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Blue Dot 171: AMAZING AGING GRACE: A Conversation With Daniel Levitin

Daniel Levitin

 

Dave visits with neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, musician and all-around amazing guy, Daniel Levitin. His book This is Your Brain On Music spent more than a year on the New York Times Bestseller list and his latest, Successful Aging is already on the top ten for this year's list. 

Levitin's biography thus far is nothing short of amazing. He's helped produce and consult on musical projects ranging from Steely Dan, Blue Oyster Cult and Joni Mitchell (just to name a few!) to being the music consultant for the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.

He also has comedic chops, writing material for Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall and performing on stage with the late Robin Williams at the Democratic National Convention in his native San Francisco in 1984. 

His new book Successful Aging is a tour de force that examines every aspect of how we can live rich and rewarding lives as we live longer than most human beings ever have, covering topics from cognition and memory to how age affects our sleep habits.

 

Most of all, Levitin shares practical and fascinating advice on how to age gracefully and have fun doing it! 

 

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.
Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.