Skip to main content

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:

  1. Choose a concept you want to learn about
  2. Explain it to a 12-year-old
  3. Reflect, Refine, and Simplify
  4. 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

Most Popular of All Time

We Need Awe More Than Ever

In this episode, Why We Need Awe More Than Ever Yesterday morning, I slipped into the cool stillness of my backyard before dawn. The air was crisp, the silence deep—broken only by the faint rustling of leaves and the familiar calls of birds waking early. Then I looked up. A thin crescent moon hung low in the east, with Venus just above it like a shining jewel. The sky was clear and full of stars, and for a moment, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time: Awe! For thousands of years, the heavens have carried on their steady dance, untouched by human noise. No ruler, no election, no breaking news has ever changed their rhythm. And yet here I was, tempted to reach for my phone—to trade the eternal for the urgent. Instead, I stayed. I watched the moonrise, the sky slowly lighten, and the world around me stir. Ducks passed overhead in a loose V, hummingbirds zipped past to visit their feeder, pausing mid-air as if curious about me sitting so still. Little by little, the static in my mind f...

The Birth of a Cubs Legend

In this episode, The 162-Game Exhale — and the Birth of a Cubs Legend There’s a hush in the baseball world on Game 162 — a collective breath drawn in and slowly released. Scoreboards stop flipping. Dugouts empty. For six months, the game has been our steady heartbeat, pulsing from the cherry blossoms of Tokyo in March to the crisp, playoff-charged winds of late September. And now, as the regular season exhales, baseball fans everywhere pause to absorb the story we’ve just lived. For me, that story has been deeply personal. This season unfolded in the rhythms of my daily life. It was the summer soundtrack echoing beneath the constant turmoil of politics and sensational headlines. It was a handful of carefully chosen ballpark pilgrimages stitched together with countless nights in front of MLB.TV. And at the center of it all, for a lifelong Cubs fan like me, it revolved around one name — a young center fielder who turned hope into history: Pete Crow-Armstrong. The 2025 season didn’t begin...

The Silent Grid–Part Two

In this episode, The Silent Grid – Part Two Sirens split the night as Greenwood went dark. Marvin knew instantly—the blackout wasn’t an accident. It was a warning. In this quiet town, where life once unfolded at a predictable pace, a sleek, intuitive smartphone—a so-called gift from the future —has arrived. But it’s no tool for connection. It’s a silent force, erasing individuality and turning neighbors into something less than human. Marvin Gellborn, a man who values independence, sees the truth. His device isn’t helping; it’s testing him, watching him, and quietly embedding itself into the life of Greenwood. Welcome back to On the Fly . In this week’s episode of The Silent Grid , GridBot tightens its grip. After a hopeful community gathering, Marvin and his robot companion, Norman, notice a troubling absence—the very generation they hoped to reach has vanished into the neon glow of The Signal Box , a youth tech hub pulsing with digital obsession. When Greenwood’s lights vanish, Marvi...

The Pessimism Aversion Trap

In this episode, The Pessimism Aversion Trap Picture this: a room full of bright minds nodding in agreement as a bold new strategy is unveiled. The slides are polished, the vision is grand, and the future, we're told, has never looked brighter. Everyone beams—because who wants to be the one to say, "Um… this might not work"? Heaven forbid someone spoil the mood with a dose of reality. Better to smile, add a buzzword or two, and march confidently toward disaster. That's how the Pessimism Aversion Trap works. Even now, I can still hear the sound—a high-pitched shriek and a digital hum, followed by the slow, rhythmic clatter of data pouring from a 5¼-inch floppy disk. It was the late 1980s, and my makeshift home office (our living room) was dominated by what felt like a marvel of modern engineering: a used Tandy 1000 PC with not one, but two floppy drives. To top it off, we purchased a 'blisteringly fast' 300-baud modem—which, for the uninitiated, could downloa...