Susan Blackmore is a freelance writer, lecturer, broadcaster, and Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth, UK. She has a degree in psychology and physiology from Oxford University (1973) an MSc and a PhD in parapsychology from the University of Surrey (1980). Her research interests include memes, evolutionary theory, consciousness, and meditation. She is author of about 15 books, 60 academic articles, 80 book contributions and many book reviews. The Meme Machine (1999) has been translated into nearly twenty other languages. She is a TED lecturer and often appears on radio, television and podcasts.