Context with Brad Harris

bradharris.com

What led to the rise of the modern world? How have we made so much progress, and what are its consequences? There are countless great books exploring these critical questions… we know we should read them, but most of us don’t have time. Join historian Brad Harris as he distills their insights in a captivating, accessible way. Unless we understand our historical context, our discourse will be bloated with bad assumptions and progress will stall. We each owe it to our future to be a better historian, and Brad Harris helps us think like one.

Galileo’s Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins

Oct 8 • 55 min

If civilization collapsed, and our descendants could rediscover one work to get back on track, Peter Atkins’ Galileo’s Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, would be a contender. If there are miracles, Atkins would argue they are not found in the…

Evolution’s Other Narrative

Sep 17 • 28 min

In this episode, I’ll read an article I published in American Scientist called “Evolution’s Other Narrative.” (https://www.americanscientist.org/article/evolutions-other-narrative) Given our conversation last time about disease in the history of…

Plagues and Peoples, by William McNeill

Sep 5 • 42 min

The history of disease demonstrates the accidental nature of history and the triumph of human reason to enable some control over our fate; most of us no longer suffer the death of half our children. William McNeill, in Plagues and Peoples, was the first…

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles Mann

Aug 20 • 40 min

In 1493, Charles Mann shows us how Europeans emerged at the center of a modern, globalized world by establishing the Columbian Exchange; a system they created but could not control, and with consequences none of them could imagine. You can access all…