A few weeks ago, a think tank named the Edge Foundation asked 119 of the world’s most prominent scientists for their most dangerous idea.

Two upcoming Y guests were among the scientists polled: biologist Eric Kandel and theoretical physicist Brian Greene (right). Greene’s dangerous idea? That we really live in a multiverse and our universe is just one of many. Meanwhile, Kandel suggests that free will is exercised unconsciously and without awareness, and that there is a disconnect between consciousness and basic human behavior.

Dr. Kandel will be here on Monday, March 20 to discuss his Nobel Prize-winning work on the mechanics of memory and how biotechnology will affect human consciousness and cognitive processes. Moving from earthbound science to more deep-space topics, Greene’s lecture on Wednesday, April 26 promises to explain string theory and the inner workings of the universe (or multiverse) in a way even us non-scientists can understand.

[Eric Kandel: 03/20/06]
[Brian Greene: 04/26/06]

Chuck Close will be here at the Y April 24, for a conversation with Robert Storr.

[Chuck Close: 04/24/06]

It looks like the good people over at the Village Voice gave lots of love to the 92nd Street Y and Makor in their recent adult education guide.

The Voice’s picks out of all 150 pages of our catalog? Makor’s screenwriting class, our popular 90-Minute Financial Lobotomy and our Beginning Yiddish class, which the Voice says “will have you kvetching like you’ve been kvetching for years.”

They also say the screenwriting class will help you write an awesome Joan Didion memoir-to-film adaptation. No promises on that front, but we’ll try.

One of the upcoming NYJFF screenings, A Cantor’s Tale, has a hidden treat. The documentary about Jack Mendelson, a cantor (Jewish liturgical singer) trying to reclaim the tradition of Eastern European holy music, has some of Mendelson’s friends in it. Mendelson, a Brooklyn boy, counts among them über-lawyer Alan Dershowitz and comedian Jackie Mason.

When A Cantor’s Tale screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, they noted one very important thing about the movie: Dershowitz and Mason both sing.

Here’s more on A Cantor’s Tale.

[A Cantor’s Tale: 01/19/06]

The blogger behind film-blog Paradise Reel was one of the many Neil Gaiman fans who made it here to see Mr. Gaiman last week and took the time to offer a recap of the evening. Apparently Gaiman offered a preview of three upcoming projects, including an audiobook version of his novel Stardust (right), a 3D animated feature-length adaptation of Beowulf and a children’s book entitled The Graveyard Book. Read on if you’re a fan.

· His Year in Iraq: Former U.S. ambassador to Iraq L. Paul Bremer is currently promoting his new memoir, My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, which gives his spin on the much-debated first months of the Iraqi invasion. He’ll be here Tuesday, January 17.

· Secrets of the Advertising Superstars: Ad exec and CNBC fixture Donny Deutsch stops by to tell the stories he can’t tell on his television show Tuesday, January 17.

· The Brooklyn Follies: Two of Park Slope’s (and America’s) best writers, Paul Auster and Paula Fox, read at Kaufmann Concert Hall Wednesday, January 18. Auster’s Brooklyn Follies is a new detour into happy, upbeat novels for the literary vet and Fox’s Borrowed Finery—just a bit more depressing than Auster’s book in its tale of a heart-wrenchingly difficult childhood—was one of 2005’s best memoirs.

· The Avon Lady’s Revenge: Andrea Jung, Avon’s CEO since 1999, was responsible for a startling business turnaround that not only made her company’s stock prices jump 169%, but possibly saved Avon from bankruptcy. The kicker? Jung was an English major in college who never planned on a career in business. She’ll be speaking with BusinessWeek EIC Stephen J. Adler on Thursday, January 19.

We just got word of two events so new they aren’t even up on the website yet. Both are part of our In the News with Jeff Greenfield series and involve high-falutin’ (and newsworthy) political types. Read on for March’s guests.

· Sunday, March 5, the dynamic duo of Paul Begala and James Carville stop by to talk with Greenfield. Maybe you know them from their turns with the Clinton administration or because of their CNN ubiquity (Crossfire, The Situation Room). For that matter, maybe you just saw Carville’s cameo in Old School. Both of them have been getting feisty in the past couple of months over Iraq and Alito (though for different reasons). It’ll be interesting.

· The following week, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer pays a visit. Needless to say, Greenfield will be speaking with Spitzer about his gubernatorial campaign and his whole “corporate crusader” image. Over the coming months, Spitzer is going to be on every television screen and in every newspaper in the city—here’s a chance for a sneak preview.

[In the News with Jeff Greenfield: Paul Begala and James Carville: 03/05/06]
[In the News with Jeff Greenfield: Eliot Spitzer: 03/12/06]

On Thursday, January 26, the husband-and-wife team who run the popular restaurant Chanterelle (and who made a mint off the spinoff Staff Meals from Chanterelle cookbook) will be stopping by for a conversation with PBS’ Mike Colameco. Karen and David Waltuck have been running Chanterelle since the late 1970s, earning four stars from The New York Times, among other places.

Cooking website Stir the Pots recently posted a podcast with David Waltuck, and some recipes from the Chanterelle cookbook have made it online. Try the beef stew with red wine and vegetables or the macaroni with two cheeses.

[Karen and David Waltuck, the First Couple of New York Restaurants: 01/26/06]

Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, who took charge in Iraq shortly after the 2003 American invasion, has been making the rounds lately claiming the Defense Department turned down his requests for additional troops during his tenure. His new book, My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, will be hitting stores shortly. And next Tuesday, January 17, Bremer will be speaking with Foreign Affairs EIC James F. Hoge here about Iraq and what’s going to happen next.

Over at the National Review, Bremer gave an interesting interview. Definitely worth checking out—especially the part where he defends his decision to disband the Iraqi army. And the Times just published an in-depth review of the book.

[Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III in Conversation with James F. Hoge: 01/17/06]

A few years back, we came across The Sparrow, which appeared to be a not-quite-science-fiction novel. Set in a world where SETI discovers signals from an alien civilization, author Mary Doria Russell arranged things so that the inevitable spacecraft sent out to meet the aliens was… filled with Jesuit priests on a secret mission from the Vatican. Even though it was filled with extraterrestrials and nifty technology, the novel owed more to Graham Greene or Margaret Atwood than to anyone else.

Her new book is more earthbound, but equally interesting. A Thread of Grace is a fictionalized story set among the Jews of post-Mussolini Italy, during the time when the country became an open battleground between Nazis, Americans, fascists, communists and partisans. It looks like a good read and in fact we’ll be having a conversation with Mary Doria Russell here Thursday, January 19 about the real people her book is based on and the Italian Catholics who saved 43,000 Jews.

[A Thread of Grace: A Conversation with Mary Doria Russell: 01/19/06]

Author Bob Spitz recently came out with what might be the definitive book on the Beatles—a 900+ page Beatles biography. And that’s the edited version. Apparently, there’s a lot of stuff that didn’t make it into Spitz’s finished product. On Thursday, January 19, Spitz will be appearing at the Y to discuss writing his book and his insights into the tremendously influential band.

Spitz is also the former manager of Elton John and Bruce Springsteen. There’s an interview with him over at NPR that includes book excerpts and audiobook samples read by Alfred Molina (Fiddler on the Roof).

[Bob Spitz on the Beatles: 01/19/06]

The Y’s renowned May Center for Health, Fitness & Sport is hosting an open house party tonight. What does that mean? It means free yoga and Pilates classes. Free underwater swimming video analysis. Free Boot Camp for the Serious Loser. Free paraffin hand treatments. Free fitness assessments and other freebies. Did we mention it’s free? Feel free to drop by if you’re in the neighborhood tonight (92nd and Lex). You can bring this schedule [PDF] with you. It’s free.

According to the folks at MSN, Makor’s spelling bees are a great way to meet people:

One of the latest ideas for mingling and meeting a mate happens to be singles’ spelling bees, which have become quite a hit. […] These events were the brainchild of Zac Kushner, coordinator of recreational programming for Makor, a New York-based organization that specializes in offbeat mixers.

[…] (Makor’s) spelling bees do sport some snazzy twists from the tense mood you may recall with a shudder from similar events during high school. For starters, at the New York City version Kushner oversees, there’s an open bar for those who feel a martini could help calm their jitters. And the word categories—which include “uncomfortable things,” “band names,” and “mythological creatures"—show no one’s taking this competition too seriously. While Kushner can’t say for sure whether any of the contestants exchanged phone numbers, they definitely seemed to be bonding over their victories and, more often, their failures—which included misspellings of Snoop Doggy Dogg (two Gs!), chupacabra, and chlamydia. “I don’t even think ‘meticulosity’ is a word,” laughs Leah LaRiccia, a 29-year-old biologist who attended the event.

We’re having our next spelling bee on Tuesday, February 7. Bring your Scrabble skills and your talent for the ridiculous; it will be a good time.

[Makor Spelling Bee: 02/07/06]

Up until 1999, Avon, like most fashion houses and makeup giants, was led by men who didn’t wear its own products. Then former Duracell CEO Charles Perrin stepped down after two years of trouble grasping the beauty business and handed the top job at Avon to a Ms. Andrea Jung. Jung made small changes that made a big difference: sales jumped 45% and its stock went up 169%. Her fluent Mandarin aided the company’s overseas expansion. She also revamped the product line, now sporting compactness (a two-in-one gloss/mascara stick means fewer things to carry), better engineering (e.g., lipstick that swivels up more smoothly) and jazzier packaging.

Meet the English-lit major who saved a moribund company January 19.

[Andrea Jung: 01/19/06]

Tonight, Tiki Barber stops by to try and explain his team’s loss the other night (kidding!). Tiki’s candid conversation with NY1’s Budd Mishkin will be a treat, and there are a handful of tickets left.

[Tiki Barber: 1/10/06]