What's going on this week on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast? Get ready for something we all just take for granted but very few of us know the true story behind them and how our lives changed dramatically since their inception. Today we welcome author David King Dunaway to our show.

An engaging and informative cultural history of glasses that explores their origins, stigmas, future in technology, and more.

Eyeglasses have become so commonplace we hardly think about them-unless we can't find them. Yet glasses have been controversial throughout history. Roger Bacon pioneered using lenses to see and then spent a decade in a medieval prison for advocating that he could “fix” God's creations by improving our eyesight. Even today, people take off their glasses before having their picture taken, despite how necessary they are.

David King Dunaway is a professor of English, oral historian, and author whose books and radio series have brought cultural history to life for decades. Known for his deeply researched biographies and his work in public radio - Dunaway turns his curiosity to a most familiar invention: eyeglasses.

In 'A Four-Eyed World: How Glasses Changed the Way We See,' he offers the first cultural history of eyewear, tracing how lenses have shaped science, society, media, and our very notions of sight. Far from a niche topic, this book mixes fascinating historical episodes, cultural analysis, and Dunaway’s own reflections on living with and without his glasses, revealing the deep ways eyewear has altered how we see ourselves and each other.

We welcome author David King Dunaway to the Rick Flynn Presents podcast and invite one and all to purchase this book wherever books are sold.

Contact author/professor David King Dunaway at:: www.AFourEyedWorld.com

This week on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast we are welcoming in a remarkable human being DAVID B. OPPENHEIMER.

In this challenging environment, a new book by Berkeley Law Professor David B. Oppenheimer is a compelling exploration of an idea that has galvanized some of the most grinding political and cultural conflicts of our time. The Diversity Principle: The Story of a Transformative Idea follows the history across a surprising 200-year span. Along the way, it profiles the famous scholars who gave birth to the idea and shaped its evolution, and details the essential role of universities and the law in its advance.

At such a fraught time, the book could have been a partisan argument, but Oppenheimer’s approach is scholarly and accessible. The study is deeply documented, and the tone is measured. While he does not hide his embrace of diversity and his opposition to those who want to cancel it, his focus is on the philosophy and practical application of an idea that is too often oversimplified beyond recognition.

Oppenheimer describes diversity as the foundation for the “marketplace of ideas” — the clash of assumptions, hypotheses, values and knowledge that demands intellectual rigor and creates a real-life laboratory for understanding the world and solving its problems.

“The diversity principle holds that when you bring together people with different backgrounds and experiences, including people of different ages, of different religions, of different races and ethnicities and genders, when you include people with disabilities, when you include people who are perennially outsiders and make them all part of a group, they will be better problem-solvers,” he explained in an interview.

“In a classroom, they’ll generate more ideas. In a science lab, they will come up with more significant discoveries. In government, they will develop more original public policy initiatives. In a business, they’ll make more money.”

And, Oppenheimer says, there’s extensive scientific research to prove the point. What remains to be seen is how much evidence will be needed to persuade a powerful corps of diversity opponents.

Oppenheimer is a clinical professor of law and co-director of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, and he has written extensively on issues of discrimination and how to address it through the law. His latest book was released on Feb. 24 by Yale University Press. It is an amazing and captivating read for one and all.

Contact Attorney, Professor, and Author David B. Oppenheimer at: www.DiversityPrinciple.com

Today on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast:

Direct from Toronto, we proudly present author Victoria Hetherington. Victoria is the author of a fascinating nonfiction book that will intrigue and amaze any and all readers internationally who wish to immerse themselves into an amazing book that is simply hard to put down. What does it mean to be alone, to be in love, and to make love in a world where artificial intelligence is increasingly present?

In this thought-provoking and deeply personal exploration, critically acclaimed novelist and nonfiction writer Victoria Hetherington delves into the rapidly evolving world of AI companionship.

The Friend Machine opens with a close examination of our lonesome zeitgeist, then weaves together interviews with scientists, social critics, and other experts to tease out the complex relationships between humans and AI. Successive chapters look at the philosophical, psychological, ethical, economic, and biological dimensions of this fast-evolving technology. The book then takes a compassionate and intimate look at the lives of individuals from diverse backgrounds who have sought and found companionship in AI.

As the lines between humans and machines continue to blur, Hetherington finds, the nature of our relationships will change in ways we're only beginning to imagine.

You'll love both this show and the book which is the heart of it.

Contact Victoria Hetherington at her Instagram at the end of the show.

Appearing on the Rick Flynn Presents podcast, in promotion of the global celebration and event known as "Print Day in May", which she founded, is artist and professor Robynn Smith. Robynn is an internationally exhibiting painter and printmaker and Professor Emerita at Monterey Peninsula College in California.

Print Day in May®, an annual international celebration of printmaking involving participants from all 50 US states and over 70 countries world wide, www.printdayinmay.com.

Everyone is invited to participate and you do NOT have to be an artist to join with us in the totally free international celebratory event which is always held yearly on the first Saturday of May every year.

Listen to Robynn right now on Rick Flynn's podcast and she'll tell you all about it and contact her at her website listed above.

This week on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast:

Authors: Alexa Morris & Benjamin Parket

Book: The Courtyard - A Memoir

Publisher: Amsterdam Press

With the German occupation of Paris, Bernard's world changes dramatically. Hours before the Nazis come to arrest the Parkiet family in July 1942, their neighbors band together to protect them. The family is hidden in a vacant warehouse and the courtyard becomes a refuge. With their world turned upside down, it is Bernard’s job, at only nine years old, to leave the courtyard each day to get food for his family. And even with the neighbors protecting them, there is danger lurking everywhere – including in certain corners of the courtyard itself.

This is a Holocaust memoir that finds the good in people at a time of great evil. A gripping tale of courage and kindness, The Courtyard is a timely reminder of how even in the darkest of times, a small group of people can make a difference.

Note: If you or any of your family or friends are acquainted with or happen to know any of the Good Samaritans who are portrayed as lifesavers during the German occupation of Paris, France, as portrayed in this book, please contact the author at:

www.AlexaMorris.com

Making her debut appearance this week on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast is Licensed Psychotherapist and Sex Therapist DR. TIFFANY STANLEY.

Dr. Tiffany Stanley is a licensed psychotherapist and sex therapist helping women and couples reclaim desire, intimacy, and self-trust. Tiffany is a Nationally and Internationally Board Certified and Licensed Psychotherapist and Supervisor, an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and holds a Doctorate in Clinical Sexologist, specializing in sexual therapy and generalized psychotherapy for adult women, men and couples.

Contact Dr. Tiffany Stanley at: www.TiffanyStanleyTherapy.com

This week on the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast:

Dr. Allen Saxon (Retired General Surgeon and Author and Music Lover)

New Book: "Training in Charity: A Novel"

Buy the book wherever books are sold or ordered including Amazon and Barnes and Noble

"Reminiscent of The Paper Chase."

“This well-paced story will make you laugh at times and also bring you to tears. The novel goes down like a cold Dixie beer served with a delicious Creole gumbo, transporting us into another world with a ringside seat to a pivotal stage in students' medical education."

—William Anthony, author of Farnsy

Contact Dr. Saxon at: www.AllenSaxon.com

We proudly welcome back once again to the Rick Flynn Presents worldwide podcast noted attorney SABRINA SHAHEEN CRONIN. A long-term friend of Rick Flynn's podcast and frequent guest, as well, we stand with Sabrina to let everyone know she is here for you if you need her.

Sabrina says:"When others hurt us, it’s natural to want to lash out. However, bitterness, hatred, and animosity will only keep you from reaching your full potential. My goal is to connect you with the resources and tools you need to turn your separation or divorce into an opportunity for positive change and personal growth."

Contact Sabrina at her personal website:

www.SabrinaShaheen.com