Socratica Reads

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

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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.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast as a way to share her love of reading. She credits most of her professional success (and much personal joy) to her lifelong habit of reading everything she could get her hands on. In this episode, Kim discusses the special pleasure of seasonal re-reading. The context: it’s the Winter Solstice, which is the perfect time to read “The Dark Is Rising” by Susan Cooper. 

The Dark Is Rising (5 book boxed set)

https://amzn.to/3WeMeuv

The Dark Is Rising (book 2 of 5)

https://amzn.to/3vfdsF7

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

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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 us for our beautiful and futuristic videos about math, science, computer programming, and How to be a Great Student. 

Because we’re a kind of educational technology company, and we make videos on YouTube, and we have a website we’re developing, socratica.com, I think it surprises some people that we are big proponents of one of the oldest, original forms of educational technology. That is—reading. 

Yes, of course, I want you to spend time with our videos, and our website, but I really, really, want to make sure I never give you the impression that the good old techniques are obsolete. I owe ALL of my success in life to being a reader. A lifelong reader. 

If that hasn’t been true in your life, I want to tell you it’s never too late. It’s not like gymnastics or being a ballerina or something. You’re not going to age out of this window when you can become a reader. 

So in this podcast, Socratica Reads, I’m kind of coming around to this theme—it’s been evolving over time—of reading what inspires you. Reading that makes you happy, reading that makes you think, reading that makes you feel. Reading isn’t JUST for education. It IS an essential tool in your lifelong learning, but it’s also a partner in your life, like a family member. A loved one who will be there with you, your whole life. 

Today I want to share this idea that reading is one way you can celebrate certain times in your life. I hear this every year—I’ve said it myself—it doesn’t feel like Christmas yet. Well, that might mean it’s time to re-read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The Hallowe’en Tree by Ray Bradbury always gets me in the mood for Hallowe’en. I’ve read these books dozens of times, but every year it feels a little different, because YOU’RE a little different. 

This year, I’ve been doing a lot of gardening, and it’s made me much more aware of the seasons changing. I’m not a morning person, so by the time I get out into my garden in the late afternoon it already feels like the day is over. The light is coming in at a weird low angle, and my plants definitely aren’t getting quite enough sunlight to thrive. So this year I’m VERY aware that today is the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. 

And this is the perfect time of the year to read The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. This is one of those books that I wish I had read when I was younger. I read it sometime in my twenties, but I can just imagine that if I had read it when I was a kid, like the Narnia books, it would have had a different impact. But this gets back to the idea that it’s never too late. Your relationship with a book evolves over time. 

So when I was a kid, I probably would have been enchanted with the magical aspects, whereas now, I’m thinking more about the arc of time. 

As you get older, your sense of time passing changes dramatically. Re-reading this book at different times in your life may raise interesting questions for yourself. But enough philosophical jibber-jabber, I want to get to the book and read a little to you, so you’re tempted to pick it up and read with me today.

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

When you read The Dark Is Rising, you’ll get a sense for why this day of the year is so significant. Do you have some books or short stories or what have you — that help you celebrate this time of year? Do you indulge in re-reading certain books or stories? If you want to discuss this idea, our Discord Server is open to all of our Patrons from Patreon and our YouTube channel members. Thanks for listening.

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading, that most accessible of learning tools. Today Kim talks about how the shortest stories can create an indelible impression. And for those short on time, or finding it hard to commit to a long work, this can be a good way to ease into the reading habit. The short story Kim introduces is All Cats Are Gray by Andre Norton, which is available for free on Project Gutenberg as a standalone work. It’s also available in paperback in this volume of collected short stories:  

Tales from High Hallack (volume 1)

https://amzn.to/3NWprQO

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)

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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 videos about math, science, computer programming, as well as the meta-topic - How to be a Great Student. 

One of the most essential tools to being a great student is to develop the habit of reading. You don’t want reading to be some weird exceptional thing you only do when you’re taking a class or because it’s the only option. If reading becomes part of your life, if you do a little every day, you’ll find it easier and easier to slip into a book, or an article, and easier and easier for you to create written material yourself. 

There’s a certain way you compose your thoughts for writing that’s quite distinct from giving a talk, or making a video, and I’ve got to tell you, although I’m in the business of making educational videos, I would never in a million years tell you that videos have replaced books. 

Reading has made a huge difference in my life. I’ve learned SO much from people I never met, and especially people who lived and died long before educational videos were a thing. 

So, having said all that, I do understand that there are a lot of demands on our time. And it’s easy to push off reading, while there’s a constant feed of short video content right there on your phone. But I’m asking you and telling you - don’t give up on reading. Your brain needs it. 

Do you read short stories? If you’re short on time, or finding it hard to commit to a long work, this can be a good way to ease into the reading habit. I’m going to recommend, as always, Ray Bradbury, but I want to make sure you try on all kinds of authors. Here’s another one of my favourites, Andre Norton. One of the things that sets apart Andre Norton for me is - I remember characters and places from Andre Norton stories better than from a lot of other writers. This is an interesting exercise when you read a short story. Ask yourself - what were the essential characteristics that the author got across VERY fast. How is it that some books go on for hundreds of pages, and you don’t take much away from them, but others can accomplish something unforgettable in under 50 pages? 

Today I’m going to share the beginning of Andre Norton’s short story “All Cats Are Gray,” and you’ll see how quickly you’re pulled into this world. Are you ready? Let’s begin.

{Kim reads excerpt}

Even the shortest stories can create an indelible impression.I’ve never forgotten the character of Steena, and I’m glad I get to recreate her in my mind when I read this story. I never got to meet Andre Norton, but I’m glad I get to meet Andre Norton in her stories. I hope you pick up one of her books soon, and get to know this intriguing person. Thanks for listening.

Socratica is known for spreading a love of learning. Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her favourite reading experiences. Today Kim talks about her favourite part of Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz. 

Get your copy here:

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz 

https://amzn.to/3SpJ05e

How to Be a Great Student

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

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

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Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica.We make beautiful videos about STEM topics, and a lot of our work is infused with an appreciation of the History of Science. Our videos are all non-fiction, but we also enjoy reading historical fiction - especially when it involves scientific discoveries. 

So there’s this meme going around about how do you know when you’re reading Fantasy or Science Fiction. Here’s an example: In Fantasy, you buy things with COIN while in Science Fiction it’s CREDITS. But I’ve got to tell you, I’m not SURE that you can say if this book is one or the other. 

When I was reading this book, Anatomy, I was struck by what a genre-bending/ genre-blending experience it was. It’s set in Edinburgh in the early 19th century, and centers around a school for surgery. So there’s a Dark Academia feel. There’s some spooky resurrection experiments going on, like Frankenstein, and there’s a little bit of romance with some kiss-kiss in a graveyard, and there’s a plague - timely - and some social questions about class and women being denied the opportunity for education. There’s a lot going on, and it’s also just really fun and perfect for the beginning of the Hallowe’en season.

I had a really hard time picking my favourite part for this podcast, because the whole book hangs together so beautifully. So here goes with a little bit that makes me simultaneously disgusted and intrigued, which is kind of the perfect way to feel about this era of science and medicine. 

{Kim reads excerpt}

It’s still amazing to me how a good book can transport you to a different time and place and inside someone else’s head. I hope you’re getting that sense from this podcast, Socratica Reads. Thanks for listening.

One of the missions of Socratica is to share the joy of learning, especially the power of reading. Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her favourite reading experiences. Today Kim talks about her favourite part of I Sing The Body Electric by Ray Bradbury.

Get your copy here:

I Sing the Body Electric and other stories

https://amzn.to/3c3eTkj

I Sing the Body Electric by Walt Whitman

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45472/i-sing-the-body-electric

How to Be a Great Student

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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. You might wonder where we get our vision of the future. Why do we look forward to a better future? A lot of it comes from growing up on a steady diet of Ray Bradbury who was a real visionary. Today is his birthday. He would have been 102 today, and I wish he were here so we could talk to him.  I’d like to think he’d have some thoughtful, and ultimately hopeful reaction to the strange times we’re living in. Thankfully, we have Bradbury’s stories, and as long as we’re reading him, he will live forever.

None of us knows what the future brings, but the wonderful thing about reading science fiction is that we can “try on” different possible futures. We learn a lot about ourselves by observing how we react to the possibilities. And then—we can use our reactions to guide how we go about preparing for the future. It’s a little like magic. Read about a possible future, decide how we feel about it, and change course if necessary. In this way, writing about the imagined future becomes a way to change the actual future! 

A lot of sci fi is dark. Dystopian. And Bradbury certainly didn’t shy away from that darkness. I’ve spoken before about his Fahrenheit 451 as a cautionary tale. But even in the midst of great sadness, Bradbury always was there to show us the way through, with that flicker of hope and humanity. 

Today I want to share with you another one of my favourites from Ray Bradbury—a short story called “I Sing The Body Electric.” You may recognize the title from a Walt Whitman poem, which is a rich and meaty thing to read. Please read it. 

The poem is all about the mystery and glory and holiness of being incarnate. Of having a body, of BEING a body. Which is great fun to keep in mind as you read Bradbury’s story about a robot grandmother.

Like the best science fiction, by imagining a possible future, touched by technology, certain truths about the human condition are made more clear to us. Here’s my favourite part of I Sing The Body Electric—a family dinner. I’ll read it to you now. Are you ready? Let’s begin. 

{Kim reads excerpt}

What a lovely, lovely man Ray Bradbury was. We remember him. Thanks for listening.

Do you love to read? Can you think of something you read lately that changed how you did things? Or made you feel better about something you are dealing with in your life? Like…MATH?

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her favourite reading experiences. Today Kim talks about her favourite part of At Sixes and Sevens by Rachel Riley and Dr. Gareth Moore

Get your copy here:

https://amzn.to/3Qw7wAx

How to Be a Great Student

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

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Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. In this podcast, I’m sharing my favourite reading experiences. I’m picking out books that made an impression, that I found influential, and I’m jumping right to my favourite parts. There’s a sea of books out there - we’ll never run out of things to read and books to share with each other. 

This book comes to us from across the pond. If you’re an American, especially a younger American, you may be less familiar with the pun in the title: At Sixes and Sevens. It’s a book about math, hence the sixes, and sevens, but that phrase “at sixes and sevens” means you are confused and discombobulated. Which also is the state of many people when they think about math. 

This is a book from Rachel Riley, who I first saw on a quiz show called Countdown. 

The Brits really have us beat when it comes to quiz shows. Do you know COUNTDOWN? Or the funny nighttime version populated by comedians, 8 out of 10 cats does countdown? Ohh, my friend, you’re missing out. Okay, first I’m going to read to you a little description from Ms. Riley’s book and I’m curious if anyone would understand how the game actually works if you haven’t seen it. There’s a letters game and then there’s a numbers game, and this is Rachel’s description of the numbers game:

(reads excerpt)

Okay, so anyway, this game Countdown is completely addictive, and an extra challenging way to play it at home is to do it without paper. I was absolutely scandalized when I heard that some people record it and PAUSE the playback while they try to solve each round. That’s okay, really, the important thing is that you’re using your brains and doing math puzzles for fun. That’s pretty amazing that people all across the UK actually do this every day. What a country.

Rachel has a co-writer for this book, Dr. Gareth Moore, who I understand supplied some of the brain teasers in the book. I know Dr. Moore as the author of the Penguin Book of Puzzles, which is a collection of riddles from throughout history - ancient puzzles like the riddle of the sphinx and things from more recent history, like Victorian and Edwardian era and the modern era. So I recommend you look for that book as well. But today I want to talk about At Sixes and Sevens, because I’m so pleased that Rachel Riley is out there doing good work with the audience she has access to.

Now this book is full of tips and tricks and simple, real-life explanations of certain math situations. The whole book is pretty useful. But the very beginning, which contains a good pep talk for improving your math, and building your confidence, is my favourite part. I’m going to read it to you now. Are you ready? Let’s begin. 

{Kim reads excerpt}

Before I let you go today, I want to tell you about a new project I’ve been working on that is also intended to help people feel more comfortable with math. I think you can tell, I love puzzles and word problems, and I would really like to help people enjoy them and enjoy being good at them. So on our newest YouTube channel Socratica High we have an algebra series. I’ve been making videos for that series all about WORD PROBLEMS. I can’t tell you how many people have told me they struggle with word problems. They don’t seem to get …they’re a GAME!  I’ll include a link in the shownotes. 

Thanks for listening. 

Socratica High Word Problems playlist: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-VfR_4zJHyKYA7e8b2Y7B9p5CqKL35pM

Not all education happens in the classroom, or from reading textbooks. Be on the lookout for ALL the places where you can learn. If you’re really looking, you can find inspiration in the most unlikely places. Even…TWITTER. 

Do you love to read? What are you reading that sparks your curiosity and brings you joy? 

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading—a love that has the power to transform your life. 

Today Kim talks about her favourite part of Aggressively Happy by Joy Marie Clarkson

Get your copy here:

https://amzn.to/3QHrkl7

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)

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Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. At Socratica, we’re busy creating the “Education of the Future.” We focus on math, science, and computer programming, but underlying ALL of the work we do is this basic attitude of celebrating learning. It’s a matter of acknowledging the great joy that is to be had in discovery. 

Most people think about learning taking place in a traditional context: classrooms, and textbooks. 

But I would argue that you have to be willing to search out knowledge and inspiration—sometimes in unlikely places.

One of the unexpected virtual places I pick up useful knowledge is…TWITTER. 

Okay, yes, maybe mostly I’m just being entertained by pictures of cats, but really, I have had great success following people like scientists and writers and learning from them. 

One of the people I follow on Twitter is Joy Marie Clarkson, who just published a book “Aggressively Happy.” 

The title comes from a very funny online insult. Someone just couldn’t handle how positive Ms. Clarkson was. She responded by using it as her twitter description, and writing a treatise on the vital importance of finding the joy in your life. I love this response SO MUCH. I love her.

I know this is a parasocial relationship - I don’t actually know Ms. Clarkson at all, but I can’t help but feel we have a lot in common. One of my pet peeves is people who leave mean comments on our YouTube videos. What is their deal, anyway? I spend my life making gorgeous FREE high-quality educational materials. Are they trying to discourage us? My response is to block a lot of negative words, and block a lot of negative people. Ms. Clarkson went one step further, and created this book in response to the rampant negativity out there. A joyful manifesto.

I read Ms. Clarkson’s book when it came out this year, and when I finished it, I immediately turned back to the beginning and read it all over again. And here’s my favourite part:

(reads excerpt)

It turns out, Mr. Collins has a surprising strength: thankfulness. What? YES. I hope you will get your own copy of Aggressively Happy so you can read more of this wonderfully enjoyable and instructive and insightful book.

Oh!! I have to tell you about another lovely little treat that is at the end of each chapter in the book—there are recommendations of something to read, something to see, something to listen to, and a point to ponder. I love receiving and making recommendations, and this is something I’ve been doing in our monthly newsletter Socratica Dialogue, so if you’re interested in getting MY recommendations in your mailbox once a month I’ll include a link in the shownotes. 

Thanks for listening. 

Do you love to read? What are you reading that sparks your curiosity and brings you joy? 

Kimberly Hatch Harrison (co-founder of Socratica) created this podcast to share her love of reading - a love that has the power to transform your life. 

Today Kim talks about her favourite part of Star Daughter, by Shveta Thakrar 

Get your copy here:

https://amzn.to/3M5R72U

How to Love Reading (Study Tips Video)

https://youtu.be/el-S8iroORQ

How to Be a Great Student

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

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

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

Transcript:

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. You may know our YouTube channel, where we teach math, science, computer programming…the real focus of our work is lifelong learning.

And for me, the SECRET to lifelong learning is READING. 

The love of reading has taken me further in life than anything else. 

It’s great, of course, that there are online videos (like ours!) to teach you a lot of different things, but, at least so far, there’s not a video for everything. Maybe one day. We’re working on it. It’s going to take a few generations of edutubers to cover the basic curriculum.

If you really want to be able to get inside the mind of a great thinker, you’re going to want to read what they write. 

So in this podcast, I’m giving you a taste of the kinds of things I’m reading - what I find inspiring. And because time is short, I’m skipping to my favourite part. 

Today I want to share with you a fantasy novel called Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar. This is a novel about a young woman named Sheetal who is half human, half star, who lives among us. Her true nature is hidden, along with her silvery hair that she has to keep dying. Speaking of dying, her father suddenly takes ill because of something Sheetal did, and she has to go searching for a way to rescue him. This involves a reunion with her starry relations.

But first, she visits a Magical Night Market. And this is my favourite part. 

(reads excerpt)

One of the best parts about reading is that you enter someone else’s MIND. It’s one brain, talking to another brain. This might be someone who lives on the other side of the country, or in a different country, or someone from a whole other time that you would never get a chance to talk to. If you’re used to picking up books about people who are just like you, I encourage you to expand your horizons a little. You know what your life is like. Read about someone else’s life. Listen to someone else’s thoughts. Thanks for listening.

After a brief hiatus, we’re starting Season 2 of Socratica Reads with a new theme: My Favourite Part. To foster and develop your love of reading, Kimberly shares her favourite parts of the books she’s reading. What are you reading that sparks your curiosity and brings you joy?

Today Kim talks about her favourite part of Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. 

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

Get your copy of Fahrenheit 451 here:

https://amzn.to/39nc382

Mentioned in this episode:

How to Love Reading (Study Tips Video)

https://youtu.be/el-S8iroORQ

How to Be a Great Student

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

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

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

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 focus on math, science, and computer programming. We also have a kind of meta-series on How to Learn, where we teach study techniques, and I recently wrote a book about how I figured out how to be a great student. It’s called….How to be a Great Student. 

One of our most popular videos in this series is called “How to Love Reading.” We hear from a lot of our viewers that they want to cultivate the habit of reading, but for the most part it feels a chore to them. Something they HAVE to do, rather than something they WANT to do, or are even DRIVEN to do, from a deep NEED inside. I’m talking about myself right now, I NEED to read, I always have, so it’s a little hard for me to relate to this idea, that reading is a habit you need to try to develop. I’ve never had to force myself to read a lot.

So we made this video to try to bridge the gap and extend some understanding towards the people who aren’t great readers, but they see people like me doing it, I read everywhere in all situations, and I won’t stop talking about how much I loved a certain book, or how libraries are my favourite thing in the world, and…so we made this episode of our study tips series, and I think we were at least partly successful in what we were trying to achieve. 

I say we because my friend Liliana and I wrote this episode together. She’s another great reader, and we have had such fun over the years exchanging books and finding new authors to share. It’s like a very small book club. She once brought me the new Neil Gaiman book and sat with me while I read it because she loved it so much and wanted to re-experience it with me. It’s a really special thing that we share. 

So I’m thinking…this is what I’m going to do for at least a while, maybe a season or so on this podcast. It’s like a relaunch. Last year, the theme of the podcast was talking about the books that inspired our work at Socratica. And since so much of our work is about learning and trying to create the education of the future, it makes a lot of sense that science fiction books were inspiring for us. I went back and re-read a lot of the classics that were formative for me as a child and young adult, like the Martian Chronicles and Ender’s Game and Flowers for Algernon. 

I could have kept this podcast series going for a long time in this same direction, but…I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to do a little bit of the kinds of sharing that Liliana and I have been doing. Rather than dwelling on the big important momentous insights that certain books have brought me, I’m just going to share my favourite parts. I’m reading all the time, and my daily reading habit brings me a lot of small joys. Not necessarily giant earth-shattering events, just small moments that improve my life every day. So I’m inviting you to experience a few of those moments with me. I think that will give you a more honest understanding of how *I* love reading.

I think it’s only fitting that I start with Ray Bradbury, because he’s someone I love reading, and I re-read him a lot, and I started the podcast in the first place to talk about Ray Bradbury on his 100th birthday, and anyway, it’s my podcast and I love him. 

So I just re-read Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 because I feel lucky that no one ever tried to stop me from reading it. It’s a book that’s been banned a lot, and somehow, miraculously, because of the time and place where I was born, I get to read what I want, including Fahrenheit 451. 

But I never really thought about it as a book about censorship, but rather it’s a cautionary tale, giving us a picture of a kind of society we could easily slouch towards, where people would rather not be using their brains. The main character was content, or normal in that society, until something woke him up. 

Here’s my favourite part:

One two three four five six seven days. And as many times he came out of the house and Clarisse was there somewhere in the world. Once he saw her shaking a walnut tree, once he saw her sitting on the lawn knitting a blue sweater, three or four times he found a bouquet of late flowers on his porch, or a handful of chestnuts in a little sack, or some autumn leaves neatly pinned to a sheet of white paper and thumb-tacked to his door. Every day Clarisse walked him to the corner.

One day it was raining, the next it was clear, the day after that the wind blew strong, and the day after that it was mild and calm, and the day after that calm day was a day like a furnace of summer and Clarisse with her face all sun-burnt by late afternoon.

That was my favourite part of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Do you have a favourite part? If you want to talk about these things, we have a discussion board over on Discord that’s open to all of our Patrons. You can support our work at Socratica by going to patreon.com/socratica.

So…subscribe or - whatever it is you do with a podcast - and I’ll be back soon to share with you my favourite part of what I’m reading.

Socratica Reads Episode 10 - The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis

What do you consider “real” science fiction? Does it include books like The Narnia Chronicles? In this episode of Socratica Reads, our host Kimberly Hatch Harrison talks about the increasingly common narrowing of the definition of science fiction, and recalls one of the Narnia Chronicles that she read as a child that does meet many of the criteria of science fiction, although it is a blend with various other genres. 

You can buy your own copy of “The Magician’s Nephew” by CS Lewis here:

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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. We focus on math, science, and computer programming, and you can find us on YouTube and on our website, socratica.com.  

In this podcast, Socratica Reads, I’m tracing the books that have inspired our work here at Socratica. It shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that it’s very often SCIENCE FICTION that got into our brains and helped us dream of the future. But I want to be clear - that’s a pretty wide net I’m casting.

Are you a sci-fi snob? Do you insist on your science fiction being HARD sci-fi? That is, the science fiction that focuses on rigorous applications of science and engineering, and usually features realistic rocket ships and perfectly calculated orbits and technically correct warp drives and evolutionarily plausible alien life forms? 

Or can you accept that the genre is flexible, and that many remarkable works include elements of fantasy, drama, mystery...and that some of these books leave out the technological details?

I ask you this, because it seems to me that many people I know read themselves into a corner, where they only read the same kind of book over and over. It doesn’t help matters that we’ve moved away from wandering through libraries and physical bookstores. Part of that is due to the PandemicTime, but even before then - were you relying on Amazon recommendations, for instance, that are just based on what other people also bought? If you bought one book by Larry Niven or Andy Weir, you’re most likely to buy another hard sci fi book? It’s just common sense, it’s good for Amazon’s bottom line, but are you reading yourself into a self-imposed bubble?

And I say this with great affection, because I LOVE hard sci fi. But I read EVERYTHING, so of course, I’m biased - I think this is the WAY to be. I am being somewhat hypocritical, because I have very little patience for incorrect science in movies. Nonsense physics really makes my skin crawl - for instance. you see characters jumping and landing at laughably incorrect rates, and I just DON’T get it. This isn’t like a complicated physics problem, we’ve known the equations for a long time. There’s no reason to just eyeball it and go with what you think LOOKS cool. 

So when things like that happen, it really takes me out of the movie and completely breaks the illusion. It makes me angry, because I can feel the machinery behind the movie, there’s some ignorant yahoo at his computer doing the animations, thumbing his nose at the laws of physics. We have a lifetime of experience observing the laws of physics, and so when they violate them in a movie, we see it instantly and we know it is wrong.

So, I get it, if you expect rigor and correctness in your sci fi books. I do get it. 

I think there’s room for sci fi that respects science, but doesn’t put it in the center of the story. 

Today I’m looking back at a book that I read at a very young age that I consider science fiction, of a sort. But it’s also high fantasy and a coming of age story. And while there is science taking place, it’s sometimes called magic. And yes, the details of how it all works are left as an exercise for the reader. 

I’m talking about “The Magician’s Nephew,” by CS Lewis. 

Depending on how you read the Narnia chronicles, this is either the first story or the sixth in the series.

Chronologically, it’s the first. We see the birth of Narnia.

What places this as scifi, for me, is not just that there is a character of a mad scientist (a cautionary tale), but also this work was my first exposure to the idea of parallel worlds. It gave me a picture of the birth of a world, The Big bang, Narnia-style. It also gave me the pleasure of watching children behave as scientists - Observing, exploring, deducing the rules of how travel between these worlds works.

If it’s been a while since you’ve visited Narnia, I hope you will read these books again, as a grownup, and think about how much they exposed you to important ideas, so you would recognize them when you saw them again, years later. Probably for me, the most important lesson from the Magician’s Nephew was this: 

Just because you’re a scientist doesn’t mean you’re an enlightened human being. 

I’m going to read a little of the Magician’s Nephew to you now, but I do hope you will dig up your old copy, or buy a new one. I’ll include a link in the description box. Are you ready? Let’s begin.