Wordfest presents Tim Caulfield

Wordfest presents Tim Caulfield

Hosted by Christina Frangou

Looking for the antidote for the chaos that has overwhelmed any attempt to understand what is news and what is fiction? Wordfest is thrilled to welcome Alberta's misinformation expert Timothy Caulfield and his new book, The Certainty Illusion: What You Don’t Know and Why It Matters. Says Dr. Jen Gunter, “Caulfield masterfully unpacks how we often confuse data with knowledge, offering readers a clear, actionable guide to discerning fact from fiction in a world overflowing with conflicting information. Whether navigating health advice, social issues, or daily news, this essential read empowers you to think critically and avoid the traps of certainty.” 

The conversation, hosted by journalist Christina Frangou, includes an audience Q & A and book signing. Shelf Life Books will be on site with The Certainty Illusion, as well as copies of Caulfield's previous bestsellers. You can also pre-order the new book here.

We are grateful to Penguin Random House Canada for making it possible to connect you with Timothy Caulfield.

About The Certainty Illusion: What You Don’t Know and Why It Matters

“An indispensable book for anyone who wants to avoid believing things that just ain't so.”
–neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, bestselling author of A Field Guide to Lies 

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. These major forces—science, goodness, and opinion—Caulfield argues, 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 Timothy Caulfield

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.

Website: University of Alberta Faculty of Law
Bluesky: caulfieldtim@bsky.social
Instagram/Threads: @caulfieldtim

About Host Christina Frangou

Christina Frangou is a Calgary journalist who writes about health and social issues. Her stories have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maclean's and The Guardian, among others, and cover topics like refugee health, domestic violence, loneliness and widowhood. Frangou has received a National Newspaper Award and multiple National Magazine Awards for feature writing. In 2022, she was awarded the Landsberg Award from the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Canadian Journalism Foundation for her work shedding light on gender injustice in Canada.

Website: christinafrangou.com
Bluesky: cfrangou.bsky.social
Instagram/Threads @thatcmf

Be Curiouser

• What is Science Up First? -YouTube
• Science Up First: Together Against Misinformation. –Resources
• The Evolution of Health Misinformation. -YouTube