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

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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 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.