The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis

Socratica Reads Episode 10 - The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis

What do you consider “real” science fiction? Does it include books like The Narnia Chronicles? In this episode of Socratica Reads, our host Kimberly Hatch Harrison talks about the increasingly common narrowing of the definition of science fiction, and recalls one of the Narnia Chronicles that she read as a child that does meet many of the criteria of science fiction, although it is a blend with various other genres. 

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TRANSCRIPT

Welcome Everybody! To Socratica Reads. My name is Kimberly Hatch Harrison, and I’m the co-founder of Socratica. We make beautiful, futuristic educational videos. We focus on math, science, and computer programming, and you can find us on YouTube and on our website, socratica.com.  

In this podcast, Socratica Reads, I’m tracing the books that have inspired our work here at Socratica. It shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that it’s very often SCIENCE FICTION that got into our brains and helped us dream of the future. But I want to be clear - that’s a pretty wide net I’m casting.

Are you a sci-fi snob? Do you insist on your science fiction being HARD sci-fi? That is, the science fiction that focuses on rigorous applications of science and engineering, and usually features realistic rocket ships and perfectly calculated orbits and technically correct warp drives and evolutionarily plausible alien life forms? 

Or can you accept that the genre is flexible, and that many remarkable works include elements of fantasy, drama, mystery...and that some of these books leave out the technological details?

I ask you this, because it seems to me that many people I know read themselves into a corner, where they only read the same kind of book over and over. It doesn’t help matters that we’ve moved away from wandering through libraries and physical bookstores. Part of that is due to the PandemicTime, but even before then - were you relying on Amazon recommendations, for instance, that are just based on what other people also bought? If you bought one book by Larry Niven or Andy Weir, you’re most likely to buy another hard sci fi book? It’s just common sense, it’s good for Amazon’s bottom line, but are you reading yourself into a self-imposed bubble?

And I say this with great affection, because I...