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-Ed
TED-Ed: History vs. Augustus - Alex Gendler and Peta Greenfield
His reign marked the beginning of one of history's greatest empires . . . and the end of one of its first republics. Was Rome's first emperor a visionary leader who guaranteed his civilization's place in history, or a tyrant who...
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...
Crash Course
The Poetry of Sylvia Plath: Crash Course Literature 216
In which John Green teaches you about the poetry of Sylvia Plath. When a lot of people think about Sylvia Plath, they think about her struggles with mental illness and her eventual suicide. Her actual work can get lost in the shuffle a...
SciShow
Impulse Buying: Why You Buy Stuff You Don’t Need
You may have noticed that checkout lines often have whozits and whatzits galore, but your opinion of them mostly depends on how a couple different regions of your brain work.
SciShow
Who Really Invented the Radio
In the radio race, one inventor came out ahead while the other was overshadowed. Michael Aranda goes into the history of the radio and the many people who contributed to make the tool we use every day.
SciShow
3 Ways the Milky Way Will Change During Your Lifetime
It’s easy to imagine that our galaxy is basically frozen in time from the perspective of a human lifespan, but in fact, the Milky Way is incredibly dynamic and will undergo some pretty amazing changes in only a few decades!
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What makes a language... a language? | Martin Hilpert
Outside of China, Mandarin and Cantonese are often referred to as Chinese dialects, despite being even more dissimilar than Spanish and Italian. On the other hand, speakers of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, which are three distinct...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class by Clint Smith
An animated interpretation of Clint Smith's poem "Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class"
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
An animated interpretation of Emma Lazarus' poem "New Colossus"
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Everything you need to know to read "The Canterbury Tales" - Iseult Gillespie
A portly Miller, barely able to sit on his horse, rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter and the scholar she takes as her lover. This might sound like a bawdy joke, but it's part of one of the most esteemed works...
Crash Course
Before I Got My Eye Put Out - The Poetry of Emily Dickinson: Crash Course English Lit
In which John Green concludes the Crash Course Literature mini-series with an examination of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Sure, John explores the creepy biographical details of Dickinson's life, but he also gets into why her poems have...
Crash Course
Zora Neale Hurston: Crash Course Black American History
The Harlem Renaissance produced many remarkable artists, writers, and thinkers. Today we'll talk about one of the most interesting minds of the time, Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was an anthropologist by training, and spent much of her...
TED Talks
TED: Live drawings of the human experience | Jarrett J. Krosoczka
In this live drawing performance and poignant autobiographical journey, author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka sketches some life-shaping moments, showing us how drawing and storytelling can help us honor and remain close to those...
TED-Ed
Why do we, like, hesitate when we, um, speak? | Lorenzo García-Amaya
For as long as we've had language, some people have tried to control it. And some of the most frequent targets of this communication regulation are the ums, ers, and likes that pepper our conversations. These linguistic fillers occur...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "Don Quixote"? - Ilan Stavans
Mounting his skinny steed, Don Quixote charges an army of giants. It is his duty to vanquish these behemoths in the name of his beloved lady, Dulcinea. There's only one problem: the giants are merely windmills. What is it about this tale...
Crash Course
Invisible Man: Crash Course Literature 308
This week, we're on to reading Ralph Ellison's great novel about the black experience in America after World War II, Invisible Man. John will teach you about Ellison's nameless narrator, and his attempts to find his way in a social order...
Crash Course
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Part 1: Crash Course Literature
In which John Green teaches you about Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This week, we'll talk a little bit about Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who wrote under the name Mark Twain, and how he mined his early life for decades to...
TED-Ed
Why should you read Toni Morrison's "Beloved"? | Yen Pham
Two tiny handprints stamped into a cake. A mirror that shatters without warning. A trail of cracker crumbs strewn along the floor. Everyone at 124 Bluestone Road knows their home is haunted— but there's no mystery about the spirit...
Crash Course
Sula: Crash Course Literature
This week, John is talking about Toni Morrison's novel of friendship, betrayal, and loss, Sula. Sula tells the story of two African American girls, the town where they grew up, the tragic even that was central to their youth, and the...
SciShow
If You’re Reading This, You’ve Reshaped Your Brain
With hard work and perseverance, we can change the way we process the world, and if you’ve learned how to read, you’ve successfully re-trained an entire area of your brain!
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why tragedies are alluring - David E. Rivas
The story goes something like this: A royal, rich, or righteous individual - who is otherwise a lot like us - makes a mistake that sends his or her life spiraling into ruin. It's the classic story arc for a Greek tragedy, and we love it...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How fiction can change reality - Jessica Wise
Reading and stories can be an escape from real life, a window into another world -- but have you ever considered how new fictional experiences might change your perspective on real, everyday life? From Pride and Prejudice to Harry...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read Virginia Woolf? - Iseult Gillespie
How best can we understand the internal experience of alienation? In both her essays and her fiction, Virginia Woolf shapes the slippery nature of subjective experience into words, while her characters frequently lead inner lives that...