Socratica Reads

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that celebrates the joys of reading. For the start of spooky season, we are turning to the theme of Dark Academia. In this episode, Kim discusses the book “Down a Dark Hall” by Lois Duncan. 

If you would like your own copy of the book discussed, it is available here:

https://amzn.to/4f5zyPv

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Socratica Reads is sponsored by The Socratica Foundation as part of their Literacy Campaign.

You can learn more about this educational nonprofit at https://www.socratica.org

Support this work: https://socratica.kindful.com

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We reach a fairly specific audience with our YouTube channel, which focuses on advanced math, science, and computer programming. Our audience is spread all over the world, and while we may not all be studying the same things, or in the same professions, the one thing we all share is a love of learning. 

In case you don’t know, I wrote a book called How to Be a Great Student, which is the true story of how I figured out the academic life, making LOTS of mistakes along the way.  I was always VERY bright, but not always VERY disciplined as a student, because I didn’t have to be. For the longest time, I could just coast through. But we all reach a point where we find our limit, and have to actually DO the work. In my book I explain the various techniques I learned that mean success in academia.  I’ll include a link in the show notes in case you’d like to get your own copy. 

It’s Autumn here in the northern hemisphere, everyone has gone back to school, and it’s also the start of spooky season. Today is Hallowe’en, tomorrow is the start of Dia de los Muertos. All that adds up to a theme I’d like to introduce into the Socratica Reads podcast: DARK ACADEMIA. We’ve mainly been reading science fiction together, and by now that may seem like the theme of the podcast as a whole, but it’s actually the books that influence us, that inspire us in our work. Science fiction is a helpful thing to read because it keeps you looking ahead, wondering about what will happen, what are the consequences of your scientific investigations or your cutting edge engineering project. 

Dark Academia is another theme that has particular appeal for our people, friends of Socratica, or as we call them, Socratica Friends. We are a community of people who love learning. We love the autumn because it means Back to School. We love sharpened pencils and fountain pens and Japanese ballpoint pens and notebooks and journals and typewriters and a laptop that fits perfectly in your backpack. We love the old card catalog and carrels in the library. We love our kindle and as soon as we finish one ebook we load up another one. We have a signature style: prep school uniforms. We love Harry Potter robes. We OWN Harry Potter robes. We love Oxford and Cambridge and the other Cambridge and the Ivy League and little liberal arts college no one has heard of. We love Caltech AND MIT. AND Harvey Mudd. 

If this all made sense to you, you’ll understand why I’m adding Dark Academia to the reading list for our podcast about the love of books and the power of literacy. 

And speaking of the vital importance of literacy,I’m going to pause here to say—there will be no further pauses, because our podcast is sponsored by The Socratica Foundation Literacy Campaign. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars of learning and knowledge: literacy, numeracy (also known as math literacy), and critical thinking. The Socratica Foundation literacy campaign includes such projects as a course on phonics, reading lessons, book donations, and sponsoring this podcast, which celebrates reading. You can learn more about the foundation at socratica.org.

One of the themes of Dark Academia is that you have locked inside some secret knowledge or wisdom or power that is hidden—maybe even from yourself—but by leaving society at large and joining a smaller group of knowledge seekers, this special talent of yours can emerge. This often means going away to a remote college, or joining a secret society. In our book for today, DOWN A DARK HALL, by Lois Duncan,  it’s a newly opened boarding school out in the boonies in upstate New York. There are only 4 students at Blackwood Academy for Girls. Um, yeah, it’s VERY exclusive. 

To get in you had to take some tests. Unusual, psychological tests. Our main character, Kit, isn’t nearly as smart as her best friend from back home, and yet Kit got in and her friend didn’t. One of the girls, Lynda, is sweet but decidedly no genius like her friend Ruth. Kit, who lost her father and was shipped off to boarding school when her mother remarries, bonds with Sandy who also lost her parents. The question is, what else do these four girls have in common? Why were they picked to be the first students at Blackwood?

The school promises individual instruction, helping the students reach their potential. Kit starts taking piano lessons, and while she has never been musical, she starts having dreams about playing beautiful music. She wakes up and her fingers ache as if she has actually been playing all night. Ruth is able to advance rapidly through math. Lynda discovers she has a talent for drawing and painting. And Sandy is writing sonnets. 

This is SOME great school. What’s the secret? The DARK ACADEMIA secret? It’s too good to be true, right? I’m going to read you a little excerpt from a part where Kit starts to think this place maybe isn’t what it appears to be. 

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

You can stop listening now if you don’t want any more spoilers. But yes, that was Shubert, a NEW composition by Shubert. The girls are getting individual instruction all right, by some very talented teachers. 

This story plays around with the concepts of what it is to be a student or a disciple. How much of yourself do you have to give up or give over to someone else so you can develop into your more advanced self.  It’s also kind of an inversion of the idea of the muses, who are usually depicted as young women.

There’s also this wonderful idea—have you heard this before—that when you READ, it’s the closest you can get to actually being in someone’s head, sharing their thoughts. This is true even when they are long gone. I can have a conversation (okay, fairly one-sided) with my favourite witty writer, Jane Austen, anytime I like. Maybe you need some life advice, so you turn to the Stoics or Erma Bombeck. This story, Down a Dark Hall, is kind of a gothic metaphor for that experience. We do help Shubert live, whenever we play his music. He lives on in our brains. Jane Austen lives on in my head, and my heart.  

We’d love to chat more with you about reading. Do you find yourself drawn to this genre, Dark Academia?  Our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that celebrates the joys of reading. In this episode, Kim discusses the book “Stir of Echoes” by Richard Matheson. Matheson is maybe best known for penning several books that were later made into thrilling movies, as well as some timeless Twilight Zone episodes.

If you would like your own copy of the books discussed, they are available here:

Remembrance (collected letters of Ray Bradbury)

https://amzn.to/3SYKjcZ

A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson

https://amzn.to/3TVagf6

Neuro Transmissions video about Hypnotism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMQ9mCadSzM

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Socratica Reads is sponsored by The Socratica Foundation as part of their Literacy Campaign.

You can learn more about this educational nonprofit at https://www.socratica.org

Support this work: https://socratica.kindful.com

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We are known mostly for our YouTube channel, where we teach college-level STEM topics, as well as how to be a great student. We have quite a number of other projects—an educational nonprofit called The Socratica Foundation, a channel for the youngest learners, Socratica Kids, and more recently we started Socratica High. 

These are all obviously connected to each other in terms of education. A bright line of curiosity and learning links these experiences you had from way back when you’re a kid. Remember back then, what that’s like? You can’t get enough about dinosaurs or space. This enthusiasm can carry you a long way when you’re a kid. But you might come back to Earth hard, and land awkwardly in high school where it’s a lot more work, and very often you have to learn something even if you’re not ready, or you don’t see the point. 

There’s a little bit of a disconnect then between our high school channel and our main “grownup” channel, Socratica. For the most part, people who are watching Socratica LOVE STEM. They love math, they love computer science, they love biology, chemistry, physics, all of that good stuff. So there’s a kind of survivor bias. We see all the people who survived algebra. Survived their brushes with rough classes where they were in over their head, or dull classes where they were bored, or you know, sometimes you don’t get to study what you’re REALLY interested in until you get to college. Like let’s say your main interest is in Anthropology or Psychology or Planetary Science, odds are you didn’t get to study what you were passionate about until you got older. 

So the question becomes what SUSTAINS you during those years when your classroom learning just isn’t doing it for you. As my father would say, I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count. 

READING. 

I mean, of course I’m going to say reading, on this podcast celebrating reading. But truly, this is it, this is your secret weapon, or your invisibility cloak, or your hidden armor of mithril. When you are surrounded by dullness and work that does not inspire you, but you have to do it, day in, day out. READING is the cure. 

I want to remind you that this is really the WHY behind this podcast. Reading inspires a lot of the work we do at Socratica. If I spent ALL my time just doing YouTube work, or more broadly let’s say digital creator work—if I only read things that would directly, immediately impact that work, I would probably lose those creative sparks that Make SOCRATICA what it is. 

This is why this podcast is supported by the Socratica Foundation’s Literacy Campaign. Reading is one of those skills that you need to be employable, but more importantly it is a personal asset, a source of strength. It’s something that can sustain you through some tough times and can show you new ideas, new vistas. You can go to the library and read for free. Speaking of tough times. It’s hard to beat free. 

There is something to be said though, for actually OWNING a book—there’s this research that shows having books in your house when you’re a kid is associated with academic success. Now clearly it isn’t causative in one step. Buying a book and putting it on your shelf isn’t going to instantly make you a great student. It’s more what happens next, what do you do with those books. I think part of it is that you have immediate access, day or night, you can keep coming back to YOUR book, and getting more out of it each time. Once you’ve decided to have books in your house, certain events like that become more likely.  I know books are very expensive, so I’m going to recommend library sales and goodwill. 

If you can go to a thrift store and buy a book there for a dollar, read that book, and then reread it. You’ll be amazed how much more you get out of it the second time you read it. If you read it a third time, watch out, you’re on your way to doing literary analysis, because you’ll start to understand the mechanism of what holds the book together. This is what I recommend. It’s much better to thoroughly digest a few books than to race through a whole list.

Now these don’t have to be CLASSICS of literature, although that is richer material. But maybe this season’s hot paperback isn’t a book you’re going to get a lot out of with multiple re-readings. That’s more like light entertainment, that’s more disposable. I don’t mean literally throw it in the trash, just hand over those books to a friend or swap them for another book in a Little Free Library. What you want is a book that has some IDEAS, ideas that you will come back to even years later. There’s something about it that intrigues you. 

This is bringing me back to how reading will sustain you through times when you need something to keep your mind active. School isn’t doing it, work isn’t doing it—so you pick up your book at the end of the day and there’s this BIG IDEA that just feeds your brain. 

In the last episode of our podcast, I shared something I found from Ray Bradbury talking about how Charles Beaumont was an IDEA man, and how his books were so intriguing to adolescents, and inspired them to talk about these ideas, and go on to create their own stories. I think of today’s writer as a spiritual brother to these men. Richard Matheson. All three of these writers created teleplays for The Twilight Zone—talk about a platform for BIG IDEAS. 

You may know Richard Matheson best for his Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 feet, starring William Shatner and a mysterious creature out on the wing of the airplane. My personal favourite is Little Girl Lost, about a girl who fell out of bed into another dimension. That there were other dimensions of space that we couldn’t see, that was a pretty BIG IDEA to be introduced to as a kid. Many of his books have been made into quite good movies, which is rare. 

Today’s book from Richard Matheson is one that I came across in the 90s. Stir of Echoes. And the BIG IDEA that really intrigued me at the time, and still to this day, is that our minds have all sorts of capabilities that we only have hints of. Sometimes we can see glimpses of them using tools like hypnotism. 

In the late 80s, when I was in high school, I attended a school assembly with a hypnotist. I was one of the volunteers, and I was VERY SUCCESSFULLY hypnotized. One of the things they did was balance me on the back of a chair. Now there’s NO way I could do that in real life, but under hypnotism, I was very easily able to tap into this potential capability. The fellow suggested that my spine was like an iron bar, very strong, very straight, and it seemed like the most obvious, true thing. 

So I’ve studied the brain a bit, in classes about neurobiology, and psychology, and I’ve worked doing research in a few neuro labs. There’s this big divide between the scientific literature studying the brain’s capabilities and books that are meant to intrigue, and spark your imagination. There REALLY aren’t many books that have to do with hypnotism, but I was happy to come across this one from Richard Matheson. And in it there is a chair balancing demonstration! So I felt like I was in good hands. Here’s someone who understands some of the oddities that hypnotism can unlock, and if we expand on that idea, where does it go. So today I’ll share a little bit of this book. 

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

There’s such a synchronicity at work in our world. The day I picked up my copy of Stir of Echoes to reread it, I got a notice on my YouTube account that there was a new video from a channel I follow. My fellow edutuber friends Micah and Alie run a channel all about the brain, neurobiology, neuroscience, and psychology called NeuroTransmissions. And guess what their video was about. Hypnotism. So clearly there’s something at work that brought me to revisit this topic this month. I’ll link to the Neuro Transmissions video in the show notes, please go visit their channel and say hi. 

I’d love to hear about your own experiences with hypnotism, if you’ve been hypnotized. Our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that celebrates a love of reading and discovery. In this episode Kim shares a new-to-her author (Charles Beaumont) she learned about by reading the letters of one of her favourite authors (Ray Bradbury). She poses the question: how do you find new books to read? What leads you to them? 

If you would like your own copy of these books, they are available here:

Remembrance (collected letters of Ray Bradbury)

https://amzn.to/3SYKjcZ

Perchance to Dream by Charles Beaumont

https://amzn.to/3T04C9S

The Hunger and Other Stories by Charles Beaumont

https://amzn.to/434agwb

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We make beautiful educational videos on a variety of STEM topics: math, science, computer programming—and underlying everything we do is this notion that we are natural learners. I don’t just mean me, personally. Humans.  Learning is our natural state of being. 

I really don’t understand this idea that you get one shot at your education, mostly when you’re a child, and that’s it. I refuse! I refuse to accept that idea. So one way you can give yourself the chance to continue your education—for the rest of your life—is with READING. 

What freedom! You can read whatever you want, going as deep as you want.There is this tendency, of course, to gravitate to the familiar. You keep picking out the same kind of book, reading the same authors. I’m guilty of that. Well, guilty is maybe the wrong word. There’s nothing wrong with continuing to read wonderful authors. I still have a few Charles Dickens left, and I haven’t read ALL of Shakespeare, and I was absolutely delighted when a new book of Ray Bradbury’s collected letters just came out. 

Have you ever read letters or marginalia from one of your favourite authors? It can really be a trip, because you’re used to seeing their professional, polished work, as opposed to their thoughts in progress, mid-process. It can feel a little like spying. Letters can be so intimate. 

I’m not finished with this book of Bradbury’s letters, yet—it’s called Remembrance—but I wanted to tell you about an experience I had, how by picking up THIS book, it led me to discover a whole new author. Well, new to me. Charles Beaumont, who was a friend of Bradbury’s. 

So I came across this name in Bradbury’s letters, and it sounded so familiar, but I knew I had never read anything by someone named Charles Beaumont. So I looked him up, and it turned out I was used to seeing his name—in the credits of Twilight Zone episodes. That’s another great place to find authors, by the way, including Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson. 

Before I read a passage to you, I’m going to pause to say—there will be no further interruptions. No commercials from sponsors. That’s because we are sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. We have a Literacy Campaign to spread the best possible kind of infection—infectious affection for reading. This includes reading lessons, book donations, and this podcast, Socratica Reads. You can learn more at socratica.org

I got myself two books— two collections of stories by Charles Beaumont. In this first book, there’s an introduction by Ray Bradbury! So we’ll start there, an old fashioned idea—when you meet someone new, you should be introduced by a friend. Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

This introduction goes on but aren’t you intrigued by this title? Let’s now turn to Mr. Beaumont himself: Free Dirt. 

How PHYSICAL and voluptuous are these descriptions of such a repulsive person? This helps me understand why I came to know Beaumont through the Twilight Zone, because that show was so good at poking into human frailties, character weaknesses, things that maybe would be ignored in polite society but not when pushed into a twilight zone scenario. Which is really my favourite kind of science fiction—being able to see what happens to human beings if we leave our comfort zone and are exposed to one new thing. A trip to outer space, an alien, time travel—they’re interesting because of the truth about human beings and the human psyche they expose. 

If you want to chat more about Charles Beaumont, or Ray Bradbury, or the power of creative friendships, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that is a home for people who love reading and want to revel in how good it makes you feel when you find a great book, or revisit a much-loved classic. In this last episode of the year, Kim returns to the “Dark Is Rising” series by Susan Cooper. Last year at this time, we discussed “The Dark Is Rising,” the second book in the series, set on the longest night of the year. This time we’ll look at the first book of the series, Over Sea, Under Stone. This book series is masterful in the way it helps children understand the scope of time, and how stories can last for generations. It’s a lesson that is helpful for adults to be reminded about as well. 

If you would like your own copy of this book, it is available here:

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

https://amzn.to/3Tzyo7c

The Dark Is Rising (5 book boxed set)

https://amzn.to/3WeMeuv

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. You know, Socratica, the company that makes educational videos on YouTube. It’s true, we make beautiful STEM videos that help you Learn More. But I hope you will also think of us as a group of people who simply love learning. 

I wrote a book called “How to Be a Great Student,” and it’s not so much about getting better grades in school as it is about making room in your life for the joy of discovery. Understanding how to do right by yourself, so you’re not getting in the way of doing your best work. When you help yourself become a great student, you take ownership of your own learning, and no one can take that from you. We are all born natural scientists, making observations about the world. Or—detectives if you prefer. 

I think that explains why it’s so delightful to read mystery stories. It taps into this great pleasure we get from exercising our brains.  

Now, I’m not going to pretend to be ignorant about this sad fact: there’s a lot of anti-intellectual sentiment out there, a kind of sneering at book-learning. But I believe that’s the dark side, and we are on the side of the light. There might be a battle we will win today, like, keeping one of your favourite childhood books in the library, but somewhere else in the world someone is trying to prevent a girl from going to school. We can’t assume that all of human society has come to the universal agreement that learning is good and that’s settled. You’re going to have to keep up your end of the struggle. Even if all you do is post on Twitter how much you love your local library. That helps. Wearing a Socratica sweatshirt. That helps. Um…you could buy a copy of my book and send it to your little cousin. Just a thought.

I have this podcast as a home for people who love reading and want to revel in how good it makes you feel when you find a great book, or revisit a much-loved classic. I love to think about how books have influenced us over the years, both in our work, and personally. In this last episode of the year, I want to return to the “Dark Is Rising” series by Susan Cooper. 

We just had the longest night of the year here at Socratica Studios. It was the Winter Solstice. Last year at this time, we discussed the second book that gives the series its name “The Dark Is Rising,” which is set on the Winter Solstice. Oooh, is it spooky. But this year, I want to focus on our coming out of the darkness. From here on out, our nights will get shorter, and the days will get longer. One day it will even be SUMMER. 

So this time we’ll look at the first book of the series, Over Sea, Under Stone. It’s set in the summer in Cornwall. If you are interested in British history, and British mythology, you might already know a little about the stories about this part of the countryside.

This book series is masterful in the way it helps children understand the scope of time, and how stories can last for generations. It’s a lesson that is helpful for adults to be reminded about as well. 

Once again, this is a story that celebrates the curiosity of children. Of people, in general. People who are on the side of the light. There’s this idea imbued through the book that only if you are open-minded will you be able to discover the secret truths that are all around you.

Before I read a passage to you, I’m going to pause to say—there will be no further interruptions. No commercials from sponsors. That’s because we are sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. We have a Literacy Campaign to spread the love of reading and share its enormous power. This includes reading lessons, book donations, and this podcast, Socratica Reads. You can learn more at socratica.org

Now let’s turn to some tempting passages from this British mythical mystery, Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper.  Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

Again I’m wondering how I might have been influenced by this book had I read it as a child, the age of the children in the book, as opposed to sometime in my 20s. Would it have been as moving to me as say, the Narnia books. I revisit these books now as an older person, and I’m more interested in this Uncle Merry character and what is he thinking and not saying. But above all I think it’s important that children read, if not these books, books that are LIKE these books. Books that celebrate being on a quest for truth.

If you want to chat more about Susan Cooper’s works, and the power of reading, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that celebrates the power of reading to inspire. In this episode, Kim returns to her favourite Hallowe’en friend, Ray Bradbury. Back in the day, every Hallowe’en, RDB would read from his book The Hallowe’en Tree at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. But that’s not the only work of Bradbury’s that is appropriate for Hallowe’en! “Skeleton” is a remarkably funny and creepy little tale, perfect for the season. This may also be the motivation Kim needs to get back to making Biology videos. 

If you would like your own copy of this story, it is available here:

The October Country by Ray Bradbury

https://amzn.to/49isi0v

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. You may know us best from our YouTube channel where we make the educational videos of the future. Mainly math and science—STEM topics. It’s been a few years since I’ve made biology videos, which is too bad because I am a molecular biologist. I keep meaning to get back to that series. 

This podcast is all about the books we read that inspire our work. And here’s a little story from my fella Ray Bradbury, that speaks to me on a certain level as a biology enthusiast. It’s called SKELETON, and you can find it in his collection of stories called The October Country. I of course associate Ray Bradbury with Hallowe’en, what with his brilliant “The Hallowe’en Tree” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” but there are so many stories from Bradbury that remind us of our human body, our frailties that come from being incarnate. These are things that many people are afraid to look square at. But as a biologist, you must. 

Especially now, in the era of COVID, I find myself baffled by how out of touch people are with how their body works. How we are in a fight for survival against a mindless horror. Maybe that’s why I found re-reading this story oddly comforting on this Hallowe’en night. It strikes the right tone for me right now, and it reminds me a bit of what it’s like to KNOW what is going on inside your body. You might be horrified by the idea of a virus replicating in your body. This fellow in the story is so out of touch with his body that he is horrified by the idea that there is a skeleton carrying him around. He kind of goes to war with his own body. 

Before I read a passage to you, I’m going to pause to say—we are sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. We have a Literacy Campaign to spread the love of reading and share its enormous power. This includes reading lessons, book donations, and this podcast, Socratica Reads. You can learn more at socratica.org

Now let’s turn to the story of Mr. Harris and his skeleton. Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

I love the people in Ray Bradbury stories. I love this loveable, adorable wife, she’s so sweet to her husband, and all he can think about is his peculiar obsession. He’s so out of touch with reality. It will destroy him in the end. So anyways, yes, this story is a good reminder for me—I have a job to do, I need to return to biology teaching. I need to explain to people how the immune system works. Stay tuned. 

If you want to chat about Ray Bradbury and the power of reading, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that celebrates the power of reading to inspire. In this episode, Kim presents a surprising vision of the future from a celebrated novelist of manners and society, E.M. Forster (author of A Room With a View, A Passage to India, etc.). 

If you would like your own copy of this story, it is available here:

The Machine Stops, The Celestial Omnibus, and Other Stories by E.M. Forster

https://amzn.to/48C22Os

Recommended by Bookpilled

https://www.youtube.com/@Bookpilled

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We make beautiful futuristic educational videos. That means we’re often inspired by science fiction, as it treads a fine line between celebrating new discoveries and inventions, and showing us a picture of how it could all go wrong if you forget your humanity along the way. Today I’d like to share with you an unexpected source of one of these stories!

But first, I’m going to interrupt myself here to say—there won’t be any more interruptions, because this podcast has ZERO ads. No ads! That’s because we’re sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. We have a Literacy Campaign to spread the love of reading and share its enormous power. This includes reading lessons, book donations, and a little PR for reading in the form of this podcast, Socratica Reads. You can learn more at socratica.org

Now I was telling you that I was surprised to learn about this episode’s book. I heard about it from a BookTuber I’d like to recommend—a channel called BookPilled—that features all kinds of classic sci fi in my favourite form, the inexpensive used bookstore paperback, preferably with a lurid cover. I spend almost every episode saying Never Heard of It. NEVER heard of it! And I have my phone open and I’m looking up these books. There’s very often an auction associated with the episodes so if you really want to get your hands on that exact copy you can place a bid. I’ll include a link to bookpilled in the shownotes. The channel is great fun, and it helps me expand my understanding of this art form, so I consider it an educational channel. I started reading scifi before the internet existed, and I only really knew about the books that were on the shelves of my local library—which was truly excellent, but even the best library doesn’t have EVERY book. That was one thing that was a real trip about visiting bookstores in different towns back then, you might actually discover a book you didn’t know existed. 

Like this book. Let me actually start talking about this episode’s book. 

It’s called The Machine Stops. It’s either a very long short story or a pretty short novella. And it’s by EM Forster. The EM Forster I know and love from novels like A Room With a View and A Passage to India and Howard’s End and Maurice and Where Angels Fear to Tread. 

You see, I thought I read everything EM Forster ever wrote. At least, that was everything that was on the shelves of my library and local bookstores. I had no idea he ever wrote any science fiction. But he did, and boy howdy, it’s a doozy. It’s GREAT. I- I- I don’t even understand how I never heard about this so I had to read it and now that I’ve read it I have to tell you that it exists and it’s great and you should read it too, and tell people about it and get them to read it. 

So I know EM Forster as a sensitive, elegant novelist who dissected the intricacies of human relationships, and exposed the hypocrisies of his society, and warned of the dangers of people denying their human nature. A lot of my understanding of early 20th century society comes from reading novels like these. 

But here’s the thing. 

I really SHOULDN’T be surprised that EM Forster wrote SciFi. I’m so glad he saw that he could do the kind of work he always did, but in this different genre. This…POWERFUL genre. Science Fiction can be, when it’s done well, a vehicle for examining human nature and society. In this work, The Machine Stops, we get to consider the impact of technology on a future society where people live underground and are entirely dependent on a vast computer-like MACHINE for their every need. This book is from 1909, but the themes of technology, isolation, and the potential consequences of over-reliance on machines for human life make it so fresh. 

I’m going to read a little from the beginning, and I hope you are moved to get your own copy. If this is your first introduction to Forster, you have some really great works 

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

There’s a lot about this society that Forster imagined that feels familiar. If you read it—I’m going to say WHEN you read it—please read it—I think you’ll find it relevant for our current discussions about the impact of technology on our lives. 

If you want to chat about the ideas in The Machine Stops, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) hosts this podcast that celebrates books and authors. She introduces you to the wide variety of writing that has influenced the work at Socratica. Often, it’s the incomparable Ray Bradbury. It’s his birthday, and we’re talking about his short story “The Pedestrian.”

“The Pedestrian” used to be in “The Golden Apples of the Sun” story collection, but it has been removed from the more recent editions. You might be able to find it in an older edition from a used bookstore. 

Here’s a collection that does contain “The Pedestrian”:

Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury

https://amzn.to/45iefWe

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We make beautiful educational videos that look to the future. We’ve had a lot of help along the way from a certain special fellow. It’s his birthday today. Ray Bradbury. He, more than anyone else, taught me to be a futurist.

I’m going to interrupt myself here to say—there won’t be any more interruptions, because this podcast has ZERO ads. That’s because we’re sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. Socratica Reads podcast is part of our Literacy campaign. You can learn more at socratica.org

A literacy campaign is an optimistic thing. Ray Bradbury is an optimistic writer, but he’s also a realist. One of the most powerful things you can accomplish with science fiction is you can do an end-run around all the psychological barriers we have—all the denial, all the whistling through the graveyard about the fate of humankind. It’s so much easier to face up to our frailties when they’re given to the people of the future. 

That’s what this story, The Pedestrian, lets us do. Now this story was written in 1950, and it’s set in 2053, but it’s also about today. It’s pretty spooky. 

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

This is a very short story, and I’m tempted to just read the whole thing, because that would be a good time for me, but I do very much want to encourage you to check this out from the library or support your local bookstore and find a copy for your very own. This story, “The Pedestrian,” is in my old copy of The Golden Apples of the Sun, but it’s been removed from more recent editions. You should be able to find it in other story collections, so I’ll include a link in the shownotes. 

If this story reminds you of Fahrenheit 451, uh…me too. You can see Ray Bradbury pinning down this idea about how what is NORMAL is enforced and what kinds of formerly natural and beneficial human behavior becomes subversive. How do we anesthetize ourselves so we accept what our lives have become. Do you see yourself or your loved ones in this story? Can you do something about it?

If you want to chat about the ideas in The Pedestrian, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading and encourage others to develop this habit. In this episode, Kim introduces a short story by Poul Anderson called “Call Me Joe” that may remind you of a certain movie franchise with humans colonizing a land by impersonating the blue natives. 

Call Me Joe (Collected Short Works) by Poul Anderson

https://amzn.to/3rqlRqK

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. You might know us from our YouTube channel, where we teach STEM topics like math, chemistry, biology, astronomy, computer programming. We’re looking to the future when we make our videos. And that’s why, very often, we find ourselves inspired by science fiction. 

Before we go on—don’t you hate interruptions—there won’t be any more because this podcast is FREE from ads. That’s because it’s sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. Socratica Reads podcast is part of our Literacy campaign. You can learn more at socratica.org

This podcast came to be because I wanted to share this feeling, this idea—that all the books you read, all the ideas you come across in your life comingle and stew in your head, sometimes for years, before they emerge into something new. 

Here’s a fun example, I think, of a book that must have, at least on some level, inspired a certain movie franchise about humans colonizing a land by impersonating the blue natives. This is “Call Me Joe” by one of the golden era sci-fi writers, Poul Anderson. 

This is a short story that first appeared in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in 1957, so you might imagine kids consuming it and the images and ideas later influencing their creations. That’s what I’d like to think, anyway. 

Call me Joe is about a group of scientists who are working on exploring Jupiter. They don’t land. They’re orbiting the planet, and they’re using some kind of telepathic remote control of an artificial body that is suited for life on this hostile planet with high gravity, where you take shelter in an ice cave and breathe hydrogen and helium, and drink methane. 

The story has a few elements of its time—that can be a double-edged sword. I love that this is a book from the 50s the very start of the era of molecular biology, and that was part of the zeitgeist, the concept of genetics involving actual molecules. So here, Anderson is describing creating artificial life pretty convincingly. On the other hand, in this story there are no women except there’s some line about how they’re going to need housewives when they settle Jupiter? I don’t know, that’s depressing Poul, that’s a sad vision of the future, with no roles for women. 

But the thing I love most about this story is how much this setting really does feel like a science lab. How the technology is falling apart, and needs constant tinkering. The main character, Anglesey, is very believably just a jerk. No one wants to work with him. But he has this special talent of creating a mental link with his artificial Jovian called Joe (uhhh I just got that). Those of us who have been around labs know just this kind of guy. We don’t like him, he throws tantrums, he’s a spoiled child, but there’s one thing he’s good at and we don’t want to risk the work so we put up with him. 

What makes this story really interesting to me—why it’s SO much more interesting than the modern movies we’re getting on this theme that are all about conquering and pillaging an unspoiled planet—is that we get to experience what it’s like to transfer your consciousness and be a remote person. What is that going to do to you, psychologically. At some point, are you going to lose your humanity? Or at the very least, evolve into something different? 

I’m going to share with you a passage when the “psionics” engineer arrives who will service the psychic control equipment and he meets Anglesey, so you can see him through his eyes. This is a chance to re-meet the main character. It’s an interesting device. Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

If you’ve been going to sci fi movies and think that’s what sci fi IS, I encourage you to reach back into the archives and explore some of the early examples of sci fi writing. I think you’ll find it more challenging in a good way. Science fiction, at its heart, is not about the spectacle, and that’s where I think sci fi movies have lost their way. Good science fiction makes you think. 

And if you enjoy thinking, and discussing what you’re thinking, our Discord Server is open to all of our YouTube channel members, and our Patrons from Patreon. You can join at patreon.com/socratica. Thanks for listening.

Socratica Reads Episode 20: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading and to help others find their way back to reading, or to develop a new habit. In this episode, Kim gets around to reading something off her TBR list: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. She didn’t love it, but that’s okay. You don’t have to love every book to love reading. There’s still something interesting to be had when you figure out WHY you don’t love a book. 

You can get your copy here (and decide for yourself):

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

https://amzn.to/45RBsiS

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We make futuristic videos about math, science, and computer programming. This podcast is all about how reading inspires the work we do. But it’s also about how great books connect us with the ideas people have around the world, not just now, but in the past AND the future. 

One topic that’s like CATNIP to any STEM kid is: The Multiverse. Parallel lives. Every time you make a choice: strawberry or chocolate—you split off another life. How different would our lives be if we had made different choices along the way?

So today’s book on this topic has been on my TBR (To Be Read) list for a while now—The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It’s one of those books you see on the shelf of recommendations at your local bookstore, and your friends have all read it, and the LA Public Library keeps offering it to me on my ebook app (available now for a quick 7 day loan) so I finally gave in and read it. 

Socratica Friends, I did not like it. 

But just because you don’t like a book, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it. It’s fun to share your enthusiasm for a book that really works, but it’s also interesting to figure out WHY a book doesn’t work. So what happened here?

As soon as the premise became clear I was into it. There’s a library you might get a chance to visit at the moment when you straddle life and death. When you open a book from this library, you are allowed to see the roads not taken.

This is a story I want to read. I want to know if the main character already knows about the choices she made that changed her life, or were there small things she didn’t realize she could have done differently. But you know, we need to care about the protagonist. We need to understand them, and feel something for them. We don’t have to love them. We might be frustrated by them, or annoyed by them, or even hate them.

I feel nothing. The protagonist, Nora, doesn’t make any kind of sense to me. She’s not a real person.

A writer is a Creator, in the truest sense of the word. They have the power to Create living, breathing, thinking people who continue to live in our minds long after we close the book. Tell me Elizabeth Bennett isn’t a real person. I could tell you all about her, and predict how she would act in a given situation, and what she would say. 

Can I tell you anything about Nora, the heroine of this book? No!

She’s talented. I’ll give you that. She’s SO TALENTED. Why, she could have been an Olympic Swimmer if she hadn’t quit swimming. She could have been a FAMOUS ROCK STAR. She could have been a GREAT SCIENTIST studying glaciers. This is such an insult to scientists, musicians, swimmers…It’s like that lie that people started telling their kids: you can be anything you want to be, you’re such a genius! Here’s a trophy. That nightmare of a parenting technique has come to life in this book. This author apparently thinks it’s actually true. 

Alright. I’m about done here. But I have to send this message to writers everywhere. If you don’t understand your character, don’t write them. This is a man who wrote a caricature of a fantasy woman and has no idea what this woman thinks, feels, wants. Nothing. She doesn’t care about anything, so we don’t care about her. We don’t even care that she’s in this remarkable place, being given this remarkable chance. 

I am still going to read you an excerpt that I do like. The librarian. I think she might actually be a real person. Maybe you’ll see what I mean.

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

This passage hints at the idea that Mrs Elm has an interior life, separate from Nora. She knows things. And she’s thinking about her chess game, and sometimes she doesn’t bother to listen to Nora. That’s interesting. There’s a kernel of an interesting character there. Well, maybe in another life, I’ll get to read THAT book.

If you’d like to discuss these ideas with other people who have ideas about books, our Discord Server is open to all of our Patrons from Patreon and our YouTube channel members. Thanks for listening.

Oh, but before you go—have you noticed this podcast is FREE from ads? That’s because it’s sponsored by The Socratica Foundation. And the Socratica Foundation is sponsored by—you. The Socratica Foundation is an educational nonprofit dedicated to the three timeless pillars: Literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. Socratica Reads podcast is part of our Literacy campaign. You can learn more at https://www.socratica.org/

𝙎𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙩:

https://socratica.kindful.com

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading and to foster the development of this excellent habit. In this episode, Kim talks about what happens when everyone is recommending a book that just isn’t that great (cough cough The Three Body Problem) and how you can come back with a better book that explores similar themes (Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke).

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

https://amzn.to/40FdUKC

Kim’s book: How to Be a Great Student

ebook: https://amzn.to/2Lh3XSP

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3t5jeH3

Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3atr8TJ

Sign up for Socratica Dialogue (Newsletter)

https://snu.socratica.com/join

If you'd like to talk about this podcast (and all things Socratica), you can join our Discord by becoming our Patron on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/socratica

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. You probably know us for our futuristic educational videos, including how to program in Python, SQL or “sequel” - we also have a course we’re launching on Mathematica…but the big news to a lot of programmers is what’s gonna happen now that there are some generative AI out there in the wild, like ChatGPT. What does that mean for programmers, if there’s an artificial intelligence system that can do your job faster. 

Well, there’s a literary genre tailor made for helping us think about the impact technological advances have on human society. Science Fiction. We spend a lot of time on this podcast thinking in terms of scifi, because we’re sort of a forward-thinking company. Our goal is to create the tools you’ll need to be an educated person now but also going forward. That’s going to require a little flexibility. 

I wonder if some of this anxiety about the future and people feeling obsolete explains why so many people have been recommending the book The Three Body Problem to me. So I read it, and it just did not do it for me. I was interested for a few reasons. It’s partly set during the Cultural Revolution in China, and I came up in science working with some people who experienced it firsthand. And it was just as tragic as you might imagine. So there’s one appealing aspect of the book. For science fiction fans, how do you reconcile humans who are so creative and capable of having beautiful visions of the future turning on each other and demonizing the very people who would help us move forward into the future? 

Anti-intellectualism is a pretty scary thing for a scientist. It’s like our real-life boogeyman - it really exists, we’ve seen it happen again and again. 

Now what if there was an outside influence who had immense power and could shut down these curious people. Take away all their initiative. They lose heart completely. These are some of the ideas explored in The Three Body Problem, and these ideas are intriguing and meaningful to me. 

But this is not a very good book. It’s just not well-written. I don’t think it’s a translation issue - there’s a lot of great English translations of books from various other languages. It’s just so wooden. I can’t even pick a passage that’s interesting to share with you. 

So what do you do when EVERYONE is talking about a hot book and you feel so disappointed by it? My response is to pick up a different book. If you’re interested in thinking about the future of humanity and what happens to scientific inquiry or technological advancements in the face of what appears to be a superior force - and some of you are being forced to consider this because GPT is coming for your job - I’d like to recommend Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. 

This book asks the question - what will we do when we are presented with the tools that answer all of our questions? Will we mature intellectually, level up? Or will we devolve? Will we stop thinking and exploring? The caterpillar life has to end for there to be butterflies.

There will be people who say oh, the Three Body problem is hard sci fi. Yes. I don’t have a problem with that. But it’s not enough to just list interesting technical ideas and call it a book. We don’t CARE unless it gives us an experience. Good novel writing includes the human. Human emotions, human senses. IF you ever wonder why a piece of writing isn’t grabbing you, have a look at HOW it tells the story. Is it just an info dump, or does it actually take you some place. Does it help you understand by placing you there. Seeing the situation through someone else’s eyes? Do you get to hear what they hear, feel what they feel? 

Now in this book, Childhood’s End, there are many technical details, but they are also beautiful passages. So I’m going to pick one almost at random, and I hope it entices you to pick up this book. Which is a good book. 

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

So we just went on a journey with this character Jan. We saw what he saw, we heard what he heard, we had an experience, even though this is hard sci fi. Yes? Well, my Socratica Friends, I hope you are feeling like a hopeful explorer. If you’d like to discuss these ideas with other curious people, our Discord Server is open to all of our Patrons from Patreon and our YouTube channel members. Thanks for listening.