Psychologist, professor and writer, Jesse specializes in cognitive science and the evolutionary bases of human behaviour. From God to sex to suicide to the afterlife, he uses humor and science to explore, at the deepest levels, what it means to be—and to think—human.
Photo by Guy Frederick
Jesse is the author of several acclaimed popular science books, and he and his work have been featured on numerous documentaries, television shows and radio programmes, including ‘Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman’, ‘Conan’, ‘Chelsea Lately’, ‘Q&A’ (Australia), NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ and the BBC. He has written for Scientific American, Slate, Guardian, The New York Times, Discover, Chicago Tribune, New Republic, Vice and many others.
Jesse is Professor of Science Communication and Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand. He lives on the Otago Peninsula with his partner Juan and their two border terriers, Hanno and Kora.
“Witty . . . . [Bering] employs examples and analogies that make his arguments seem like common sense rather than the hard-earned scientific insights they really are.”
New Scientist
“This book could fuel a score of dinner-party conversations…this is more than some scientific stocking-filler: it uses science to unsettle our most embedded assumptions. It is deeply thought-provoking.”
Sunday Times
"Jesse Bering asks the questions no one else dares, he tells truths that others shy away from, and he writes the books that I wish I had written. To me, he is everything a great scientist and communicator should be. Suicide may be an uncomfortable subject yet the escalating numbers of people who take their lives each year means we must make it’s unravelling our priority. I have no doubt this book will have a profound impact on all who read it, and add considerably to our understanding of that self-willed oblivion, whether it lies palpably just beneath our own skin, or the skins of those we love. But perhaps most importantly of all it will help dispel the stigma and shame that so perniciously clings to all suicides."
Dr. Christian Jessen
If you’d like to follow along with Jesse’s writings – he finally has a new book in development! – just add your email address below.
Jesse is Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago.
