The Who Was - Series

In this episode, the Who Was? - Series . . .

With over 250 titles, Penguin Random House Books Who Was? - Series tells the incredible stories of trailblazers, legends, innovators, and creators.

Are you a bibliophile, an individual who loves and frequently reads books (a bookworm)? What is it that compels you to pick up a book? Is it the cover, is it the title, how about an interest in a specialized subject, or just - perhaps it's a whim?

One of my ultimate goals with these podcasts is to reach a young audience. I've found that reading children's books is a gratifying and educational experience. Yes, even grown-ups can understand difficult concepts. To my surprise, both children and adults seem to appreciate the experience.

With education such a hot topic in the news right now, we need to be reminded that whether it's going to school, visiting a museum, or online learning, the goal of education (both young and old) is to nurture an interest in learning. William Butler Yeats said it best, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

And what better way to light a life-long intellectual flame than reading. Allow me to introduce you to Penguin's Who Was - Series.

It was late November; I had been racking my brain trying to come up with our 2021 extraordinary Christmas podcast story that we record for our young nieces, nephews, and friends with young children. Last year we recorded and produced The Grinch. I don't know how to say it, but somehow it seems to me, reading aloud to children is rewarding as can be.

While browsing the gift shop during a recent visit to The Griffith Park Observatory, I stumbled upon Who Was Albert Einstein, a children's book with a colorful, bold caricature cover image of Einstein. At first, I didn't think much of it and left the shop. Going back to view exhibits, I decided to sit next to the statue of Einstein in the Gunther Depths of Space exhibit.

Placing my hand on my chin to imitate Einstein and gazing into space, it hit me; education, children's books, 8-12-year-olds.

Wasn't it the Cal. Tech physicist Richard Feynman advocated learning a subject so thoroughly that one could explain it to a 12-year-old?

Here are the four key steps to the Feynman Technique:

Choose a concept you want to learn about
Explain it to a 12-year-old
Reflect, Refine, and Simplify
Organize and Review

That's it. I practically ran back to the gift shop and purchased the book—a whopping $3.99.

Here is the introduction to the book Who Was Albert Einstein? by Jess Brallier.

(Audio pages. 1-2).

Learn more about the entire collection at whohq.com. You can purchase any of these books from amazon.com, just search for "who was book series." With over 250 titles, there's bound to be something that will fascinate you, check them out.

If you have a question or podcast suggestion please email me at pball@sbcglobal.net or click the link https://anchor.fm/patrick-ball/message you can leave us a voice message.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening; see you in the next episode.

Comments

Back to School (Without the Triple Lindy)

I hadn’t set foot inside a public library in over thirty years. Last Saturday, when I walked through the sliding doors of the modern County of San Diego branch on Eucalyptus Avenue in Vista, my eyes instinctively scanned the floor for the familiar, comforting sight of varnished oak cabinets and brass pull-handles. Nothing . No card catalog. No little wooden drawers. No rows of index cards typed by someone who presumably had beautiful penmanship and a pension. I walked up to the front desk, looked the librarian dead in the eye, and asked with complete earnestness: "Where’s the card catalog?" She didn’t laugh, though she had every right to. Instead, she offered a warm, dry smile: "We magically had the computer digest it." And just like that, I was enrolled. Not the Rodney Dangerfield kind of back-to-school. No diving board, no loud blazer, no campus party, and thankfully, no need to convince anyone I belonged there. Just an overdue reminder that while I was busy with ...

The AI Debate Was Settled in 1954

In this episode, what a 70-year-old sci-fi mystery teaches us. Welcome back to On the Fly. I’ve been looking for a clear way to explain how we should be handling Artificial Intelligence today. I finally found the answer hidden in a book I just finished. The twist? It was written more than seventy years ago. Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel was published in 1954, when a computer filled an entire room, consumed enough electricity to dim the neighborhood, and had roughly the computing power of today's microwave. Yet Asimov set his story nearly 3,000 years in the future—a world where humanity lives in sprawling enclosed cities (New York) and depends on advanced technology for nearly every aspect of daily life. The remarkable part isn't how much of the technology he imagined. It's how accurately he predicted us. In Asimov's future, society struggles with the introduction of highly sophisticated humanoid robots powered by "positronic brains." Naturally, a lou...

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

From Mailbox to Microphone

In this episode, catching up with Sierra . What happens when you combine a little imagination, modern digital tools, and the willingness to make a glorious, muddy mess? You get our guest’s latest project. I’m Patrick Ball. Welcome back to On the Fly . Today, we are diving into the world of native plants and guerrilla gardening with twelve-year-old creator Sierra. After watching her impressive, self-produced tutorial on how to make ‘Seed Balls,’ I had to know how she did it. It’s incredibly inspiring to watch Sierra evolve from a young artist wielding crayons and stationery into a savvy digital creator. She’s writing scripts, mastering voiceovers, and editing—all to make a positive, green impact on her local community. “She shoots, she scores, and she’s here to tell us all about it.” Please welcome Sierra to On the Fly ! Let’s get into it. Audio interview . . . For more blog posts showcasing Sierra’s talents, see: The Mailbox Surprise . . . and The Summer Surprise I’m Patrick Ball. Sta...

On The Fly

Search This Blog