Interviews and books

In conducting the research for the book I am interviewing quite a few people and obviously doing quite a bit of reading. Here is who I have interviewed thus far:

Spencer Wells: This was my very first interview. Spencer is an old friend who has had quite a career as an anthropologist and geneticist. Anyone interested in the history of mankind should check out his National Geographic special: The Journey of Man (which used to be up on YouTube but it looks like it got yanked, hence no link. It is available on DVD and worth picking up).

Steven Pinker: This is my most recent interview. Dr. Pinker is a linguist and experimental psychologist who is a regular speaker and who's appeared on fun shows like The Colbert Report. I really enjoyed our talk and the guy is just brilliant. He gave a really amazing and hilarious talk to Google that I highly recommend (if you don't mind a few curse words). And check out that head of hair! He's one of a kind.

Nancy McWilliams: Dr. McWilliams is a professor of psychology at Rutgers and is a practicing psychoanalyst. I visited her home office in New Jersey and had a really lovely, in-depth conversation about the seven deadly sins and how they manifest themselves. Her insights will definitely make it into the book.

Pastor Mac Brunson of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville: I took a trip to Florida to interview Mac Brunson and others. I think it's important to incorporate a theological perspective of sin so I'm determined to meet religious leaders from many faiths. I'm not really a religious person but I was really impressed with Pastor Brunson's knowledge of The Bible. This really was an incredible interview that spanned many topics, including just where I think I am headed for eternity!

Chris Bartkowiak: Bartkowiak is a former cop who has spent the last ten years counseling sex offenders in the Jacksonville area. I reached out to him because I wanted to explore the sin of lust and take a look at how people with major issues can change or manage their issues. Bartkowiak also provided a really interesting perspective on addiction overall as well as the criminal justice system. I will probably post a few of his stories up on here as there was just too much good stuff and only so much that is directly relevant to the book.

Pandit Kadambi Shrinathji of the Hindu Society of North East Florida: I had an intense interview with the Hindu priest Pandit Kadambi Shrinathji where we talked about the "6 enemies of man" - which remarkably align pretty closely with the 7 deadly sins. I was amazed by this guy and the amount of time (an hour an a half) and attention he gave me. I was also so impressed by his take on Hinduism itself, a religion I knew so little about going into the interview. The Hindu folks in Northeast Florida are lucky to have this smart, happy and loving guy as their priest.

Craig Kurtz: I met Craig and his wife Sharon at a Carraba's Italian restaurant and we talked in depth about drug and alcohol addiction. I wanted to explore this because, as with the sex offenders, I thought it would be useful to talk about how one works with people that are really in trouble - how they can change and turn their lives around.

Francis Macnutt of the Christian Healing Ministries: Francis Macnutt is an 83 year old former catholic priest who founded and runs the Christian Healing Ministries. Macnutt certainly knew his history and most of our conversation centered on the background of the seven deadly sins and their relevance to modern society. We also spoke in depth about his ministries belief in the power of prayer in healing people both of internal turmoil as well as physical ailments. I was and remain a skeptic, but Macnutt makes a convincing advocate.

I have kind of a massive wishlist of people I would like to interview. The truth is that I could keep on going and going and this thing would never get done! So if I am able to get a few more great interviews I will hopefully be in good enough shape to get this thing finished.

Of course I am also neck deep in Internet research, and I am reading a few insightful books as well. Right now I am somewhere in the middle of Biology of Freedom by François Ansermet and Pierre Magistretti , Intelligence Reframed by Howard Gardner, The Seven Deadly Sins by Solomon Schimmel and Hilary Clinton's It Takes a Village. And for fun I'm reading The Outliers (which is inspiring some relevant ideas) and The World is Flat. I've never read so much!

So, that's where I am in terms of interviews and book research at this point. As I mentioned I could keep going and going with this and never actually write a thing so I have to be careful about spreading out too thin. That said, if anyone has suggestions for amazing people to contact, do feel free to drop me a line :)