Autobiography enthusiast, astronomer and alumnus Jack Reed returns to Brookline with a new goal: to cultivate an understanding of the world around us through physics. He grew up going to Runkle Elementary School before attending the high school as a member of School Within a School (SWS). He taught music, math and science in West Philadelphia before finding his way home as a physics teacher. When he’s not at work, you can find him mixing and mastering his latest studio album or re-reading the complete works of John Steinbeck.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
During your time at SWS, what kinds of differences from mainstream classes stood out to you?
[During] freshman year, I took all regular classes. The first thing I noticed is that formality gets dropped. You call teachers by their first names, you vote on what classes you take. But the teachers are no different from any other teacher at this school. It’s just easier for them to give more because there are much fewer students.
What do you hope for your students?
My main hope is that they’re excited to be here, in this class specifically, and that they’re not scared of science. Whether they go on to study physics is not something I’m concerned about. I think every discipline has very important reasons to go into, and I don’t think physics is any better or different than other ones.
How relevant do you think physics will be in the future?
It’s all about the world around us, and you need to be a human observer in a world of physics to understand the world around us, so it’s always going to be relevant. And there’s always stuff that’s not understood or poorly explained. Even now, [in] physics, the way we describe things is very mathematical and very confusing, and it doesn’t need to be.
What was a major highlight of your summer?
A major highlight was recording my first studio album. I’ve been in a lot of studio sessions as a band—I had a few in Philadelphia, one called Kids on the Internet. There’s a single of ours on Spotify, but this is the first one that’s going to be under my name and my songs. I actually ended up recording every instrument.
Would you ever be a recording artist?
I’d love to be a recording artist, but I don’t want to be a touring musician. It’s tough—even The Stones sleep in their tour bus. A big part of work to me is dignity: how good you feel in your role and the comforts you’re treated to.
What’s your favorite book genre?
I realized this just recently: the past three years, I’ve only read nonfiction books, kind of by accident. My favorite genre is biographies of musicians, specifically autobiographies by musicians. In the summer, I read Nina Simone’s biography, a biography on J Dilla and Bob Marley’s autobiography. I find myself picking up stories I know I’ll be interested in, and for novels, it’s harder for me to get the buy-in.
If you were stuck somewhere remote with everything you needed to survive, what three items would you bring for entertainment?
I wouldn’t bring a phone. I’d bring an acoustic guitar, the complete works of John Steinbeck—I’ve read them but I need to read them a couple more times—and I’d bring an upright bass.
