"A Basic Theory of Everything" is now available as video

Atle O. Søvik has started a YouTube channel where he presents his book A Basic Theory of Everything.

-What makes a 45-year-old man start a YouTube channel?
It’s the new midlife crisis: I need some likes! A little more seriously, it is because a number of interested readers found the book difficult to read, so I thought I could make the content a little more accessible.

-How has the response been?
- In the first week, I experienced a doubling of the number of subscribers. So now there are two. It’s a long way to Ylvis and 1 billion views, so I’ll probably manage to keep calm. If I get 50 likes, I’ll celebrate with a cup of coffee.

- Do you imagine that this could make you more famous?
No one has stopped me in the street yet and said: haven’t I seen you on YouTube? The closest I’ve come to being recognized on the street was once in a pub when Lars Bohinen asked if I was Brynjar Meling. So the bar is set quite low for what would count as an improvement when it comes to my celebrity status.

-What do you think the potential for the channel is?
I already have some experience posting videos on MF’s YouTube channel. There I have quite a few videos with several thousand views each and even over ten thousand. It is thus realistic that more people can notice this book via YouTube than by reading it. I’ll still await the situation before I replace “Professor” with “Youtuber” on my business card.

-What is the name of your YouTube channel?
It is called “Atle Ottesen Søvik”. I see that the name could have been more creative. I was thinking of letting myself be inspired by HelseSista and calling myself PresteMista or similar, but I landed on something safe.

-Tell us a little more about the content

The videos are mainly sorted by questions. There are already videos posted, such as “what is truth?”, “what is existence?” etc. Gradually, questions such as “what is time?” and “what is consciousness?” will appear. Finally, it concludes with “why is there anything at all?”. Along the way, there will also be videos introducing evolution, relativity theory, quantum physics, and other interesting topics.

-How did you go about creating a YouTube channel?
Lars Moe at IT showed me the very basics, and then I overlooked everything else. For me, thumbnails are the nails I have on my thumbs, shorts are short pants, and subscribers are people who get the newspaper in the mailbox.

-Is the channel in Norwegian or English?

Both/begge.