Dacher Keltner - Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life

Kepler's was lucky enough to have well-known positive emotions reseacher Dacher Keltner address an audience of 85 people at the store on January 28, 2009. Host Bobbi Emel reports:

Dr. Keltner's book is an interesting study of the science of positive emotions. Drawing on the work of Darwin and, more recently, Paul Ekman, Keltner attempts to disprove the idea that humans are wired to live "nasty, brutish" lives. Instead, he discusses how positive emotions have been vital in the evolution of our species.

Although his subject matter runs the risk of becoming dry due to the scientific nature of it, Dr. Keltner writes with clarity and humor, capturing the interest of the reader from the start. Luckily for the large audience that attended the event, he also is a great speaker, entertaining and witty while still being able to easily explain his findings in the book.

Dr. Keltner, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, brought a graduate student, Chris, with him and we were lucky enough to hear about some of the early studies Chris is doing on the vagus nerve. They are finding that positive emotions are also related to the vagus nerve and that a number of maladies from depression to autism may potentially be treated by stimulating this nerve.

The audience had a number of interesting questions which were met with more interesting answers and all involved seemed very pleased with the night's event.

Francis Dinkelspiel - Towers of Gold

Marilyn Alexander hosted this event held on January 27, 2009:

Highlights: This biography of Isaias Hellman, the author's great-great-grandfather, involves a substantial slice of California history. Frances knows her material well having spent 8 years on the project. She went through over 50,000 pages of archival documents. She traveled around the country and to Germany for her research. When Isaias Hellman first came to Los Angeles, English was the third language after Spanish and French. There was no telegraph line, and the only way to get there from San Francisco was by steamer which took 2 days. Hellman started with one store and expanded to the point where he was the California's leading financier in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was the owner of 3 banks and on the board of 14 others. In the incident that gives the book its name, he stopped a financial panic in 1893 by piling up on a bank counter $500,000 of his own money in gold coins. (There were $20 gold coins then.) He had a significant impact on the development of both Los Angeles and San Francisco. He donated the land for USC; he was actively involved in the financial recovery of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake; and he was a UC Regent for 37 years. He was a major investor and promoter of eight industries that shaped California: banking, transportation, education, land development, water, electricity, oil, and wine.

Giovanni Tempesta - The Cremation of Sam McGee and Other Verses by Robert Service: An Italian Translation

Kepler's event host Bobbi Emel reports on the January 26, 2009 event:

This was probably the most unique event I've hosted, narrowly squeaking out the Irene Pepperberg event where we had African Grey parrots in the audience.

When I first saw the title of this book and event come into my email inbox a few months ago I thought, "What is going on here?" I emailed Pam, our events coordinator, and asked if Dr. Tempesta would be reciting Service's poetry in Italian. Yes, she said, but he needs someone to read it in English as well.

Pick me! Pick me!

Why? As a college student in the great state of Washington and then during my graduate years here in California, I spent seven summers in Alaska. For three summers I canned salmon at a cannery "out in the bush" and the next four summers I spent driving a tour bus for Holland America Line and giving tours from my base of Anchorage. Many people have never heard of Robert Service, "The Bard of the Yukon", but I had read and memorized several of his poems that I recited to my passengers as we made our way on a three-day trip from Valdez, Alaska, through Canada's Yukon Territory, and then down into Skagway, Alaska, one of the starting points of the Gold Rush.

Luckily for me, both Giovanni and Pam picked me to read the English version of Service's poems during the event. Giovanni Tempesta is a Stanford professor and he is a charming and kind man. Thus, I wasn't surprised when 90 people showed up to hear a somewhat obscure American poet's work read in English and Italian. (Poor floor shift leader Mack, however, was quite surprised. However, he was Mack-on-the-spot and deftly set up more and more and more chairs as people came in. Thanks again, Mack!) Giovanni and I had run through the poems once before the public reading and were set to go when the event began. Giovanni gave a short introduction and then we read first "The Spell of the Yukon" followed by "The Cremation of Sam McGee." Giovanni apologized to the audience for not being able to put a southern drawl on Sam McGee's part ("now Sam McGee was from Tennessee where the cotton blooms and blows") in Italian but it was definitely I who was overshadowed by Giovanni's dramatic reading complete with vintage Italian hand and arm gestures. We read verse by verse, trading off until we finished each poem.

The audience seemed to really enjoy it and I know that both Giovanni and I did as well. We also read a couple of poems from his own book of poetry which will be coming out sometime in May. Giovanni had printed out the poems onto sheets of paper as souvenirs for the audience.

Giovanni's former student and long-time friend Roy Borrone invited all to his cafe next door for coffee and biscotti to celebrate the event.