Knowing with Eric Oliver

Ben Goldberger is a psychotherapist and breathworker serving Chicaog and the surrounding suburbs since 2010. He supports people of all ages and backgrounds in healing and transforming the roots of depression, anxiety and other major life challenges. He specializes in trauma recovery, relationship repair, child development, addictions, journey integration, and spiritual development. He believes in...

Ben Saltzman 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 Caltec...

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...

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...

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” 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, executi...

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...

What is luck?  How do we know when we’re destined for good or bad luck?  What can our perceptions of luck tell us about ourselves?  Author and law professor Bill Miller gives us answers to these questions and more.  

How do we know what matters? Is mattering hardwired into our biology or simply a byproduct of culture? Eric speaks with philosopher and author Rebecca Goldstein about her new book, The Mattering Instinct .