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Mary Shelley has an urgent message for you. Here it is.
Don’t just stand there. Do something. Get involved. Use your knowledge to gain wisdom, then use your understanding to help make the world a better place.
That’s right, _Frankenstein_’s message is as up-to-date as the latest headline, and as timeless as the most enduring classic.

Video Transcription:

If you think that the only motivation Mary Shelley’s book has to offer is the motivation to be some kind of green-headed monster for Halloween …

… think again.

Mary Shelley began writing Frakenstein when she was 18 years old.

Did you catch that?

When she was 18 years old.

That’s like you writing a book of enormous cultural importance during your senior year in high school. (Can you imagine finding the time—especially on top of college applications?)

OK, so now that we’re done oohing and aahing over Mary Shelley the prodigy, what now?

I’m not saying that Shelley’s book should have you writing your own just as soon as you’ve gotten your driver’s license. But I think it is a motivation to get involved. That’s because Frankenstein is really about engaging with politics—about thinking through the issues of our time.

In Shelley’s book, knowledge that’s pursued at the expense of everything else is dangerous. But I would argue that in her eyes, a lack of knowledge is also dangerous.

Shelley’s point is really about what we do with knowledge—how we use it. It’s also about the fact that we should get involved. We should use knowledge to tackle the issues that are vexing our society.

After all, if you don’t, who will?