Knowing with Eric Oliver

What Deserves Our Attention?

Ben Saltzman [https://www.bsaltzman.com/] is an associate professor of English at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 2017. He currently serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in English and Director of the Program in Medieval Studies. He also co-edits one of the longest-running literary studies journals in the country, Modern Philology. Previously, he was a Weisman Postdoctoral Instructor at Caltech from 2014–2017 after earning his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2014.

The Secrets of Creativity

George E. Newman is a psychologist and cognitive scientist who studies creativity, identity, and the construction of meaning.  He is an Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at the Rotman School of Management. Prior to that, he was an Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at the Yale School of Management, where also held affiliated appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. He has published more than 60 articles in leading scholarly journals and his research has been featured in popular media outlets such as the New York Times, Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. He regularly leads seminars on various marketing and management topics for senior executives

How to Sail Across the Ocean

Glyn Vincent is a New York based journalist and author. A finalist for the National Magazine Award, he has written about art and culture, socio-political issues, and the environment for The New York Times Book Review, The New York Observer, The Paris Review, Huffington Post, Columbia Magazine, Gannett, Monocle, East and other publications.   He is the author of two books, the critically acclaimed biography of the American painter, R.A. Blakelock, The Unknown Night, and most recently, Crossing, a memoir about sailing the Atlantic and his family’s troubled, itinerant past. He is also the author of several plays.  Glyn was born and raised in New York City, though he spent some time as a child living in Ecuador and California. He later lived in Boston, France, Mexico and San Francisco before returning to New York where he worked as a reporter and editor at the United Nations and a New York City public-high school teacher.   Glyn graduated from Harvard College. While there he joined the American Repertory Theater and had his first play produced. He later earned an M.A. from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.   Glyn is active in local environmental organizations on Long Island where he saltwater fly-fishes and sails. He is a member of the Gray Wolf Press National Council.   He has appeared on New York Public Radio and lectured across the country.

The Secrets of Humor

Chris Duffy is an award-winning comedian, television writer, and radio/podcast host. Chris currently hosts the hit podcast How to Be a Better Human. You can watch his comedic TED talk, “How to find laughter anywhere” [https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_duffy_how_to_find_laughter_anywhere?subtitle=en] online. He has appeared on Good Morning America, ABC News, NPR, and National Geographic Explorer. Chris wrote for both seasons of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas on HBO, executive produced by John Oliver. He’s the creator/host of the streaming game show Wrong Answers Only, where three comedians try to understand what a leading scientist does all day, in partnership with LabX at the National Academy of Sciences. Chris is both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student.

What's Wrong with Mindfulness?

What’s is wrong with mindfulness?  Where does the idea of mindfulness even come from?  How can we best use eastern ideas around meditation in our western lives? R. John Williams is a professor of English and film and media studies at Yale University. He is the author of The Buddha in the Machine: Art, Technology, and the Meeting of East and West (2014), and of the forthcoming volume Out of Mind: A Media-Theoretical Critique of Meditation.