La matematica della vita
un progetto UniVerso – Università di Torino, Prometeo – Politecnico di Torino e Fondazione Circolo dei lettori

Siamo soliti associare la matematica all’inorganico: lavagne coperte di formule, pianeti che vagano nello spazio profondo, macchine per calcolare. La vita, invece, ci sembra fatta solo di conti che non tornano, dunque pare l’antimatematica per eccellenza: ma non è così. Tutto ciò che è vivente segue leggi matematiche, solo più complicate di quelle che regolano l’inorganico. E come il borghese gentiluomo parlava in prosa senza saperlo, ognuno di noi è pieno di matematica a sua insaputa.


Le muse sapienti #5 - Piergiorgio Odifreddi

Finale XII edizione

Proclamazione dell’opera vincitrice, alla presenza degli autori e delle autrici candidati: Jan Brokken, La scoperta dell’Olanda (Iperborea); Mircea Cărtărescu, Theodoros (ilSaggiatore); Terézia Mora, La metà della vita (Gramma Feltrinelli); Paul Murray, Il giorno dell’ape (Einaudi); Iida Turpeinen, L’ultima sirena (Neri Pozza). Conduce Eva Giovannini.

il premio è promosso da Fondazione Maria e Goffredo Bellonci e Strega Alberti Benevento
in collaborazione con BPER Banca, Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino e Fondazione Circolo dei lettori
sponsor tecnici Feltrinelli Librerie e Sygla

Premio Strega Europeo 2025 - Paul Murray, Il giorno dell’ape (Einaudi)

Premio Strega Europeo 2025 - Iida Turpeinen, L’ultima sirena (Neri Pozza)

Simona Bertozzi - Claudio Pasceri - Francesco Giomi - Berio a colori - Romaeuropa 2025


In this episode, we talk about the importance of sociology to Annie Ernaux’s Nobel-Prize-winning literary project, specifically focusing on the influence of Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of ‘habitus’. Our special guest, Clare Carlisle, Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London, introduces the concept, explaining what Bourdieu hoped to achieve by coining a new term to designate the idea of a collective disposition or class sensibility. Together, focusing on the opening of The Years (2008), Ernaux’s magnum opus, we consider the ways in which the book’s treatment of self, class, and nation can be read as ‘applied Bourdieu’. 

Our philosophical starting-point is a chapter by Karl Maton entitled ‘Habitus’ and published in Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, ed. Michael Grenfell, 2012. 

Our literary focus is on pages x-51 of Annie Ernaux’s The Years in Alison L. Strayer’s translation (Fitzcarraldo, 2018).

Hosts: 

Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor of English at University College London.
Alice Harberd, PhD student in the Philosophy Department at University College London.

Guest: 
Clare Carlisle, Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London.

Keywords: 

#AnnieErnaux #TheYears #LesAnnées #NobelPrize #Literature #Autofiction #contemporaryculture #sociology #PierreBourdieu #aesthetics #philosophy #philosophyofmind #theself #interdisciplinarity #contemporarywriting #RachelCusk #Outlinetrilogy #class #habitus #subjectivity #sharedsubjectivity


Season 2, Episode 1  - The Sociological Self, with special guest Prof. Clare Carlisle

Learn how to cope with and heal from climate anxiety in this groundbreaking guide by “the most prominent American advocate of ecopsychology” (New York Times).
 
If you ever find yourself doomscrolling news stories about climate change, experience bouts of panic about looming climate-related disasters, or are overcome with sadness thinking about the state of the Earth we are leaving future generations to inherit, you are not alone. With climate disasters mounting and solutions feeling ever more elusive, eco-anxiety is rapidly becoming one of the biggest mental health threats of our time.

Surviving Climate Anxiety is the essential guide to coping with the psychological impacts of persistent environmental crisis. In it, the world’s leading climate anxiety expert Dr. Thomas Doherty shares his pioneering, evidence-based methods to help you:
 
Reclaim your nervous system: manage your thoughts and feelings, and stress about climate change
Understand your environmental identity: your history, values, and connection to the natural world
Prioritize eco-wellness: Utilize arts, creativity, and spirituality as tools for flourishing
Liberate yourself from living as a climate hostage: overcome fear of climate disasters and tend to eco-depression and grief
Broaden your horizons of hope: cultivate optimism through stewardship and action
 
Packed with practical, research-backed tips and dozens of stories – from the geologist haunted by images of melting glaciers, to the young couple agonizing over whether to bring a child into a world on fire, to a twenty-something wondering what it was like back when people believed in a future – Surviving Climate Anxiety  provides the tools to cope, heal, and flourish, even in these times.

Surviving Climate Anxiety by Dr. Thomas Doherty read by Tim Andrés Pabon

This heartwarming small-town holiday love story about hope and healing from USA Today bestselling author Annie Rains is perfect for fans of Susan Mallery and Jenny Hale!

Sometimes the best gifts aren’t under the tree.

Everyone has a story to tell. And for Mallory Blue, her grandmother Nan’s community theater and annual Christmas play has been a beloved tradition for as long as she can remember. But this year is different. With Nan losing her memories to dementia, Mallory has taken on more than she can handle—including directing this year’s show.

Two things are keeping Mallory going: A journal that tells the story behind each handmade ornament on Nan’s tree. And Hollis, who volunteers to play Santa to spend time with Mallory and prove he’s no longer the rebellious boy she knew growing up.

As Mallory reads through Nan’s entries, she realizes there’s so much she never knew about her grandmother. And when Mallory has big decisions to make in both her personal and professional life, it’s Nan’s wise advice and Hollis’s steadfast support that will hold the key to this year’s holiday magic.

The Christmas Keepsake by Annie Rains read by Ann Richardson

Celebrate the defining moments of a great American painter’s journey to creating his own voice in this stunning portrait of Andrew Wyeth. 

Andrew Wyeth is one of the greatest American painters of the twentieth century. Before he found his creative voice, he was a boy growing up in an artistic family, spending his time in rural Pennsylvania and Maine. Andy, as he was called by his family, was trained by his father, renowned artist N.C. Wyeth, but they didn’t always see eye to eye. Pa wanted his son to work in bold, bright colors, and to fill his compositions with exciting characters and places. But to Andy, the most exciting stories to paint were the ones he lived every day, that featured the familiar people and places he loved most. 

Here’s a portrait of a masterful American painter whose childhood shaped the painter he would become. It showcases Andrew Wyeth’s unique world. The back matter includes six reproductions of celebrated Wyeth paintings. 

“A truly fantastic book for those who are young and young at heart. Gene Barretta does an incredible job of tracing my grandfather’s evolution as an artist from a little boy to a ninety-one-year old man.  This thoughtful book takes readers inside Andy’s head and allows us to look at the world through his eyes.” – Victoria Browning Wyeth

The Apprenticeship of Andrew Wyeth by Gene Barretta read by Bill Barretta

Mystery and adventure collide in this humorous and heartfelt multiverse adventure from beloved, award-winning authors Wendy Mass and Nora Raleigh Baskin.  

Twelve-year-old Piper’s life has always been unusual: her parents are clockmakers whose inventions are anything but ordinary, and she’s the only kid she knows with a robotic talking dog. But her life takes a turn for the truly bizarre when she discovers her parents are in jeopardy and the key to saving them is a book full of strange equations.  

When Raisa and Lev travel through the portal to Piper’s world, Raisa can finally prove that her mother’s multiverse project worked. Now, she just needs the book containing her mother’s equations to get back to her world…if only she can find it! As Raisa and Piper adventure to the bounds of the multiverse, they’ll need to discover their place in the world if they ever want to find their way back home.  

The Planet, the Portal, and a Pizza by Wendy Mass and Nora Raleigh Baskin read by Madeleine Curry and Valerie Gutierrez

A gripping narrative that uses the case files of Tony Cornell and the Society for Physical Research to examine our interactions and obsessions with all things paranormal.

Tony Cornell spent his life probing the very edges of reality. A member of the UK’s Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Cornell’s role as an investigator of so-called “spontaneous cases” saw him returning time and again to the unsettling spaces that exist just on the periphery of our ordered, tidy, and rational lives, and which we all do our best to ignore: Ghosts. Spirits. Premonitions. Psychic powers. Glimpses of other worlds that throw into question everything we take for granted about life, death, and material existence itself.

This page-turner draws on Cornell’s casefiles, which survive as uniquely untapped repository of stories reported by ordinary people, as well as correspondence between some of the great intellectuals of the 20th century—including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and Marie Curie. By applying logical rigor to the investigation of events that could not be explained by conventional science, the SPR drew notable figures to its ranks as it gathered the most meticulous records ever compiled on hauntings, spiritual possessions, and other enduring mysteries.

Award-winning journalist Ben Machell mines the extensive archives of the SPR for the first time to reveal the untold history of the secretive organization, and to understand our interactions and ceaseless fascination with the unexplained.

Chasing the Dark by Ben Machell read by Richard Attlee

A practical guide to using witchcraft and the power of the written word to develop a magical creative practice.

Word Witches are spellcasters of language. They are storytellers, poets, writers, and ritualists who know that writing anything is a form of channeling: spirits, ancestors, collective dreams, and their most authentic and surprising selves. Word Witch is a joyful guide and companion, helping writers build a creative practice rooted in magic.
 
Writer and witch Kate Belew invites readers to craft altars of language, offering simple writing rituals that will spark inspiration and equip writers to build their own thriving creative writing practice. Readers will learn to conjure creativity and imagination, defy the silence of writer’s block, build a circle of community support, and cast spells that spread magic across the page. Much like the movements of the moon and the earth’s seasons, creativity also has cycles that readers will learn to expect and embrace. Word Witch encourages creatives to reclaim their imagination and give themselves permission to write freely, expressively, and magically.

Weaving together magic and creativity, paying homage to the intrinsic power of words to conjure and shape our lives, Word Witch guides readers across the page as they undergo the alchemy of becoming of writers. 

Word Witch by Kate Belew read by Kate Belew and Robin Rose Bennett

Promuove e produce cultura, tutti i giorni, per tutti, nelle sue tre sedi – Torino, Novara e Rivoli – con rassegne e festival. Un progetto di Regione Piemonte

Le muse sapienti #5 - Piergiorgio Odifreddi

Fondazione Circolo dei lettori

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