Ever since the Enlightenment, humans have worshipped at the altar of the lone genius: the poet in the garret, the painter in the studio, the scientist yelling eureka in an empty laboratory. There is something so inexplicable about creativity that it seems best understood through the stories of those rare minds that come along once in a generation. But few people work and live in isolation. In fact, many of our most brilliant artists and innovators have created in partnerships. Some of these are well-known (John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Pierre and Marie Curie); others have taken place largely in the shadows (Vincent and Theo van Gogh, Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson). What can these pairs teach us about genius and innovation? Is creativity a fundamentally social act? Writer Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Powers of Two, visits Zócalo to discuss the science and history of collaboration, and why two is a magic number.

Books will be available through Skylight Books.