American author and columnist Clifford Pickover speaks about his new book, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen (1999). Since 1990, Pickover has written over 40 books about science and technology, and he is particularly interested in the eccentricities of intelligent people. He explains that this fascination developed following the Unabomber attacks, when, Pickover claims, he was investigated as a possible perpetrator due to his own interests in science. This led Pickover to consider the relationship between high intelligence and unusual behaviors. He references the lives and work of Nikola Tesla, Oliver Heaviside, Francis Galton, and Henry Cavendish, among others, commenting on their similarly brilliant and eccentric natures. Pickover speculates on how the world may have been different if the various ailments that afflicted these individuals had been successfully identified and treated. The lecture is followed with questions from the audience.