DO I KNOW YOU? | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she’s a little quirky. But while she’s made some strange mistakes over the years, it’s not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (whom she thinks is her husband) that she realizes something is amiss.

With a mixture of curiosity and dread, Dingfelder starts contacting neuroscientists and lands herself in scores of studies. In the course of her nerdy midlife crisis, she discovers that she is emphatically not neurotypical. She has prosopagnosia (faceblindness), stereoblindness, aphantasia (an inability to create mental imagery), and a condition called severely deficient autobiographical memory.

As Dingfelder begins to see herself more clearly, she discovers a vast well of hidden neurodiversity in the world at large. There are so many different flavors of human consciousness, and most of us just assume that ours is the norm. Can you visualize? Do you have an inner monologue? Are you always 100 percent sure whether you know someone or not? If you can perform any of these mental feats, you may be surprised to learn that many people—including Dingfelder—can’t.

A lively blend of personal narrative and popular science, DO I KNOW YOU? is the story of one unusual mind’s attempt to understand itself—and a fascinating exploration of the remarkable breadth of human experience.

Sadie Dingfelder and Alexandra Petri will be in conversation, chatting about neurodiversity, humor writing, and the paper-thin line between comedy and tragedy. Petri is the Washington Post’s humor columnist and the author of three books, including, "A.P.'s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up).” Dingfelder will be celebrating the release of her first book, "Do I Know You? A Faceblind Reporter's Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination." Books will be signed and book-shaped cakes will be eaten.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of DO I KNOW YOU? will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.

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Sadie Dingfelder is a science journalist who is currently obsessed with hidden neurodiversity and science-based answers to the question: If you were beamed into the mind of another person or animal, what would that be like? Her debut book, “Do I Know you? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination,” comes out in June. She spent six years as a reporter for the Washington Post Express, where she focused on high-impact public service journalism, such as this review of every single bathroom on the National Mall. From 2016 to 2019, she also penned a biweekly column, "The Staycationer," detailing her DC adventures, which included a walk-on part in the Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker, auditioning to be a “Nationals Racing President,” and playing one of the Smithsonian’s priceless Stradivarius violins. She contributed feature stories to other sections of the paper, including the tale of a crane who fell in love with her zookeeper. As a freelance writer, Dingfelder’s work has appeared in National Geographic, Washingtonian magazine, Connecticut Magazine and the Washington City Paper. Prior to working at the Post, Dingfelder spent almost a decade as the senior science writer for the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology magazine, covering new findings in neuroscience, cognitive science, and ethology.

Alexandra Petri is a columnist for the Washington Post. Her satire has also appeared in McSweeneys and the New Yorker's Daily Shouts and Murmurs, in other newspapers (hello, Salt Lake Tribune!), on the radio, and on TV. She has appeared on a number of podcasts, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and Jeopardy! where she made what was described as the 'worst final Jeopardy! wager of all time.' She recently achieved her lifelong dream of being a talking head in a documentary about Benjamin Harrison. Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president. He served between Grover Cleveland and Grover Cleveland. After his wife's death, he married her niece. He did the most! Unlike Benjamin Harrison, Alexandra was on Rolling Stone's list of The Funniest People Right Now, Forbes 30 Under 30, received the National Press Club's Angele Gingras award for humor writing, was a finalist for the 2022 Thurber Prize, and won a Shorty Award for her parody twitter account. She is also an O. Henry International pun-off champion -- here is her winning routine about presidents.