Severed, Frances Larson

7pm, Thursday 29th October

A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found.

From shrunken heads to war trophies, from grave-robbers to scientists, from head-hunters to Islamic State, Severed explores our macabre fixation with detached heads through history. The Sunday Times called it, ‘lively, original, important, astounding, well-written: first class in every way.” A doctor of anthropology from the University of Oxford, Frances is interested in the stories objects tell, and how the material world shapes people’s lives, relationships and ideas. Her biography of Henry Wellcome, An Infinity of Things was chosen as a Sunday Times Book of The Year, and as a New Scientist Best Book of 2009.