Beau Lotto is a professor of neuroscience, previously at University College London and now at the University of London, and a Visiting Scholar at New York University. His work focuses on the biological, computational and psychological mechanisms of perception. He has conducted and presented research on human and bumblebee perception and behaviour for more than twenty-five years, and his interest in education, business and the arts has led him into entrepreneurship and engaging the public with science.
In 2001, Beau founded the Lab of Misfits,  a neuro-design studio that was resident for two years at London's Science Museum and most recently at Viacom in New York. The lab's experimental studio approach aims to deepen our understanding of human nature, advance personal and social well-being through research that places the public at the centre of the process of discovery, and create unique programmes of engagement that span the boundaries between people, disciplines and institutions. Originally from Seattle, with degrees from UC Berkeley and Edinburgh Medical School, he now lives in Oxford and New York.Â
"Deviate is the practical, enlightening, and groundbreaking guide
that will not only provide an illuminating account of the
neuroscience of thought, behavior, and creativity, it will
ultimately motivate readers and thinkers everywhere to begin their
own journey of self-discovery and reinvention."--The Creativity
Post
"Deviate is an entertaining read that raises fascinating questions
about how we perceive the world. Aside from being an accomplished
scientist, Lotto is a talented writer who uses illustrative
examples and visual experiments to dazzle and to teach."--The
Washington Post
"Deviate by Beau Lotto promises to be a groundbreaking book that
will be as entertaining as it is provocative. As human beings, we
don't live in the world directly: we perceive and conceive it
through many filters. What we do perceive is refracted through our
own interests, dispositions and cultures and by the context in
which we experience it. Deviate analyses and illustrates these
processes with the precision and vitality that is the hallmark of
Beau Lotto's work as a scientist and as a presenter. Among the
libraries of quick fixes and formulaic programs, the need is
growing too for well-grounded insights and tested strategies that
reach to the roots of human understanding. Deviate is uniquely
placed to meet this need. Given Beau Lotto's unique expertise and
popularity, it will have a wide and enthusiastic audience."--Ken
Robinson, former director of the Arts inSchools Project and author
of The Element: How Finding Your Passion ChangesEverything
"[A] sprightly look into the nature of things.... Among Lotto's
most valuable contributions to our lay understanding of perception
and thinking is his formulation of perception as an 'ecology, '
meaning 'the relation of things to the things around them, and how
they influence each other....' Lotto's provocative investigation
into the mysterious workings of the mind will make readers just
that much smarter."--Kirkus Reviews
"Any reader interested in science, psychology, philosophy, or
self-improvement willfind this groundbreaking work simultaneously
engrossing and entertaining."--Booklist
"As a neuroscientist and a specialist in vision Beau Lotto opens up
the subject of just how it is possible to actually see and
understand anything in the world when it seems that meanings are
always constructed somehow separately form the reality of what we
see. This is done with immense clarity and ease...directly relevant
to anyone involved in shaping our world-designers, engineers, and
architects."--Alan Penn, Professor of Architectural and
urbanComputing at University College London
"Beau Lotto engages us with a host of philosophical ideas and
brain-changing experiences to explore why we see what we see and
how we create. DEVIATE is beautifully written--giving us a truly
novel, playful, and sophisticated window into the nature of human
perception and innovation."
--Helen Fisher, Senior Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute and
author of Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic
Love
"Beau Lotto has delivered a fresh, provocative, stimulating,
revealing neuro-inspired, entertaining text on that most fugitive
of subjects-reality... The world of theoretical and experimental
neuroscience has much to offer us as we search to produce better
environments for all."--Ian Ritchie, Director of Ian Ritchie
Architects andarchitect of the largest free-standing glass building
in the world
"Beau Lotto is ideally placed to write a popular trade book about
seeing...he is one of the most original and innovative thinkers
that I have encountered."--Ron Dennis CBE, Chief Executive and
Chairman of the McLaren Group
"Beau Lotto is one of the most creative scientists I know, and his
passion for introducing neuroscience to the public ranks him among
those rare communicators like Carl Sagan whose ideas can change
peoples' thinking. At a time when many neuroscientists are pursuing
the mindless goal of mapping all the connections in the human
brain, Beau is right on target in his conviction that science
advances by doubting the conventional wisdom and asking simple
questions in a novel way."--Dale Purves, Professor Emeritus at the
Duke Institutefor Brain Sciences and member of the National Academy
of Sciences
"Beau Lotto is the ideal writer for a popular book about the
neuroscience of perception. He has already proved himself to be an
immensely engaging and daring populariser of science. Above all, he
is well-established neuroscientist who really knows what he is
talking about. In this book he will convince you that our every-day
experience of seeing is far more mysterious and exciting than it
seems."--Chris Frith, Professor of Neuroscience at
UniversityCollege London
"Beau Lotto shows better than anyone else how dependent we are upon
our own limited sensory perceptions of the world. The radical
thesis that he presents in Deviate reveals to us that reality is
relative, and that we, ultimately, are capable of changing our
world through changing our perception of it."--Olafur Eliasson,
Sculpture Artist and SpatialResearcher, founder of Studio Olafur
Eliasson
"Beau Lotto's Deviate is the beginning of a conversation-with
yourself. Based on my years working at Pixar and with Tibetan
Buddhist meditation masters, Beau is on exactly the right track for
using neuroscience to understand the mechanisms that keep us stuck
and the power of paying attention to the mind. And he does it with
an infectious enthusiasm that cannot help but draw the reader into
this engaging material."--Lawrence Levy, former CFO of Pixar
Animation Studiosand author of To Pixar and Beyond
"By revealing the startling truths about the brain and perception,
author Lotto shows that the next big innovation is not a new
technology: it is a new way of seeing....With an innovative
combination of case studies and optical and perception illusion
exercises, Deviate will revolutionize the way you see the
world."--The Week
"Combining evolutionary imperatives with modern imaging of the
brain, Deviate helps us understand perception as the key to an
individual's survival. It is written with humor, clarity, and
delight. I highly recommend it."--Jeremiah Harrison, leadguitarist
of the Talking Heads
"Deviate is a more accessible, fun, interactive version of
Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow-involving the reader in building
an active understanding of the value of relying on perception as
well as reason, and doing so in enjoyable ways. Beau Lotto is a
powerful storyteller who bridges peer-reviewed science and the
creative arts in rare ways to offer actionable insights."--David
Rowan, Editor-in-Chief Wired (UK edition)
"Explains why we can't see the world objectively--and humanity is
better for it....DEVIATE challenges the very notion of how we think
we see....By encouraging curiosity and learning to recognize and
analyze our biases, we can create a culture driven by creativity
and experimentation instead of safe stoicism."--Quartz
"His insights on human perception constitute a real breakthrough in
our understanding of how we relate to (and react to, and imagine
ourselves within) reality."--Bruno Giussani, European director of
TED and curator of TEDGlobal
"If someone else told me that reality is something we create in our
heads-I'd up my medication. This brilliantly written book shows us
that this is actually the road to liberation. We have the ability
to change our internal landscapes, making our lives a masterpiece
rather than a 'been there done that' cliché."--Ruby Wax, OBE,
comedian, actress, mental health campaigner, and bestselling author
of How Do You WantMe?
"If Richard Branson were a neuroscientist, he would probably be
Beau Lotto. A visionary scientist and thinker, Lotto helps us to
see the world anew...This is going to be a wonderful,
ground-shaking book that has the power to change its readers lives
for the better."--John Bargh, James Rowland Angell Professor of
Psychology
"In Deviate, Beau Lotto's remarkable research into human perception
is crystallized into a series of astute explanations of how we
experience reality. By bringing together an 'ecology of the senses'
that goes beyond the mechanisms of the eye, Lotto's ingenious
account of the brain's perceptive evolution arrives at an
extraordinary proposition of how we can go beyond our current ways
of seeing. Following Olafur Eliasson's words that 'what we have in
common is that we are different, ' Deviate unravels the bind to our
human history in order to foresee a radically different future for
a reconfigured, individual perception. It is a brilliant
book!"--Hans Ulrich Obrist, Director of the Serpentine
Gallery(London)
"In a brilliant and skillful way Beau Lotto pulls the rug from
under our naive view of reality-bit by bit. In reading this book,
we discover how our conventional way of seeing, of perceiving
reality, is incomplete and illusory. He begins to dismantle this
illusion by showing us why we see the world the way we do, and in
doing so he opens the curtain to a new beginning, a new beginning
of seeing past our individual interpretation of reality, to
recognize that others may surely have a different interpretation.
In daring us to deviate Lotto encourages us to discover that
compassion has a root that can be revealed through scientific
insights."--Peter Baumann, Founder of Tangerine Dream
"Lotto, a brilliant neuroscientist, explains why our perceptual
hardwiring makes it difficult for us to live with uncertainty...His
insights help us understand the mindset and talents-like asking
great questions-that can help people live in the future as opposed
to the past. Deviate shows us how to reengineer our brains and
prepare ourselves to lead and innovate in our organizations and
lives."--Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration atHarvard
Business School and author of Becoming a Manager
"Provocative...a radical philosophy of perception...balanced by
many astute observations."--Nature
"Renowned neuroscientist Beau Lotto has been working all over the
world in both the academic world and the public sphere (in
education, the arts, and business), helping advance our
understanding of perception and the brain...[Deviate] leaves you
with a question that I hope will entice you to visit your local
bookstore today, so you can pick up the book and read on."--800 CEO
Reads
"This is a neuroscience book that, while explaining what we know
about the brain's functioning, explores the deeply personal issue
of perception. Beau Lotto's insights constitute a real breakthrough
in our understanding of how we perceive (and react to, and imagine
ourselves within) reality. And his capacity to make complex
scientific concepts and research results easy to understand, and to
explain their relevance to our life, makes this an utterly readable
book."--Bruno Giussani, European director, TED
"What if we all tried harder to be misunderstood? And what if we
could embrace and channel our own misunderstanding of the world
around us? Beau Lotto's Deviate honors the messy, imperfect genius
of human perception as the most valuable resource for creative
progress. Lotto is teaching us something so loudly fundamental to
our existence, it seems almost impossible that we've missed
it."--Ross Martin Executive VP, Marketing Strategy andEngagement,
Viacom
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