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Radiant Minds

By: Greenlawn Drive Productions, Audiation, Oliver Sacks Foundation
Narrated by: Indre Viskontas
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Psychology Sociology
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Episodes
  • Trailer

    Trailer
    Apr 6 2022

    Radiant Minds: The World of Oliver Sacks investigates consciousness, the brain, and the human experience, drawing inspiration from works by the neurologist and beloved author Oliver Sacks. Oliver cared for people with misunderstood neurological conditions at a time when many in the medical community had turned their backs on them.

    Radiant Minds expands upon his work and harnesses the emotional power of some of his greatest stories to address broader themes of neurodiversity, identity, and individuality. Each installment of this show introduces listeners to a world of scientific wonder: stories of incredible resilience in the face of life-altering neurological conditions and the powers of the human brain we often take for granted. You'll hear from some of his patients, as well as scientists, and artists whose insights will invite you to think about your own brain with a newfound sense of respect. Every second awaits discovery, much like Oliver's own life.

    *Contains sensitive material*
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    3 mins
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  • A Badass Neurologist

    A Badass Neurologist
    Apr 14 2022
    Who was Oliver Sacks, and why are we still talking about him?
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    37 mins
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  • At What Cost

    At What Cost
    Apr 14 2022
    What if Sleeping Beauty had taken four decades to awaken, and her prince had become an old man?
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    49 mins
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About the Creator and Performer

Indre Viskontas is a neuroscientist, opera stage director, and science communicator across all mediums. Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, she is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco where she runs The Creative Brain Lab, and the Creative Director of Pasadena Opera. She leads the Communications Core at the Sound Health Network, promoting research and public awareness of the impact music can have on our health and well-being. She directed Kat’a Kabanova at the California Shakespeare Theater for West Edge Opera in the summer of 2021.
Dr. Viskontas received a BSc in psychology and French literature from the University of Toronto, an MM degree in vocal performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA. She has published more than 50 articles and book chapters related to the neural basis of memory, music and creativity. Her scientific work has been featured in Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, Nature: Science Careers, and Discover Magazine. She has also written for American Scientist, MotherJones.com, Vitriol Magazine, and other publications. Her first book, How Music Can Make You Better, was published by Chronicle Books in 2019.
She has co-hosted several TV and web series, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, PBS NewsHour, major radio stations across the US, including NPR’s City Arts & Lectures and the CBC’s The Sunday Edition. She is the host of the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds, downloaded more than 14 million times. Her other podcast, Cadence: what music tells us about the mind was a finalist for the Science Media awards, a 2021 Webby Awards Honoree, and is in its third season, with over 100,000 downloads. She is also the host and writer of the Audible Original podcast Radiant Minds: the World of Oliver Sacks.
She often gives keynote talks, for organizations as diverse as Genentech, the Dallas Symphony, SXSW, TEDx and Ogilvy along with frequent invited talks at conferences and academic institutions. She has created three 24-lecture courses for The Great Courses: Essential Scientific Concepts, Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience, and How Digital Technology Shapes Us. Her fourth course called The Creative Brain will be released in August 2022.

Dear Listener,

What inspired my focus on Oliver Sacks's work, and what do I hope you will take away from this listen and Sacks's legacy?
"Like so many of my peers, I became a neuroscientist thanks to Oliver Sacks's poetic and profound stories about the human brain. When I was a teenager, I even wrote him a letter to ask him, essentially, how I could end up just like him. He wrote back that becoming a physician gave him a privileged view of the lives of his patients, and through them, he was able to get a 'feeling for the organism.' I love that idea—that by listening, by observing and holding space for others, we get a little closer to understanding ourselves. There's so much neuroscience out there now, and we can easily get lost in the headlines or flashy findings. But there's so much to be gained by slowing down for a minute and taking a deep dive into what it's like to inhabit a brain.
I hope that you, listeners, will have many driveway moments—moments in which you delay a chore or an activity because you are so immersed in the story we're telling and don't want to turn it off. And I hope that you will leave the series a little more curious, a little more hopeful, having found a little more meaning in your life. As Oliver pointed out, it's a privilege to be a sentient human on this beautiful planet, but it's so easy to forget that in our modern existence." – Indre Viskontas, creator of Radiant Minds

Enjoy the Trailer for Radiant Minds

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What listeners say about Radiant Minds

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Profile Image for P

I can’t wait for the first episode

I have always been passionate about the brain and people, and although I don’t know if I’ve got what it takes to be a neurologist I will always be fascinated of this topic. I will never stop seeking stories and information about it. So here I am waiting for more! Because I absolutely loved the trailer.

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Thank you

I adore Oliver Sacks and the world lost something special when he passed. This series would have made him so proud, I think. It was wonderful to learn more about him, more about the cases he wrote about, and about neurology. Thank you for this gift.

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Profile Image for Rachel

Highly recommend!!!!!

Absolutely incredible podcast. When asked the question, "If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?" I immediately think of this most amazing human. This podcast does an awesome job of capturing what I feel must have been the essence of Oliver Sacks, his work, and his fascination in each individual human he touched as a neurologist and as a person. Highly recommend!!!

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incredibly insightful

Excellent topic and presentation. Simultaneously provocative and humbling. A catalyst for becoming a better human through understanding and empathy.

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Profile Image for Laura

Outstanding!

I wish I could give this podcast at least 6 or 7 stars! And I don’t really listen to podcasts - I prefer audiobooks usually. I was already a fan of Dr. Sacks since reading “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat” years ago, but despite the vague desire to do so, I hadn’t read his other works. But I started it last night, stayed up too late, and listened straight through today - I could scarcely put it down. I was interested to learn about the strange things people’s brain scan do, but I undervalued Dr. Sacks and his friend Andrea, who developed and narrated the podcast (whose name I’m sure I can’t spell right). This is a podcast about people’s real human stories, and the way these individual people’s experiences illuminate what it is to be embodied, operated by a brain, mind, and heart - what it is to be alive and human. It was simply outstanding, and its power was amplified greatly through the stories about the great doctor himself, his own traumas and challenges, and many ways he himself was also unique. I plan to recommend the podcast to my co-workers, family, and friends.

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Profile Image for Htsai

very good overview of how mind works

exceptional minds and conditions explained scientifically. interesting stories. makes you appreciate your brain and what it does.

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Just Incredible

It was reading a Oliver Sacks book again and dive into our brain. Fantastic

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I wish there were more episodes

Absolutely riveting. Perfect for those interested in stories behind the science of medicine and psychiatry, and around the great Oliver Sacks.

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Insightful and enjoyable

I have read and listened to many of Oliver Sacks works, but found this at another level, and provided insight into his work, and how we will use it in the future

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Profile Image for Alison Sattler

Captivating

The personal stories made learning about different ways our brains work enlightening and fascinating. I found myself comparing how my own experiences, cognitive abilities and reactions compared to those described in these stories, and appreciated learning why we humans are so different from one another.

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