Human Intelligence

Live from Hay Literary Festival 2025

Naomi Alderman and guests celebrate Human Intelligence at the Hay Literary Festival.

29 Dec 2025,·34 mins

Exiles: Karl Marx

Exploring the mind of Karl Marx, a revolutionary political thinker and philosopher.

05 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Exiles: Ishi

The mind of Ishi: how one man worked to preserve the knowledge of an entire community.

06 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Exiles: Marie Curie

Marie Curie had to go into exile to do her work, but she never forgot where she came from.

07 Jan 2026,·13 mins

Exiles: Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz

How did exile enable a self-taught intellectual and proto-feminist to do her best work?

08 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Exiles: Ovid

Ovid was Rome’s funniest, wittiest poet. How was his mind shaped by exile?

09 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Perfectionists: Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel wanted all his work to be the best, but it came at a cost.

12 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Perfectionists: Simone Weil

Simone Weil was a perfectionist of ethics, calling on us to attend to others’ suffering.

13 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Perfectionists: Al-Khwarizmi

Al-Khwarizmi laid the groundwork for the modern world in setting down the rules of algebra

14 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Perfectionists: Leonardo Da Vinci

The quintessential Renaissance man, artist Leonardo da Vinci was curious about everything.

15 Jan 2026,·14 mins

Perfectionists: Martha Graham

Martha Graham was to modern dance what Picasso was to painting.

16 Jan 2026,·14 mins

What Is Human Intelligence?

Naomi Alderman looks at brilliant minds from the past.

20 Dec 2024,·1 min

Disruptors: Socrates

Naomi Alderman explores the mind of Socrates, the original disruptor.

06 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Disruptors: George Washington

Naomi Alderman explores the mind of the first US president, George Washington.

07 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Disruptors: Mary Wollstonecraft

Naomi Alderman explores the mind of the brilliant feminist pioneer, Mary Wollstonecraft.

08 Jan 2025,·14 mins,·

Disruptors: Martin Luther

Naomi Alderton explores the mind of Martin Luther, who inspired the Protestant Reformation

09 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Disruptors: Malcolm X

Naomi Alderman explores the mind of Malcolm X and his role in black nationalism in the US.

10 Jan 2025,·15 mins

Teachers: Michael Faraday

An obsessive, meticulous intellect that gave us ideas behind world-changing technology.

13 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Teachers: Maimonides

The celebrated medieval philosopher who reconciled faith and reason.

14 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Teachers: Mary Somerville

A remarkable 19th-century polymath inspired by the natural world and the universe beyond.

15 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Teachers: Peter Ramus

A radical teacher who believed passionately in knowledge and education for all.

16 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Teachers: Diogenes

The irascible Greek thinker who lived in a barrel and argued for a simpler happier life.

17 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Collectors: Sei Shōnagon

The author of a Japanese masterpiece who saw the beauty and absurdity in everyday life.

20 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Collectors: Denis Diderot

The Enlightenment encyclopaedist; the ultimate interdisciplinary thinker.

21 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Collectors: Pamphila

A prolific historian from ancient Greece – female, freelance and working from home.

22 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Collectors: Samuel Johnson

Working in chaos at a desk strewn with papers, 'Dictionary Johnson' left a great legacy.

23 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Collectors: Charles Darwin

A life-long collector of curiosities, Darwin saw massive significance in tiny changes.

24 Jan 2025,·14 mins

Manhattan Project: J Robert Oppenheimer

The father of the atom bomb who longed to be an all-American hero.

17 Mar 2025,·14 mins

Manhattan Project: Niels Bohr

A scientific genius who saw poetry in the subatomic world

18 Mar 2025,·14 mins

Manhattan Project: John von Neumann

The game theory pioneer who made the information age possible.

19 Mar 2025,·14 mins