Earlier this week, BoingBoing reported on the top viewed TED Talks. These are all great talks and many of them make my top 10 list, but many of my favourites are missing from it. Many I think are really essential to watch. Therefore, I thought I’d compile a list of my own:
- Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on how schools kill creativity
- Dan Gilbert’s Why are we happy? Not happy?
- Dave Eggers discusses the amazing network of tutoring centers across the world
- Helen Fisher talks about love (I liked her talk from this year even more, but the video isn’t posted yet)
- Barry Schwartz’s discussion of the paradox of choice
- Robert Wright on optimism
- Jill Bolte Taylor discusses her stroke of insight
- Ben Zander on music and passion
- Hans Rosling’s Gapminder and data on poverty
- Philip Zimbardo’s discussion of good and evil and the creation of better barrels (yet to be posted – I will update it with a link here when up)
Of course, there are dozens of amazing TED talks on the lists, but these are my personal favourites and have actually moved me to incorporate the lessons into my day to day thinking.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Thx for this list. I look forward to checking these out. I love Isabel Allende’s talk, too. If you haven’t seen it: http://moourl.com/hxw42
June 27th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Ben Zander’s bit is great, if you’re interested more in the artistic process as it relates to communication, media, and love, check out this guy, VERY smart:
http://www.gamechangers.com
I would like to see TED bring in some improvisation masters like Ornette Coleman or Pat Metheny or Charlie Haden.
If this talk inspired you to dig into a bit of classical I recommend Jan Swafford’s amazingly fun-to-read “The Vintage Guide To Classical Music”.
Also I have the complete collection of solo Chopin pieces, performed by Vladmir Ashkenazy. It’s the most emotional interpretation of Chopin, beautiful stuff!
Yochai Benkler’s talk gets my vote for “most practical”…
Also I’m surprised Ray Kurzweil’s bit on the Singularity didn’t make it
Thanks for an inspiring post!
June 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Think I might need to adopt this mini-meme. There’s so much great content at TED and we all like slightly different stuff.
Knowing your favorites is a fascinating insight into what makes you tick (which I already have a good idea of).
So not fair that you’ve been to TED. I didn’t get selected for 2009…
June 28th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Just watched the Ken Robinson talk on your list – fascinating. (He’s a great comedian too). I’m not sure whether my education actively stifled creativity, but it certainly didn’t encourage it much – yet it’s the creative aspects of my (geeky) work that I find most satisfying.
June 28th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Nice!
Very cool, I actually watched Jill Bolte Taylor discusses her stroke of insight this morning. Very very cool concept of being able to choose between your right & left brain and experience *Nirvana* on demand.
I think I experience this while running in the 100 degree heat here in Tejas. lol!
cheers!
Aronado~
June 30th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
We just showed the Ben Zander video here at the incubator for Free Lunch Fridays. What a wonderful video!
July 7th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Nice list. Pretty close to what my own TED list would be.
There’s something of a “Reality Distortion Field” with TED. Which is a double-edged sword but does make for pleasant presentations.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
sadly, the best ever, the most passionate, resounding TED talk is missing from all lists and that is Majora Carter’s discussion on urban renewal… i get tingly just thinking of it
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/majora_carter_s_tale_of_urban_renewal.html