Date and time

Wed, Jan 8, 2025 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM EST

Location

Rotman School of Management

105 St. George Street Toronto, ON M5S 3E6 Canada

Show map

Refund Policy

Refunds up to 1 day before event

Agenda

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Author presentation + Interview with moderated Q&A

6:30 PM - 7:00 PM

Book signing + light refreshments

About this event

• Event lasts 1 hour

Following the conversation, we invite you to join us for a meet-and-greet with the author, book signing and light refreshments.

Topic:

The Certainty Illusion: What You Don't Know and Why It Matters (Penguin Canada, January 7, 2025)

Speaker:

Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy; Professor, Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and Research Director of the Health Law Institute, University of Alberta

Book Synopsis:

In a world where there is so much conflicting information about how we are supposed to live, what can we really know?

Knowing the truth, what’s real from what’s fake, should be easy. In today’s world, that’s far from the case. In The Certainty Illusion, Timothy Caulfield lifts the curtain on the forces contributing to our information chaos and unpacks why it’s so difficult—sometimes even for experts—to escape the fake.

Whether it’s science, our own desire to be good and do the right thing, or the stories and opinions of others, there’s more to sussing out the truth than simply tracking down what feels like an authoritative source. Caulfield argues that these major forces—science, goodness, and opinion—drive beliefs and behaviour, but the ways that they can be corrupted, or worse, used to nefarious ends by bad actors, are endless.

While it may feel, at times, as though we are circling the drain of truth, especially as new technologies make it even easier to spread dangerous fictions, Caulfield pulls us out of the vortex and keeps us afloat, helping us recognize and combat the forces that threaten to pull us under.

About the speaker:

Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta. His interdisciplinary research on topics like stem cells, genetics, research ethics, the public representations of science and health policy issues has allowed him to publish over 350 academic articles. He has won numerous academic and writing awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Trudeau Foundation, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He contributes frequently for the popular press and is the author of two national bestsellers: The Cure for Everything: Untangling the Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness and Happiness (Penguin 2012) and Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash (Penguin 2015). Caulfield also has a strong social media presence and is the host and co-producer of the documentary TV series, A User’s Guide to Cheating Death.

Event Logistics:

This event is available to attend in-person only.

Rotman Events is committed to accessibility for all people. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this session, please email [events@rotman.utoronto.ca] no later than 2 weeks in advance of the event and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.
 

General Admission: In-Person + Book Ticket Details

• The event will be hosted in Desautels Hall at the Rotman School of Management (105 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3E6). Your registration fee includes a copy of the book, meet-and-greet with book signing by the author, light refreshments.

Cancellation & Refund Policy

• Refunds will only be issued for cancellations received in writing NO LATER than 24 hours prior to the event. Please email events@rotman.utoronto.ca for processing.

Questions: events@rotman.utoronto.ca