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.
"Bering carefully balances his natural whimsy and avid curiosity with deep compassion in this look at how suicidal urges work ... Both heartening and deeply illuminating.”
Publishers Weekly
“Against a colorful backdrop of science, history, and psychology, Bering calls on human society to stop judging people’s sexual preferences based on a personal belief about what’s normal or natural, instead asking what is harmful. [He] throws a bucket of ice-cold water on topics that often become overheated by the fires of morality, religion, and politics.”
The Scientist
“In Suicidal, Jesse Bering explores one of the most essential questions we all face: Why keep living? He doesn't claim to have found any easy answers, but his exploration is surprising, funny, touching, and deeply personal. Suicidal feels like a gift, and reading it reminded me that encounters with great books are reason enough, for now, to keep going.”
Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn
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Jesse is Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago.
