A best-selling author and professor of surgery will give a lecture tonight in Meacham Auditorium in Oklahoma Memorial Union on the effects of the rise of alphabetic literacy on history and the human brain.

Dr. Leonard Shlain, author of "The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image," will discuss his theory, which will be followed by a signing of his book.

The lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Shlain is the associate professor of surgery at University of California-San Francisco and chairman of laparoscopic surgery at California Pacific Medical Center, according to a press release.

The lecture is being held in conjunction with the 22nd annual Feaver-MacMinn Seminar, sponsored by the OU College of Liberal Studies.

Literacy Lecture

o Dr. Leonard Shlain will speak on alphabetic literacy and the human brain.

o The free lecture is at 7:30 p.m. today in Meacham Auditorium.

o Shlain wrote "The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image."

o A book signing will follow.

Source: OU College of Liberal Studies

Trent Gabert, associate dean of the College of Liberal Studies, said he expects the lecture to be lively.

"He is really a creative intellectual and thus has traced the evolution of human development, both from physical and language perspectives," Gabert said. "The fact that Dr. Shlain is not an academic, historian or an anthropologist gets him out from under many boundaries and thus allows him to be a great creative writer and speaker."

Shlain will discuss his theory about the evolution of alphabetic literacy and how it fundamentally reconfigured the human brain and brought about changes in history, religion and gender relations, according to press release.

He will examine the cultures of different religions and historical societies. In the process, he will reinterpret many myths and parables in light of his theory, tracing the effect of literacy on the Dark Ages, Mary, Gutenberg, the Reformation and the witch craze, according the release.

Gabert said he thought a broad variety of students would find the lecture interesting.

"Students that are pre-med, like the interrelationships between science and art, and all individuals who are interested in the development of the human body and brain will truly enjoy and be captured by this topic," Gabert said.
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