TIFFANY SHLAIN – 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week

Written on June 8th, 2023

Surgeon General: “There are ample indicators that social media can have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” June’s here. How about a weekly “vacation” from screens? In this 2019 conversation about her book, 24/6, TIFFANY SHLAIN, filmmaker and Internet pioneer – she founded the Webbies (digital Oscars) –  offers a strategy her family has employed for a decade – turning off all screens for 24 hours one day a week. She says this practice has completely changed their lives, giving them more time, productivity, connection, and presence. What could it do for you?

MICKEY HUFF (Director, PROJECT CENSORED) & NOLAN HIGDON-Let’s Agree to Disagree: Critical Thinking, Communication, and Conflict Management

Written on May 29th, 2023

Here’s my conversation with MICKEY HUFF & NOLAN HIGDON. Huff is Director of PROJECT CENSORED. Since 1976, its annual book reports the year’s top-25 news stories ignored, misrepresented, or censored by mainstream media. Huff & Higdon co-authored LET’S AGREE TO DISAGREE. Its first lines: In an age defined by divisive discourse and disinformation, democracy hangs in the balance. {This book] seeks to foster constructive dialogue through critical thinking and media literacy. Learn more at ProjectCensored.org

NAOMI ORESKES & ERIK CONWAY – THE BIG MYTH: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market

Written on May 16th, 2023
When I talk about the relentless push of Big Business, the Right, and the GOP toward our current crisis of inequality, injustice, minority rule, and an inability to solve problems, I usually start around 1970. Today’s guests go back to the early 20th century. I talk with NAOMI ORESKES and ERIK CONWAY, authors together of the best-selling and Important MERCHANTS OF DOUBT: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, about their new book, THE BIG MYTH: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market. Learn more at thebigmythbook.com

NOREENA HERTZ (2021) -THE LONELY CENTURY – How do we restore human connection?

Written on May 12th, 2023
I believe human beings want more than anything to feel seen and heard. Last week the US Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic, as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, raising the risk of premature death by 30%, with higher rates of heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression, dementia, and suicide. Here’s my 2021 conversation with NOREENA HERTZ about her book, THE LONELY CENTURY: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That’s Pulling Apart. You can learn more at noreena.com

WALT BOGDANICH-WHEN McKINSEY COMES TO TOWN: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm

Written on May 2nd, 2023
I talk with three-time Pulitzer Prize winning NY Times investigative reporter WALT BOGDANICH about his book, WHEN McKINSEY COMES TO TOWN. The company brands itself one of the good guys, but Bogdanich and co-author MIchael Forsythe point out that, shielded by NDAs, McKinsey has so far escaped scrutiny for advising tobacco companies, opioid manufacturers including Purdue, oil companies, and repressive governments. We pull back the curtain on its role in pursuit of the bottom line above all that has made this country less equal, less just, less healthy, less safe, and less democratic.