While working as a reporter for The New York Times, Dava Sobel volunteered to become a human subject in a medical study of circadian rhythm. The experiment required her to spend 25 days (and nights) in a laboratory where she never knew what time it was. From there she went on to write Longitude, an international bestseller that explained the invention of precise timekeepers for ocean navigation. Other time-related topics that have engaged her over the course of her fifty-year career in science journalism include the occasional need to insert leap seconds into the calendar year, the measurement of distances across deep space by the travel-time of light, and the characteristic half-lives of radioactive elements, which range from a few seconds to many millennia.

At the opening keynote on October 24 at London Business School, she will speak on the conference theme of time, “From John Harrison’s Sea Clocks to the Half-Lives Of Marie Curie’s Radioelements.” Her latest book, The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science, coming out in October, will be available for purchase and signing at the opening keynote.

But before Ms. Sobel, there have been many other keynotes who continue to share their ideas and experiences around the world. Here is a sampling of recent books from past keynotes.

David Mas Masumoto was a keynote speaker at the 2002 conference in Dallas. He is a third-generation organic peach and grape farmer who is also a writer, film producer, and journalist. His most recent book (2023) is Secret Harvests: A Hidden Story of Separation and the Resilience of a Family Farm.

Amy Tan was a keynote speaker at the 2006 conference in San Francisco. A co-producer and co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of her novel The Joy Luck Club, she has recently written The Backyard Bird Chronicle (2024), which began as an attempt to find solace in nature and became a witty collection of essays and beautiful original sketches that recount Tan’s foray into birding.

Robert Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of biology, neurology, and neurosurgery at Stanford University, was a keynote speaker at the 2013 global conference in San Diego. A behavioral scientist, Robert Sapolsky recently released the book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will (2023), which explores biology, consciousness, and quantum physics to argue that humans do not determine their own actions or fate. Far from using this conclusion to advise us to give in to apathy, Sapolsky instead points to the possibility that humans, armed with this knowledge, could learn to refrain from harsh judgments of ourselves and of others—after all, it’s not in our control.

Charles Duhigg was a keynote speaker at the 2014 conference in Washington, DC. A Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who currently writes for The New Yorker magazine, he has recently written (2024) Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.

Duhigg’s “supercommunicators” are those who are particularly gifted at conversing and connecting with a wide range of people. These skilled communicators know that the key to clear communication is understanding the kind of conversation they are having, be it practical, emotional, or social, and how to best listen and be heard in each.

Beau Lotto was a keynote speaker in London in 2015. A perceptional neuroscientist, entrepreneur, professor, and CEO, he is the founder and CEO of Lab of Misfits (the world’s first neuro-design studio), CEO of Beautiful Mind Learning Labs, and Ripple (which holds several highly influential patents in augmented reality.)

He wrote his most recent book Doors in collaboration with his daughter, Zanna Lotto, who provided illustrations for the book. Doors is the story of a girl curious about the many possible doors that she can open and walk through. The fable explores what is gained when we are courageous enough to choose to open one door, without fully knowing what is on the other side. This limited-edition release is the first book published by Misfit Publishing, a reference to Beau’s Lab of Misfits.