Minds that Dare - paper copy

Minds that Dare

Gen Z discovers real thinking and community life -some even like it

By Sienna Baker and Paul Frijters 

Inspired by creating an alternative to soulless and tribal mainstream universities, a small group of academics bought a castle in Belgium in 2024 to set up a new academy, where young adults become masters of their own truths and discover what it is to live in a thriving community.

In this book, Sienna Baker and Paul Frijters reveal how the students and the academics co-created a new type of academy: an experimental incubator of communities with vastly accelerated academic learning.

Experience the humour, romance, heart ache and amazing challenges encountered at Academia Libera Mentis, a unique ongoing endeavour.

Key features:

• A raucous insider story of a new initiative growing in a Belgian castle, told by two very opposing characters from different generations, forced together by accident and family.
• A behind-the-scenes look into how regular universities and academia fail the new generation, and the opportunity for small new academies to take over.
• The humour, romance, heart ache, irritations and social challenges of Generation Z discovering how to be an actual community and think critically.
• Middle-aged daring top-academics with a mission discovering the practical do’s and don’ts of setting up new small academies.

Pre-order a paper copy now. The book will be launched in January 2026