How It Began: A History of The Modern World with Brad Harris
Brad Harris is the brains behind this exciting new podcast series – How It Began. Earning his PhD in history of science and technology at Stanford University, Harris with his unique and professional style wishes to educate and entertain others to the fascinating inventions and discoveries that have helped shape the modern world.
Harris holds the belief that we should be celebrating the history and the triumphs humanity has achieved. Yes, there are consequences of many of the advancements we’ve made, but overall the progress of humankind need be grateful for the many amazing accomplishments of the past.
By looking back on the past with respect and admiration to what we’ve done and while holding a positive perspective, maybe the most purposeful and practical approach to continuing humanities success. Not only to learn from our mistakes to reduce risk and improve our strategies moving forward but also to be inspired and motivated to be part of the great mystery of life.
Harris is extremely passionate about history and is keen to share in a way that is palatable by even the humblest of us amateur historians. At the time of writing this, Harris is in the process of releasing the second round of professionally produced, documentary-style episodes. In the first season, Harris published 12 shows including the history of Wolves to Dogs, Electricity, Computers, The English Language, The Stock Exchange, and many others.
What I love about his show is that Harris records short 30 minutes shows. It makes it very consumable as many of us are time conscious. I also feel it allows him to focus on the key insights and aspects of the topics he is delivering without getting to bogged down, in theory, science or tech. For a novice historian like myself, this is very much appreciated. It’s also much easier to captivate someone’s attention.
When I first listened to the show, I wasn’t sure what to expect and was a little put off by the professional and highly edited production Harris choose to use. I guess I was used to and waiting for a conversational podcast in which Harris shares his knowledge on the history of the modern world. However, after a few episodes in I was quickly converted and actually swept away by the quality of his podcast. He has without a doubt put in a great deal of time and effort to each episode focusing not only on the quality of content but also to superb recording and editing.
Funny story. I remember listening to How It Began and thought to myself that he really must slow he speech down. It was kind of hard to take it all in and I felt he was rushing through each episode to hard just to make the 30 minutes cut. As we are connected online, I thought I’d give him this feedback, and that’s when I remembered that it was on 1.5 speed, as I listen to all my podcasts at this rate. My bad! Not recommended for How It Began. On 1x speed, it’s entirely palatable.
Some of my favourite episodes have been Horsepower: From Stallions to Steam Engines, Wolves to Dogs, Surgery: How We Learned to Heal, The English Language and the last one of the first season, The Theory of Evolution which I might listen to again.
In summary, Harris has produced an excellent podcast on the many significant achievements of humanity. I was never too keen on history in school, and perhaps that had something to do with the manner in which it was delivered. With my increasing curiosity into all things history, initially sparked by Yuval Noah Hariri and his book Sapiens, How It Began soothes my cravings. I am sure you’ll be pleased, too, once you’ve had a listen.
If this book sounds of interest you can take a listen to How It Began here.
Please leave your thoughts, comments & questions below.
Peace, passion and purpose…
Further Reading and Resources
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Thanks. Yes I agree. Take it all in.