TED Talks
TED: A sci-fi vision of love from a 318-year-old hologram | Monica Byrne
Science fiction writer Monica Byrne imagines rich worlds populated with characters who defy our racial, social and gender stereotypes. In this performance, Byrne appears as a hologram named Pilar, transmitting a story of love and loss...
Crash Course
The Parable of the Sower: Crash Course Literature 406
This week, John is teaching you about the near-future dystopia in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. Parable of the Sower tells the story of Lauren Oya Olamina, and her life growing up in a post-climate change, semi-lawless America....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Myth of Hercules: 12 labors in 8-bits - Alex Gendler
Hercules - son of Zeus and champion of humankind - stricken with a temporary curse of madness, has just committed the most unspeakable crime imaginable. Seeking to atone for the deaths of his family, Hercules must complete twelve...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "Moby Dick"? | Sascha Morrell
A mountain separating two lakes. A room papered floor to ceiling with bridal satins. The lid of an immense snuffbox. These seemingly unrelated images take us on a tour of a sperm whale's head in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." Though the...
Crash Course
The Handmaid's Tale, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 404
This week, John Green continues to teach you about Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction, The Handmaid's Tale. In this installment, we're looking at Atwood's desire to tell a story from a female point of view, and what exactly it means...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The myth of Sisyphus - Alex Gendler
Sisyphus was both a clever ruler who made his city prosperous, and a devious tyrant who seduced his niece and killed visitors to show off his power. While his violation of the sacred hospitality tradition greatly angered the gods, it was...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read “Kafka on the Shore”? - Iseult Gillespie
Follow the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata in Haruki Murakami’s mind-bending novel “Kafka on the Shore.” -- Desperate to escape his tyrannical father and the family curse he feels doomed to repeat, Haruki Murakami’s teenage...
Crash Course
Aliens, Time Travel, and Dresden -Slaughterhouse-Five Part I: Crash Course Literature 212
In which John Green teaches you about Kurt Vonnegut's most famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut wrote the book in the Vietnam era, and it closely mirrors his personal experiences in World War II, as long as you throw out the time...
TED Talks
Natalie Merchant: Singing old poems to life
Natalie Merchant sings from her poetry-inspired album "Leave Your Sleep," which pairs lyrics from poets -- from Gerard Manley Hopkins to a near-forgotten 10-year-old girl in Brooklyn -- with simple melodies and her unmistakable voice....
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Oisin and the land of eternal youth - Iseult Gillespie
In a typical hero's journey, the protagonist sets out on an adventure, undergoes great change and returns in triumph to their point of origin. But in the Irish genre of myth known as echtrai, the journey to the otherworld ends in a point...
TED Talks
TED: How I'm discovering the secrets of ancient texts | Gregory Heyworth
Gregory Heyworth is a textual scientist; he and his lab work on new ways to read ancient manuscripts and maps using spectral imaging technology. In this fascinating talk, watch as Heyworth shines a light on lost history, deciphering...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What would happen if every human suddenly disappeared? - Dan Kwartler
Human beings are everywhere. With settlements on every continent, we can be found in the most isolated corners of Earth's jungles, oceans and tundras. Our impact is so profound, most scientists believe humanity has left a permanent mark...
Crash Course
Holden, JD, and the Red Cap- The Catcher in the Rye Part 2: Crash Course English Literature
In which John continues the discussion of JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. This week John reads the novel with Salinger's life story in mind. John explores how Salinger's war experience, educational background, and romantic life inform...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Does "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" have a hidden message? - David B. Parker
In his introduction to "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," L. Frank Baum claims that the book is simply an innocent children's story. But some scholars have found hidden criticisms of late-nineteenth-century economic policies in the book. Is...
Crash Course
Like Pale Gold - The Great Gatsby Part I: Crash Course English Literature
In which John Green explores F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby. John introduces you to Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and the other characters in the novel, and tries to look beyond the...
TED Talks
TED: My year reading a book from every country in the world | Ann Morgan
Ann Morgan considered herself well read -- until she discovered the "massive blindspot" on her bookshelf. Amid a multitude of english and American authors, there were very few books from beyond the english-speaking world. So she set an...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Shakespearean dating tips - Anthony John Peters
Beyond giving the world dozens of English language masterpieces and inventing countless words (including the word countless), William Shakespeare, ever the overachieving bard, especially had a way with the romantic turn of phrase....
TED Talks
Chip Kidd: The art of first impressions -- in design and life
Book designer Chip Kidd knows all too well how often we judge things by first appearances. In this hilarious, fast-paced talk, he explains the two techniques designers use to communicate instantly -- clarity and mystery -- and when, why...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Kurt Vonnegut? - Mia Nacamulli
Kurt Vonnegut found the tidy, satisfying arcs of many stories at odds with reality, and he set out to explore the ambiguity between good and bad fortune in his own novels. He tried to make sense of human behavior by studying the shapes...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Flannery O’Connor? - Iseult Gillespie
Find out why Flannery O’Connor, an American novelist, is known as a master of the grotesque in Southern Gothic literature. -- Flannery O’Connor scribbled tales of outcasts, intruders and misfits staged in the world she knew best: the...
TED Talks
TED: The Museum of Four in the Morning | Rives
Beware: Rives has a contagious obsession with 4 a.m. At TED2007, the poet shared what was then a minor fixation with a time that kept popping up everywhere. After the talk, emails starting pouring in with an avalanche of hilarious...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The poet who painted with his words - Genevieve Emy
Among the great poets of literary history, certain names like Homer, Shakespeare and Whitman are instantly recognizable. However, there's an early 20th century great poet whose name you may not know: Guillaume Apollinaire. Genevieve Emy...
TED Talks
Chris Abani: On humanity
Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The Cambodian myth of lightning, thunder, and rain - Prumsodun Ok
"Moni Mekhala Ream Eyso" is the most sacred dance drama in Cambodia. It is performed every year in the buong suong ceremony, and explains the origins of lightning, thunder and rain according to the Khmer people. Prumsodun Ok tells this...