Author Shawn Otto to Speak in Northfield

Shawn  Otto, winner of the  2012 Minnesota Book Award in the general nonfiction category for his book  Fool Me Twice; Fighting the Assault on Science in America,  will speak on Thursday, September 27 at 7:00 at the Carleton College Weitz Center Cinema.  The program is presented by the Northfield Public Library, and co-sponsored by the Carleton College and St. Olaf College Libraries.

In his book, Otto states that the world’s major unsolved challenges all revolve around science.  Anti-science views from climate-change denial to creationism to vaccine refusal have become mainstream.  Faced with the daunting challenges of an environment under siege, an exploding population, a falling economy and an education system slipping behind,  some of our elected leaders are hard at work ... passing resolutions that say climate change is not real and astrology can control the weather.

Shawn  Otto has written a behind-the-scenes look at how the government, our politics, and the media prevent us from finding the real solutions we need - and offers suggestions about what we can do to change course. Fool Me Twice is the insightful, outraged, and frightening account of America’s relationship with science—a relationship that is on the rocks at the very time we need it most.

  Otto is an award-winning science advocate and humanitarian who works for smarter politics on a global scale. He organized a national science debate between Barack Obama and John McCain that was the largest political initiative in the history of science, and has been emulated in other nations. He again has organized science questions  for this year’s election between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.   His message is that science lies at the center of our great unsolved challenges and we have to find a better way of incorporating it into democracy.

Shawn has served in an advisory capacity for the National Academy of Sciences and the Union of Concerned Scientists' new Center for Science and Democracy. He is the immediate past board chair of the Loft Literary Center, America's leading literary center, where he was architect of their Loft 2.0 technology transition to online course and conference delivery.

This event is free and open to the public.  Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.  The Weitz Center is located at 320 East Third St. and Union Ave. (former site of Northfield Middle School) – in the block just west of Central Park.  Parking is available on adjacent streets, except where prohibited.  Direct access (steps) to the Cinema is from Union St, across from the First United Church of Christ.  Accessible entrance via ramp at Third St. door & then elevator to Cinema level.   For more information please contact Joan Ennis at 645-1802.