Original Minds: Conversations with CBC Radio's Eleanor Wachtel

Naomi Brun is a freelance writer and a book reviewer for The Hamilton
Spectator.

Back in the 18th century, aristocratic French-women would invite the
great writers, artists, and thinkers of Paris into their living rooms.
Men of varied talents would discuss their passions and politics,
contributing immensely to the cultural life of the time. The more
generous hostesses would occasionally extend invitations to friends,
enabling them to be enriched by such unparalleled conversation.

Although the salon fell out of fashion some time ago, the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation has performed a brilliant reinvention with the
creation of its radio program “Writers and Company.” Each week, the
most celebrated minds of our time share their perspectives and
philosophies with facilitator Eleanor Wachtel. As gracious as any
18th-century hostess, she takes a lesser role in the dialogue, providing
nothing more than a simple encouragement for the guest to continue or a
necessary clarification here and there. In other words, she makes
extraordinary ideas fully accessible to average people.

Original Minds contains the transcripts of 16 of these interviews,
prefaced by a worthwhile introduction written by Carol Shields. This
book, in a sense, acts as a passport to the higher mind, for the reader
benefits from both the experiences and the reflections of 16 different
geniuses. Desmond Tutu explains his anguish as a black archbishop
fighting for equality for South Africans; Jane Goodall relates what she
has learned about human nature from Tanzanian chimpanzees; Noam Chomsky
describes what it is like to be a voice of dissent in a world that
isn’t listening. Wachtel speaks with men and women, believers and
atheists, traditionalists and anarchists. As a result, Original Minds
offers both breadth and depth of scope.

Perhaps the most unexpected reward in this treasure chest is the common
thread that unites these otherwise disparate masterminds. Interview
after interview finds the guests acknowledging interest in a wide
variety of subjects, giving themselves to a worthwhile cause and finding
some sort of spiritual grounding. What comes naturally to these
noteworthy individuals may serve as a blueprint of self-improvement for
the rest of us.