Chicago Humanities Festival Gearing Up

The Chicago Humanities Festival, a nonprofit group that promotes the humanities as an essential part of our everyday lives, has already begun. This year’s theme, Tech+Knowledge, explores how “the human experience is inextricably linked to technology.”  This Sunday, Oct. 23, a series of events is occurring at the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. You can learn about the makings of Pirate Radio in Britain during the 1960s; the efficiency of mass transit in the world’s largest city, Tokyo; and the Bengali writer Amitav Ghosh, whose new historical novel River of Smoke explores the history of the opium trade (plus much more). A majority of these events are free for students and teachers, so there’s no excuse if you don’t get your geek on this Sunday!