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

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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

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...

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...

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