A Four-Eyed World

A fun 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 the science of using lenses to see and then spent a decade in a miserable medieval prison cell 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 because they have been taught that wearing glasses is unattractive, despite how necessary they are. A Four-Eyed World: How Glasses Changed the Way We See is the first book to investigate the experience of wearing glasses and contacts and their role in culture. David King Dunaway encourages readers to take a look at how they literally see the world through what they wear by exploring everything from the history of deficient eyesight and how glasses are made to portrayals of those who wear glasses in media, the stigma surrounding them, and the future of augmented and virtual reality glasses. He illustrates how glasses have shaped, and continue to shape, who we are and who we are becoming. Interwoven is Dunaway’s own experience of spending a week without his glasses, which he has used since childhood, to see the world around him and his newfound appreciation for his visual aids. A Four-Eyed World is the story of how we see the world and how our ability to see things has evolved, ultimately asking: How have two cloudy, quarter-sized discs of crystal or glass riveted together become so essential to human existence? Shakespeare famously said eyes are windows to the soul, but what about people who see only by covering theirs with glasses? Readers will find out together through this fascinating and insightful cultural history of one of humanity’s greatest inventions.

Author Biography

David King Dunaway is professor of English at the Universities of New Mexico and Sao Paulo, Brazil and the author or editor of 10 historical and biographical books, including How Can I Keep From Singing: Pete Seeger, Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology, and Huxley in Hollywood. He’s also coauthor of Writing the Southwest, and author of the anthology, Route 66 Companion. His books have been translated and serialized internationally to Time Out and The Sunday Correspondent in London, The American Way (America Airlines), and made the front page of the old Village Voice. His book tours have included appearances on PBS, CNBC, and CSPAN’s Book TV, as well as dozens of regional and local stations. He resides in Los Ranchos, New Mexico.