Santa Cruz County, will be reading from her first published book of poetry, “Keepers of the Malicgong Rice Terraces.”  This collection of poems describes her experiences as a Filipina Indigenous, nature, and social injustices. In the second half of this event, you will also have an opportunity to write about your experiences through a writing prompt followed by an optional reading with the group. She has led a short story writing group and poetry groups at various times since 1996. She is a member of the Santa Cruz Writers of Color and is President of the Garfield Park Library Friends Chapter.

Can we reverse climate change? Join us for a viewing of the documentary Ice on Fire which explores the many ways we can reduce carbon inputs to the atmosphere and, more important, how to "draw" carbon down, bringing CO2 out of the atmosphere and thus paving the way for global temperatures to go down.

There will be a discussion and Q&A after the film.  Author of California Catastrophes, Gary B. Griggs, will be moderator. 

Dr. Griggs has been a professor of Earth Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz since 1968.  He was director of the UCSC Institute of Marine Sciences from 1991-2017. Griggs has written over 210 articles for professional journals as well as authored or co-authored fourteen books.

An Inside Look at Working with a Literary Agent: A Conversation with Seth Fishman

You’re writing a book (or thinking about it), but what happens next? Join us for an inside look into working with an agent and the beginning stages of the publishing process with Seth Fishman, Vice President and Literary Agent at The Gernert Company.

The Gernert Company represents more than 500 authors and is a full-service literary agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Their client list is as broad as the market and they represent fiction, both literary and commercial (such as Liz Moore, John Grisham, Louise Penny, Cixin Liu), as well as general nonfiction and practical nonfiction genres. 

In this presentation, Fishman will deep dive into what happens after you’ve signed with a literary agent. He will cover many topics, including but not limited to: 

This extended, 90-minute presentation, includes 30 minutes of Q&A. This is the year to make all of your publishing dreams come true. To learn about this beginning stage of the process, register now! 

Join the conversation and register at https://libraryc.org/santacruzpl/65465.

For upcoming author talks, visit https://libraryc.org/santacruzpl/upcoming.

About the Author: Head of the Los Angeles office, Seth is a Vice President and agent at The Gernert Company, which he joined in 2010 after beginning his career as an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Born in Midland, Texas, he graduated from Princeton University and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. His interests are wide-ranging, but in particular he's looking for the new voice, the original idea, the entirely breathtaking creative angle in both fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children, and is the author of the award-winning picture book, A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars, along with Power Up and The Ocean In Your Bathtub, as well as two YA books.

SCPL's Virtual Author Talks are made possible by the Friends of the Capitola Library.