Podcasts about Great books

Adam Minihan and Dave Niles open this episode with a story about two broken-down vehicles, a newborn daughter named Mary, and a prayer over a dying engine that — Amen — actually worked. From there they settle in with some Basil Hayden bourbon and turn to a piece of Dante most people have never read: the Convivio, his unfinished philosophical treatise written during his exile from Florence.The main topic: wonder. What it is, why Dante considered it the most critical virtue to cultivate in adolescence, and what we lose when we crush it in our kids... often without realizing it.Dante divides life into four stages: adolescence (birth to 25), youth (25 to 45), old age (45 to 70), and extreme old age (70 and beyond). Each stage has its own virtues and tasks. But it's adolescence — the age of obedience, wonder, and ordering loves — that Dante treats with the most urgency. Because wonder, once crushed, is very hard to resurrect.Adam and Dave unpack why screens flatten the imagination, why GK Chesterton's wonder at green grass wasn't eccentricity but sanity, and why Dante's most devastating line about education still applies today: if you raise kids without wonder, you may make them competent... but not wise.Also in this episode: the connection between Dante and Aquinas, the KU Integrated Humanities Program and David Dean, a monk at Clear Creek who hadn't read his prior's book and why that was one of the wisest things Dave has ever seen, and the difference between knowledge and wisdom in the age of AI.Deacon Harrison Garlick's Ascend the Great Books podcast is working through the Purgatorio right now. If you're not following along, this episode is a good reason to start.This episode brought to you in partnership with Select International Tours — selectinternationaltours.com.Topics covered in this episode:Adam's van saga, a dying alternator, and what happens when you pray like Jeff CavinsDante's exile from Florence and why Pope Boniface VIII ended up in the eighth circle of hellThe four stages of life from the Convivio — adolescence, youth, old age, and extreme old age — and the virtues and tasks for eachWhy Dante places the pinnacle of life at age 33 (and why that's not a coincidence)Wonder vs. ignorance — Dante's distinction and why it matters for how we raise kidsScreens and the flattening of wonder — Dave's strong opinion, delivered with characteristic convictionGK Chesterton and the green grass"You cannot love that which you have never wondered at" — Dante's most profound parenting insightThe connection between leisure and wonder — why you can't have one without the otherWhy the goal is heaven, not HarvardReferenced in this episode:The Convivio (The Banquet) — Dante AlighieriThe Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio) — Dante AlighieriIris Exiled: A Synoptic History of Wonder — Dennis QuinnAscend the Great Books Podcast — Deacon Harrison GarlickDavid Dean — humanities professor, student of John Senior's program at KUJeff Cavins

Ahead of her new book What's So Great About the Great Books? coming out in April, Naomi Kanakia and I talked about literature from Herodotus to Tony Tulathimutte. We touched on Chaucer, Anglo-Saxon poetry, Scott Alexander, Shakespeare, William James, Helen deWitt, Marx and Engels, Walter Scott, Les Miserables, Jhootha Sach, the Mahabharata, and more. Naomi also talked about some of her working habits and the history and future of the Great Books movement. Naomi, of course, writes Woman of Letters here on Substack.TranscriptHenry Oliver: Today, I am talking with Naomi Kanakia. Naomi is a novelist, a literary critic, and most importantly she writes a Substack called Woman of Letters, and she has a new book coming out, What's So Great About the Great Books? Naomi, welcome.Naomi Kanakia: Thanks for having me on.Oliver: How is the internet changing the way that literature gets discussed and criticized, and what is that going to mean for the future of the Great Books?Kanakia: How is the internet changing it? I can really speak to only how it has changed it for me. I started off as a writer of young adult novels and science fiction, and there's these very active online fan cultures for those two things.I was reading the Great Books all through that time. I started in 2010 through today. In the 2010s, it really felt like there was not a lot of online discussion of classic literature. Maybe that was just me and I wasn't finding it, but it didn't necessarily feel like there was that community.I think because there are so many strong, public-facing institutions that discuss classic literature, like the NYRB, London Review of Books, a lot of journals, and universities, too. But now on Substack, there are a number of blogs—yours, mine, a number of other ones—that are devoted to classic literature. All of those have these commenters, a community of commenters. I also follow bloggers who have relatively small followings who are reading Tolstoy, reading Middlemarch, reading even much more esoteric things.I know that for me, becoming involved in this online culture has given me much more of an awareness that there are many people who are reading the classics on their own. I think that was always true, but now it does feel like it's more of a community.Oliver: We are recording this the day after the Washington Post book section has been removed. You don't see some sort of relationship between the way these literary institutions are changing online and the way the Great Books are going to be conceived of in the future? Because the Great Books came out of a an old-fashioned, saving-the-institutions kind of radical approach to university education. We're now moving into a world where all those old things seem to be going.Kanakia: Yes. I agree. The Great Books began in the University of Chicago and Columbia University. If you look into the history of the movement, it really was about university education and the idea that you would have a common core and all undergraduates would read these books. The idea that the Great Books were for the ordinary person was really an afterthought, at least for Mortimer Adler and those original Great Books guys. Now, the Great Books in the university have had a resurgence that we can discuss, but I do think there's a lot more life and vitality in the kind of public-facing humanities than there has been.I talked to Irina Dumitrescu, who writes for TLS (The Times Literary Supplement), LRB (The London Review of Books), a lot of these places, and she also said the same thing—that a lot of these journals are going into podcasts, and they're noticing a huge interest in the humanities and in the classics even at the same time as big institutions are really scaling back on those things. Humanities majors are dropping, classics majors are getting cut, book coverage at major periodicals is going down. It does seem like there are signals that are conflicting. I don't really know totally what to make of it. I do think there is some relation between those two things.Ted Gioia on Substack is always talking about how culture is stagnant, basically, and one of the symptoms of that is that “back list” really outsells “front list” for books. Even in 2010, 50 percent of the books that were sold were front-list titles, books that had been released in the last 18 months. Now it's something like only 35 percent of books or something like that are front-list titles. These could be completely wrong, but there's been a trend.I think the decrease in interest in front-list books is really what drives the loss of these book-review pages because they mostly review front-list books. So, I think that does imply that there's a lot of interest in old books. That's what our stagnant culture means.Oliver: Why do you think your own blog is popular with the rationalists?Kanakia: I don't know for certain. There was a story I wrote that was a joke. There are all these pop nonfiction books that aim to prove something that seems counterintuitive, so I wrote a parody of one of those where I aim to prove that reading is bad for you. This book has many scientific studies that show the more you read, the worse it is because it makes you very rigid.Scott Alexander, who is the archrationalist, really liked that, and he added me to his blog roll. Because of that, I got a thousand rationalist subscribers. I have found that rationalists at least somewhat interested in the classics. I think they are definitely interested in enduring sources of value. I've observed a fair amount of interest.Oliver: How much of a lay reader are you really? Because you read scholarship and critics and you can just quote John Gilroy in the middle of a piece or something.Kanakia: Yeah. That is a good question. I have definitely gotten more interested in secondary literature. In my book, I really talk about being a lay reader and personally having a nonacademic approach to literature. I do think that, over 15 years of being a lay reader, I have developed a lot of knowledge.I've also learned the kind of secondary literature that is really important. I think having historical context adds a lot and is invaluable. Right now I'm rereading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. When I first read it in 2010, I hardly knew anything about French history. I was even talking online with someone about how most people who read Les Miserables think it's set in the French Revolution. That's basically because Americans don't really know anything about French history.Everything makes just a lot more sense the more you know about the time because it was written for people in it. For people in 1860s France, who knew everything about their own recent history, that really adds a lot to it. I still don't tend to go that much into interpretive literature, literature that tries to do readings of the stories or tell me the meaning of the stories. I feel like I haven't really gotten that much out of that.Oliver: How long have you been learning Anglo-Saxon?Kanakia: I went through a big Anglo-Saxon phase. That was in 2010. It started because I started reading The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. There is a great app online called General Prologue created by one of your countrymen, Terry Richardson [NB it is Terry Jones], who loved Middle English. In this app, he recites the Middle English of the General Prologue. I started listening to this app, and I thought, I just really love the rhythms and the sounds of Middle English. And it's quite easy to learn. So then, I got really into that.And then I thought, but what about Anglo-Saxon? I'm very bad at languages. I studied Latin for seven years in middle school and high school. I never really got very far, but I thought, Anglo-Saxon has to be the easiest foreign language you can learn, right? So, I got into it.I cannot sight read Anglo-Saxon, but I really got into Anglo-Saxon poetry. I really liked the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Most people probably would not like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle because it's very repetitive, but that makes it great if you're a language learner because every entry is in this very repetitive structure. I just felt such a connection. I get in trouble when I say this kind of stuff, because I'm never quiet sure if it's 100 percent true. But it's certainly one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Europe. It's just so much older than most of the other medieval literature I've read. And it just was such a window into a different part of history I never knew about.Oliver: And you particularly like “The Dream of the Rood”?Kanakia: Yeah, “The Dream of the Rood” is my favorite Anglo-Saxon poem. “The Dream of the Rood” is a poem that is told from the point of view of Christ's cross. A man is having a dream. In this dream he encounters Christ's cross, and Christ's cross starts reciting to him basically the story of the crucifixion. At the end, the cross is buried. I don't know, it was just so haunting and powerful. Yeah, it was one of my favorites.Oliver: Why do you think Byron is a better poet than Alexander Pope?Kanakia: This is an argument I cannot get into. I think this is coming up because T. S. Eliot felt that Alexander Pope was a great poet because he really exemplified the spirit of the age. I don't know. I've tried to read Pope. It just doesn't do it for me. Whereas with Byron, I read Don Juan and found it entertaining. I enjoyed it. Then, his lyric poetry is just more entertaining to read. With Alexander Pope, I'm learning a lot about what kind of poetry people wrote in the 18th century, but the joy is not there.Oliver: Okay. Can we do a quick fire round where I say the name of a book and you just say what you think of it, whatever you think of it?Kanakia: Sure.Oliver: Okay. The Odyssey.Kanakia: The Odyssey. Oh, I love The Odyssey. It has a very strange structure, where it starts with Telemachus and then there's this flashback in the middle of it. It is much more readable than The Iliad; I'll say that.Oliver: Herodotus.Kanakia: Herodotus is wild. Going into Herodotus, I really thought it was about the Persian war, which it is, but it's mostly a general overview of everything that Herodotus knew, about anything. It's been a long time since I read it. I really appreciate the voice of Herodotus, how human it is, and the accumulation of facts. It was great.Oliver: I love the first half actually. The bit about the Persian war I'm less interested in, but the first half I think is fantastic. I particularly love the Egypt book.Kanakia: Oh yeah, the Egypt book is really good.Oliver: All those like giant beetles that are made of fire or whatever; I can't remember the details, but it's completely…Kanakia: The Greeks are also so fascinated by Egypt. They go down there like what is going on out there? Then, most of what we know about Egypt comes from this Hellenistic period, when the Greeks went to Egypt. Our Egyptian kings list comes from the Hellenistic period where some scholar decided to sort out what everybody was up to and put it all into order. That's why we have such an orderly story about Egypt. That's the story that the Greeks tried to tell themselves.Oliver: Marcus Aurelius.Kanakia: Marcus Aurelius. When I first read The Meditations, which I loved, obviously, I thought, “being the Roman emperor cannot be this hard.” It really was a black pill moment because I thought, “if the emperor of Rome is so unhappy, maybe human power really doesn't do it.”Knowing more about Marcus Aurelius, he did have quite a difficult life. He was at war for most of his—just stuck in the region in Germany for ages. He had various troubles, but yeah, it really was very stoic. It was, oh, I just have to do my duty. Very “heavy is the head that wears the crown” kind of stuff. I thought, “okay, I guess being Roman emperor is not so great.”Oliver: Omar Khayyam.Kanakia: Omar Khayyam. Okay, I've only read The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald, which I loved, but I cannot formulate a strong opinion right now.Oliver: As You Like It.Kanakia: No opinions.Oliver: Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.Kanakia: Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. I do have an opinion about this, which is that they should make a redacted version of Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. I normally am not a big believer in abridgements because I feel like whatever is there is there. But, Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, first of all, has a long portion before Boswell even meets Johnson. That portion drags; it's not that great. Then it has all these like letters that Johnson wrote, which also are not that great. What's really good is when Boswell just reports everything Johnson ever said, which is about half the book. You get a sense of Johnson's conversation and his personality, and that is very gripping. I've definitely thought that with a different presentation, this could still be popular. People would still read this.Oliver: The Communist Manifesto.Kanakia: The Communist Manifesto. It's very stirring. I love The Communist Manifesto. It has very haunting, powerful lines. I won't try to quote from it because I'll misquote them.Oliver: But it is remarkably well written.Kanakia: Oh yeah, it is a great work of literature.Oliver: Yeah.Kanakia: I read Capital [Das Kapital], which is not a great work of literature, and I would venture to say that it is not necessarily worth reading. It really feels like Marx's reputation is built on other political writings like The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and works like that, which really seem to have a lot more meat on the bone than Capital.Oliver: Pragmatism by William James.Kanakia: Pragmatism. I mean, I've mentioned that in my book. I love William James in general. I think William James was writing in this 19th-century environment where it seemed like some form of skepticism was the only rational solution. You couldn't have any source of value, and he really tried to cut through that with Pragmatism and was like, let's just believe the things that are good to believe. It is definitely at least useful to think, although someone else can always argue with you about what is useful to believe. But, as a personal guide for belief, I think it is still useful.Oliver: Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw.Kanakia: No strong opinions. It was a long time ago that I read Major Barbara.Oliver: Tell me what you like about James Fenimore Cooper.Kanakia: James Fenimore Cooper. Oh, this is great. I have basically a list of Great Books that I want to read, but four or five years ago, I thought, “what's in all the other books that I know the names of but that are not reputed, are not the kind of books you still read?”That was when I read Walter Scott, who I really love. And I just started reading all kinds of books that were kind of well known but have kind of fallen into literary disfavor. In almost every case, I felt like I got a lot out of these books. So, nowadays when I approach any realm of literature, I always look for those books.In 19th-century American literature, the biggest no-longer-read book is The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, which was America's first bestseller. He was the first American novelist that had a high reputation in Europe. The Last of the Mohicans is kind of a historical romance, à la Walter Scott, but much more tightly written and much more tightly plotted.Cooper has written five novels, the Leatherstocking Tales, that are all centered around this very virtuous, rough-hewn frontiersman, Natty Bumppo. He has his best friend, Chingachgook, who is the last of the Mohicans. He's the last of his tribe. And the two of these guys are basically very sad and stoic. Chingachgook is distanced from his tribe. Chingachgook has a tribe of Native Americans that he hates—I want to say it's the Huron. He's always like, “they're the bad ones,” and he's always fighting them. Then, Natty Bumppo doesn't really love settled civilization. He's not precisely at war with it, but he does not like the settlers. They're kind of stuck in the middle. They have various adventures, and I just thought it was so haunting and powerful.I've been reading a lot of other 19th-century American literature, and virtually none of it treats Native Americans with this kind of respect. There's a lot of diversity in the Native American characters; there's really an attempt to show how their society works and the various ways that leadership and chiefship works among them. There's this very haunting moment in The Last of the Mohicans, where this aged chief, Tamenund, comes out and starts speaking. This is a chief who, in American mythology, was famous for being a friend to the white people. But, James Fenimore Cooper writing in the 1820s has Tamenund come out at 80 years old and say, “we have to fight; we have to fight the white people. That's our only option.” It was just such a powerful moment and such a powerful book.I was really, really enthused. I read all of these Leatherstocking Tales. It was also a very strange experience to read these books that are generally supposed to be very turgid and boring, and then I read them and was like, “I understand. I'm so transported.” I understand exactly why readers in the 1820s loved this.Oliver: Which Walter Scott books do you like?Kanakia: I love all the Walter Scott books I've read, but the one I liked best was Kenilworth. Have you ever read Kenilworth?Oliver: I don't know that one.Kanakia: Yeah, it's about Elizabeth I, who had a romantic relationship with one of her courtiers.Oliver: The Earl of Essex?Kanakia: Yeah. She really thought they were going to get married, but then it turned out he was secretly married. Basically, I guess the implication is that he killed his wife in order to marry Queen Elizabeth I. It's a novel all about him and that situation, and it just felt very tightly plotted. I really enjoyed it.Oliver: What did you think of Rejection?Kanakia: Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte? Initially when I read this book, I enjoyed it, but I was like, “life cannot possibly be this sad.” It's five or six stories about these people who just have nothing going on. Their lives are so miserable, they can't find anyone to sleep with, and they're just doomed to be alone forever. I was like, “life can't be this bad.” But now thinking back over it, it is one of the most memorable books I've read in the last year. It really sticks with you. I feel like my opinion of this book has gone up a lot in retrospect.Oliver: How antisemitic is the House of Mirth?Kanakia: That is a hotly debated question, which I mentioned in my book. I think there has been a good case made that Edith Wharton, the author of House of Mirth, who was from an old New York family, was herself fairly antisemitic and did not personally like Jewish people. What she portrays in this book is that this old New York society also was highly suspicious of Jewish people and was organized to keep Jewish people out.In this book there is a rich Jewish man, Simon Rosedale, and there's a poor woman, Lily Bart. Lily Bart's main thing is whether she's going to marry the poor guy, Lawrence Selden, or the rich guy, Percy Gryce. She can't choose. She doesn't want to be poor, but she also is always bored by the rich guys. Meanwhile, through the whole book, there's Simon Rosedale, who's always like, “you should marry me.” He's the rich Jewish guy. He's like, “you should marry me. I will give you lots of money. You can do whatever you want.”Everybody else kind of just sees her as a woman and as a wife; he really sees her as an ally in his social climbing. That's his main motivation. The book is relatively clear that he has a kind of respect for her that nobody else does. Then, over the course of the book, she also gains a lot more respect for him. Basically, late in the book, she decides to marry him, but she has fallen a lot in the world. He's like, “that particular deal is not available anymore,” but he does offer her another deal that—although she finds it not to her taste—is still pretty good.He basically is like, “I'll give you some money, you'll figure out how to rehabilitate your reputation, and later down the line, we can figure something out.” So, I think with a great author like Edith Wharton, there's power in these portrayals. I felt it hard to come away from it feeling like the book is like a really antisemitic book.Oliver: Now, you note that the Great Books movement started out as something quite socially aspirational. Do you think it's still like that?Kanakia: I do think so. Yeah. For me, that's 100 percent what it was because I majored in econ. I always felt kind of inadequate as a writer against people who had majored in English. Then I started off as a science fiction writer, young adult writer, and I was like, “I'm going to read all these Great Books and then I'll have read the books that everybody else has read.” In my mind, that's also what it was—that there was some upper crust or literary society that was reading all these Great Books.That's really what did it. I do think there's still an element of aspiration to it because it's a club that you can join, that anyone can join. It's very straightforward to be a Great Books reader, and so I think there's still something there. I think because the Great Books movement has such a democratic quality to it, it actually doesn't get you to the top socially, which has always been the true, always been the case. But, that's okay. As long as you end up higher than where you started, that's fine.Oliver: What makes a book great?Kanakia: I talk about it this in the book, and I go through many different authors' conceptions of what makes a book great or what constitutes a classic. I don't know that anyone has come up with a really satisfying answer. The Horatian formulation from Horace—that a book is great or an author is great if it has lasted for a hundred years—is the one that seems to be the most accurate. Like, any book that's still being read a hundred years after it was written has a greatness.I do think that T. S. Eliott's formulation—that a civilization at its height produces certain literature and that literature partakes of the greatness of the civilization and summarizes the greatness of the civilization—does seem to have some kind of truth to it.But it's hard, right? Because the greatest French novel is In Search of Lost Time, but I don't know that anyone would say that the France in the 1920s was at its height. It's not a prescriptive thing, but it does seem like the way we read many of these Great Books, like Moby Dick, it feels like you're like communing with the entire society that produced it. So, maybe there's something there.Oliver: Now, you've used a list from Clifton Fadiman.Kanakia: Yes.Oliver: Rather than from Mortimer Adler or Harold Bloom or several others. Why this list?Kanakia: Well, the best reason is that it's actually the list I've just been using for the last 15 years. I went to a science fiction convention in 2009, Readercon, and at this science fiction convention was Michael Dirda, who was a Washington Post book critic. He had recently come out with his book, Classics for Pleasure, which I also bought and liked. But he said that the list he had always used was this Clifton Fadiman book. And so when I decided to start reading the Great Books, I went and got that book. I have perused many other lists over time, but that was always the list that seemed best to me.It seemed to have like the best mix. There's considerable variation amongst these lists, but there's also a lot of overlap. So any of these lists is going to have Dickens on it, and Tolstoy, and stuff like that. So really, you're just thinking about, “aside from Dickens and Tolstoy and George Eliot and Walt Whitman and all these people, who are the other 50 authors that you're going be reading?”The Mortimer Adler list is very heavy on philosophy. It has Plotinus on it. It has all these scientific works. I don't know, it didn't speak to me as much. Whereas, this Clifton Fadiman and John Major list has all these Eastern works on it. It has The Tale of Genji, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Story of the Stone, and that just spoke to me a little bit more.Oliver: What modern books will be on a future Great Books list, whether it's from someone alive or someone since the war.Kanakia: Have you ever heard of Robert Caro?Oliver: Sure.Kanakia: Yeah. I think his Lyndon Johnson books are great books. They have changed the field of biography. They're so complete, they seem to summarize an entire era, epoch. They're highly rated, but I feel like they're underrated as literature.What else? I was actually a little bit surprised in this Clifton Fadiman-John Major book, which came out in 1999, that there are not more African Americans in their list. Like, Invisible Man definitely seemed like a huge missed work. You know, it's hard. You would definitely want a book that has undergone enough critical evaluation that people are pretty certain that it is great. A lot of things that are more recent have not undergone that evaluation yet, but Invisible Man has, as have some works by Martin Luther King.Oliver: What about The Autobiography of Malcolm X?Kanakia: I would have to reread. I feel like it hasn't been evaluated much as a literary document.Oliver: Helen DeWitt?Kanakia: It's hard to say. It's so idiosyncratic, The Last Samurai, but it is certainly one of the best novels of the last 25 years.Oliver: Yeah.Kanakia: It is hard to say, because there's nothing else quite like it. But I would love if The Last Samurai was on a list like this; that would be amazing.Oliver: If someone wants to try the Great Books, but they think that those sort of classic 19th-century novels are too difficult—because they're long and the sentences are weird or whatever—what else should they do? Where else should they start?Kanakia: Well, it depends on what they're into, or it depends on their personality type. I think like there are people who like very, very difficult literature. There are people who are very into James Joyce and Proust. I think for some people the cost-benefit is better. If they're going to be pouring over some book for a long time, they would prefer if it was overtly difficult.If they're not like that, then I would say, there are many Great Books that are more accessible. Hemingway is a good one and Grapes of Wrath is wonderful. The 19th-century American books tend to be written in a very different register than the English books. If you read Moby Dick, it feels like it's written in a completely different language than Charles Dickens, even though they're writing essentially at the same time.Oliver: Is there too much Freud on the list that you've used?Kanakia: Maybe. I know that Interpretation of Dreams is on that list, which I've tried to read and have decided life is too short. I didn't really buy it, but I have read a fair amount of Freud. My impression of Freud was always that I would read Freud and somehow it would just seem completely fanciful or far out, like wouldn't ring true. But then when I started reading Freud, it was more the opposite. I was like, oh yeah, this seems very, very true.Like this battle between like the id and the ego and the super ego, and this feeling that like the psyche is at war with itself. Human beings really desire to be singular and exceptional, but then you're constantly under assault by the reality principle, which is that you're insignificant. That all seemed completely true. But then he tries to cure this somehow, which does not seem a curable problem. And he also situates the problem in some early sexual development, which also did not necessarily ring true. But no, I wouldn't say there's too much. Freud is a lot of fun. People should read Freud.Oliver: Which of the Great Books have you really not liked?Kanakia: I do get asked this quite a bit. I would say the Great Book that I really felt like—at least in translation—was not that rewarding in an unabridged version was Don Quixote. Because at least half the length of Don Quixote is these like interpolated novellas that are really long and tedious. I felt Don Quixote was a big slog. But maybe someday I'll go back and reread it and love it. Who knows?Oliver: Now you wrote that the question of biography is totally divorced from the question of what art is and how it operates. What do you think of George Orwell's supposition that if Shakespeare came back tomorrow, and we found out he used to rape children that we should—we would not say, you know, it's fine to carry on to doing that because he might write another King Lear.Kanakia: Well, if we discovered that Shakespeare was raping children, he should go to prison for that. No. It's totally divorced in both senses. You don't get any credit in the court of law because you are the writer of King Lear. If I murdered someone and then I was hauled in front of a judge and they were like, oh, Naomi's a genius, I wouldn't get off for murder. Nor should I get off for murder.So in terms of like whether we would punish Shakespeare for his crime of raping children, I don't think King Lear should count at all, but it's never used that way. It's never should someone go to prison or not for their crimes, because they're a genius. It's always used the other way, which is should we read King Lear knowing that the author raped children, but I also feel like that is immaterial. If you read King Lear, you're not enabling someone to rape children.Oliver: There's an almost endless amount of discussion these days about the Great Books and education and the value of the humanities, and what's the future of it all. What is your short opinion on that?Kanakia: My short opinion is that the Great Books at least are going to be fine. The Great Books will continue to be read, and they would even survive the university. All these books predate the university and they will survive the university. I feel like the university has stewarded literature in its own way for a while now and has made certain choices in that stewardship. I think if that stewardship was given up to more voluntary associations that had less financial support, then I think the choices would probably be very different. But I still think the greatest works would survive.Oliver: Now this is a quote from the book: “I am glad that reactionaries love the Great Books. They've invited a Trojan horse into their own camp.” Tell us what you mean by that.Kanakia: Let's say you believed in Christian theocracy, that you thought America should be organized on explicitly Christian principles. And because you believe in Christian theocracy, you organize a school that teaches the Great Books. Many of these schools that are Christian schools that have Great Books programs will also teach Nietzsche. They definitely put some kind of spin on Nietzsche. But they will teach anti-Christ, and that is a counterpoint to Christian morality and Christian theology. There are many things that you'll read in the Great Books that are corrosive to various kinds of certainties.If someone who I think is bad starts educating themselves in the Great Books, I don't think that the Great Books are going to make them worse from my perspective. So it's good.Oliver: How did reading the Mahabharata change you?Kanakia: Oh yeah, so the Mahabharata is a Hindu epic from, let's say, the first century AD. I'm Indian and most Indians are familiar with the basic outline of the Mahabharata story because it's told in various retellings, and there's a TV serial that my parents would rent from the Indian store growing up and we would watch it tape by tape. So I'm very familiar with it. Like there's never been a time I have not known this story.But I was also familiar with the idea that there is a written version in Sanskrit that's extremely long. It is 10 times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. This Mahabharata story is not that long. I've read a version of it that's about 800 pages long. So how could something that's 10 times this long be the same? A new unabridged translation came out 10 years ago. So I started reading it, and it basically contains the entire Sanskrit Vedic worldview in it.I had never been exposed to this very coherently laid-out version of what I would call Hindu cosmology and ethics. Hindus don't really get taught those things in a very organized way. The book is basically about dharma, the principle of rightness and how this principle of rightness orders the universe and how it basically results in everybody getting their just deserts in various ways. As I was reading the book, I was like, this seems very true that there is some cosmic rebalancing here, and that everything does turn out more or less the way it should, which is not something that I can defend on a rational level.But just reading the book, it just made me feel like, yes, that is true. There is justice, the universe is organized by justice. It took me about a year to read the whole thing. I started waking up at 5:00 a.m. and reading for an hour each morning, and it just was a really magical, profound experience that brought me a lot closer to my grandmother's religious beliefs.Oliver: Is it ever possible to persuade someone with arguments that they should read literature, or is it just something that they have to have an inclination toward and then follow someone's example? Because I feel like we have so many columns and op-eds and “books are good because of X reason, and it's very important because of Y reason.” And like, who cares? No one cares. If you are persuaded, you take all that very seriously and you argue about what exactly are the precise reasons we should say. And if you're not persuaded, you don't even know this is happening.And what really persuades you is like, oh, Naomi sounds pretty compelling about the Mahabharata. That sounds cool. I'll try that. It's much more of a temperamental, feelingsy kind of thing. Is it possible to argue people into thinking about this differently? Or should we just be doing what we do and setting an example and hoping that people will follow.Kanakia: As to whether it's possible or not, I do not know. But I do think these columns are too ambitious. A thousand-word column and the imagined audience for this column is somebody who doesn't read books at all, who doesn't care about literature at all. And then in a thousand-word column, you're going to persuade them to care about literature. This is no good. It's so unnecessary.Whereas there's a much broader range of people who love to read books, but have never picked up Moby Dick or have never picked up Middlemarch, or who like maybe loved Middlemarch, but never thought maybe I should then go on and read Jane Austen and George Eliot.I think trying to shift people from “I don't read books at all; reading books is not something I do,” to being a Great Books card-carrying lover of literature is a lot. I really aim for a much lower result than that, which is to whatever extent people are interested in literature, they should pursue that interest. And as the rationalists would say, there's a lot of alpha in that; there's a lot to be gained from converting people who are somewhat interested into people who are very interested.Oliver: If there was a more widespread practice of humanism in education and the general culture, would that make America into a more liberal country in any way?Kanakia: What do you mean by humanism?Oliver: You know, the old-fashioned liberal arts approach, the revival of the literary journal culture, the sort of depolitical approach to literature, the way things used to be, as it were.Kanakia: It couldn't hurt. It couldn't hurt is my answer to that question.Oliver: Okay.Kanakia: What you're describing is basically the way I was educated. I went to Catholic school in DC at St. Anselm's Abbey School, in Northeast, DC, grade school. Highly recommend sending your little boys there. No complaints about the school. They talked about humanism all the time and all these civic virtues. I thought it was great. I don't know what people in other schools learn, but I really feel like it was a superior way of teaching.Now, you know, it was Catholic school, so a lot of people who graduated from my school are conservatives and don't really have the beliefs that I have, but that's okay.Oliver: Tell us about your reading habits.Kanakia: I read mostly ebooks. I really love ebooks because you can make the type bigger. I just read all the time. They vary. I don't wake up at 5:00 a.m. to read anymore. Sometimes if I feel like I'm not reading enough—because I write this blog, and the blog doesn't get written unless I'm reading. That's the engine, and so sometimes I set aside a day each week to read. But generally, the reading mostly takes care of itself.What I tend to get is very into a particular thing, and then I'll start reading more and more in that area. Recently, I was reading a lot of New Yorker stories. So I started reading more and more of these storywriters that have been published in the New Yorker and old anthologies of New Yorker stories. And then eventually I am done. I'm tired. It's time to move on.Oliver: But do you read several books at once? Do you make notes? Do you abandon books? How many hours a day do you read?Kanakia: Hours a day: Because my e-reader keeps these stats, I'd say 15 or 20 hours a week of reading. Nowadays because I write for the blog, I often think as I'm reading how I would frame a post about this. So I look for quotes, like what quote I would look at. I take different kinds of notes. I'll make more notes if I'm more confused by what is going on. Especially with nonfiction books, I'll try sometimes to make notes just to iron out what exactly I think is happening or what I think the argument is. But no, not much of a note taker.Oliver: What will you read next?Kanakia: What will I read next? Well, I've been thinking about getting back into Indian literature. Right now I'm reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. But there's an Indian novel called Jhootha Sach, which is a partition novel that is originally in Hindi. And it's also a thousand pages long, and is frequently compared to Les Miserables and War and Peace. So I'm thinking about tackling that finally.Oliver: Naomi Kanakia, thank you very much.Kanakia: Thanks for having me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk

Leaders, we begin rebuilding Chesterton's Fence by restoring the fences in ourselves. ---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A Conflict of Visions: The Hidden Origins of Ideological Conflict by Thomas Sowell---00:00 "Leadership Lessons: Root Causes."13:11 "Two Competing World Visions."21:47 "Unlikely Paths and Perspectives."37:33 Unconstrained vs. Constrained Visions.49:16 "Job Offer Rejection and Reflection."58:29 "Pendulum Shift and Constrained Vision."01:05:13 "Accountability When Provoking Authority."01:22:04 "Encouraging Constraint and Education."01:32:07 "Constrained Vision and Self-Awareness."01:37:37 "Gen X: Leaders of Restoration."01:49:19 "Understanding Division and Perception."01:58:16 "Active Participation and Leadership."---Opening theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

B"H I have a book recommendation for Jew haters. It's called the Book of Esther. In it you'll meet Haman, who tried to eliminate the Jewish people entirely. When things began to unravel, even his wife Zeresh saw the truth. She said that if Mordechai is from the seed of the Jews, you will not overcome him. You will fall before him. That's not Jewish bravado, but rather, it is history speaking now. The story repeats itself again and again. Attempts to erase the Jewish people never end the way their architects expect. If you ever want a real conversation, I'm open. In the meantime, read the Megillah with an open mind and heart. Purim Sameach. #Purim #MegillatEsther #AntiSemitism #JewishHistory #Judaism To watch Torah Thoughts in video format, click HERE Subscribe to the Torah Thoughts BLOG for exclusive written content! Please like, share and subscribe wherever you find this!

Leaders, you might be listening to it, but can you hear it?---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Leaders, two visions of human nature and human institutions have been locked in conflict since the time of Cain and Abel.  ---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America by Coleman Hughes ---00:00 "Leadership Lessons: Exploring Race & Identity"18:01 "What Will You Do Next?"21:48 "Race: Meaning, History, and Impact"41:05 "Attending a Preschool Party."44:28 "Critique of Corporate Cultural Messaging."59:53 "Freedom, Identity, and Worldview Shift."01:04:23 "Dorollo's Deep Passion for Genealogy."01:22:03 "Neo-Racism and Elite Institutions."01:25:23 "Challenging Narratives: Neoracism and Truth."01:41:19 "Reevaluating Tenure and Academic Roles."01:51:35 "America's Crossroads: Racism and Reform."01:57:51 "Redefining African American Identity in the 21st Century."---Opening theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Culture Friday on a top-ranked podcaster's vitriolic attack on evangelicals, Collin Garbarino reviews GOAT, and George Grant on three books that shaped his life. Plus, the Friday morning newsWORLD Watch offer: 90 days free to new subscribers. Go to WNG.org/LOVE90Support The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donateAdditional support comes from The Joshua Program at St. Dunstan's Academy in Virginia ... a gap year shaping young men ... through trades, farming, prayer ... stdunstansacademy.orgFrom WatersEdge. Competitive rates and supporting churches. 4.55% APY on a 13-month term investment. WatersEdge.com/invest

About the GuestDr. Keith Buhler is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and teacher. He co-founded the Saint Andrew Academy in Riverside CA, where he serves at Director of Advancement. When he is not teaching Great Books at Azusa Pacific University Honors College, he coaches other start-ups and serves in the west coast Alcuin Fellowship.  His writings include Into the Light (a chapter on education); Virtue and Wisdom as Natural Ends (philosophy); and Sola Scriptura: A Dialogue (theology). He attends St Andrew Orthodox Church in Riverside, with his wife Elizabeth and their four children.  Show NotesOrthodox Christian educator, Dr. Keith Buhler joins Adrienne to discuss his chapter in the new anthology compiled by David V. Hicks (author of Norms & Nobility). Some topics covered include:Education is a life, not just a pursuit of academicsThe role of the teacher as a role model and mentor in virtueOrthodox traditionsGrowing children in good habits in the classroomEducation is a lifelong pursuit that does not end upon graduationResources and People MentionedInto The Light: Classical Education and Orthodox Christianity, compiled by David V. Hicks and Anthony Gilbert The Republic by PlatoA Dish of Orts, Essays by George MacDonald (The Fantastic Imagination Essay)Sir Gibbie, George MacDonaldG.K. Chestertonpoems by C.S. LewisThe Awakening of Miss PrimNorms and Nobility by David HicksTen Traits of a Good Teacher by Chris PerrinC. S. Lewis PoetryKevin Clark and Ravi Jain The Liberal Arts TraditionPeter KreeftPoem on Oxford by C. S. LewisAfter Prayer by Malcom Guite (A Kind of Tune Poem)George HerbertSir Gibbie by George MacDonaldAristotlePodcast Episode on Nature Journaling with John Muir LawsPodcast Episode on Norms & Nobility with David V. Hicks_____________________________________This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.Support this podcast: ★ Support this podcast ★ _________________________________________________________Credits:Sound Engineer: Andrew HelselLogo Art: Anastasiya CFMusic: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic © 2026 Beautiful Teaching LLC. All Rights Reserved

DescriptionChristopher Perrin explores why “classical education” is both widely used and widely misunderstood—and why the language we choose matters. He surveys common assumptions people attach to the word classical (Greek and Roman history, Great Books, elitism, Eurocentrism) and explains why the modern renewal is, for better or worse, “stuck” with the adjective. Perrin argues that we cannot speak clearly about education without metaphor and analogy, since language itself is rooted in metaphor (from lingua, “tongue”). He then turns to the ancient Greek and Latin vocabularies of education—especially paideia (formation) and trophē (nourishment)—to show how earlier cultures understood education as shaping a human person, not merely transmitting information. Using Ephesians 6:4, he compares Greek and Latin renderings (Paul and Jerome) to illustrate how meaning is often “lost in translation” when rich terms are flattened into single English words. Perrin closes by suggesting that if he had to choose one word to gather the tradition, it would be formation—a metaphor that points to education's deepest aim.Episode OutlineWhy “classical education” is misunderstood: common reactions and cultural assumptionsWhy we keep the word classical: branding, public discourse, and the need for clearer definitionMetaphor is unavoidable: language, analogy, and the “dead metaphors” we no longer noticeGreek terms for education: paideia (formation) and paidia (play), plus other educational vocabularyTrophe as nourishment: education as bringing up, feeding, and forming a childEphesians 6:4 as a case study: Paul's Greek terms and Jerome's Latin translation Translation problems: why one English word rarely matches a rich Greek/Latin term The need for “economy with clarity”: using more words (and better words) to describe educationA proposed center-word: formation as the best single term to gather education's aimsWhere to continue learning: the podcast, ClassicalU, and ongoing reflections on definitionsKey Topics & TakeawaysWords carry history—and drift over time: Even identical spellings (like “educate”) may not mean what they once meant.Metaphor isn't optional: We describe complex realities (like education) through images, comparisons, and inherited figures of speech.Education is formation, not mere information: Ancient terms frame schooling as upbringing, cultivation, and shaping character.Greek paideia is richer than a single English equivalent: Translations often require multiple terms (training, discipline, instruction) to approximate meaning.Education is nourishment (trophe): The image of feeding and raising up reinforces education's humane, embodied, relational nature.Translation always involves choices: Comparing Paul's Greek with Jerome's Latin exposes what can be gained—and lost—across languages.Clear speech requires more words, not fewer: When society forgets education's purpose, precision often demands fuller description.Questions & DiscussionWhat does it mean to study the past “in its pastness”?Discuss why people in the past may act in ways we do not recognize—or approve. How can teachers pursue truth without turning history into propaganda or therapy?What do people assume when they hear “classical education” in your context?List the top three assumptions you encounter (e.g., “Great Books only,” elitist, Eurocentric, test-driven). Draft one sentence you could use to clarify what you mean—and what you don't mean.Where do you see metaphor doing “hidden work” in the way educators talk?Identify common metaphors you use (pipeline, outcomes, delivery, rigor, standards, growth). What do those metaphors emphasize—and what might they obscure?If education is “formation,” what exactly is being formed?Name the top three aims you believe education should form (virtue, wisdom, piety, civic responsibility, attention, love of truth). How does your school's daily life (not just its curriculum) support those aims?How does the image of education as “nourishment” challenge modern schooling?What “diet” are students receiving—intellectually, morally, spiritually, culturally? What might “malnourishment” look like in a school (and what would renewal look like)?Suggested Reading & ResourcesMortimer Adler: The Paideia Way of Classical Education by Robert Woods, Edited by David DienerThe Good Teacher: Ten Key Pedagogical Principles That Will Transform Your Teaching by Christopher A. Perrin, PhD and Carrie Eben, MSEd Festive School by Father Nathan CarrAn Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents by Christopher A. Perrin, MDiv, PhDA Student's Guide to Classical Education by Zoë PerrinThe Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark, DLS, and Ravi Scott JainLatin Vulgate: Ephesians 6:4 Amplified Bible: Ephesians 6:4Expanded Bible: Ephesians 6:4 ClassicalUClassicalU Course: Introduction to Classical EducationClassicalU Course: ParentU: Is Classical Education Right for Your Children?ClassicalU Course: A Brief History of Classical EducationClassicalU Course: The Liberal Arts TraditionClassicalU Course: Classical Education History and Introduction

Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements. George Breitman, ed. w/Dorollo Nixon & Jesan Sorrells---00:00 Welcome and Introduction - Discussion of Malcolm X's speeches and Statements with Dorollo Nixon.02:00 "Black Revolution" by Malcolm X.06:30 The Literary Life of Malcolm X.08:43 Malcolm X's Impact on Leadership Culture.14:52 The Split in Black American Culture We All Live With.16:19 Separatist Movements in the United States of America.24:27 "The Ballot or the Bullet" by Malcolm X.30:23 Ballots, Bullets, and Black Lives Mattering: 60 Years on from Victory.35:55 Lack of Moral Force in Post-Modern Leadership.39:06 Heading to a Ukrainian War Rally.42:59 Leadership Gains Moral Authority from True Religion not from the Media.53:12 From Jerry Maguire to The Wire: It's Hard to "Sell" Revolution to Post-Modern Black Americans.55:34 "It is a Long Way from Heaven to Here." - Bubs, The Wire.01:04:04 Larry Bird and the 1988 NBA 3-Point Shootout.01:08:00 Malcolm X's Transformation with Orthodox Islam.01:12:55 "Mrs. Fani Lou Hamer" by Malcolm X.01:16:42 The Invisible Man Must Exit the Basement to Become Malcolm X.01:25:06 Leaders Change Requires Sacrifice.01:30:12 Leaders: Learn and Apply Wisdom from the Words of Malcolm X.01:33:03 Leadership Lessons from Malcolm X's Life and Work.01:39:53 Islam and House of Peace vs. House of War.01:42:38 Staying on the Leadership Path with Malcolm X's Speeches and Statements.---Opening theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Leaders, it's time to articulate a vision for black Americans, here at the end of the Fourth Turning. ---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For anyone who wants to become truly great in any field, Robert Greene's book "Mastery", shows a process that has been used by some of the most successful people in history from art to science to literature to sports and, of course, in music. This episode summarizes the book in a way that musicians can apply partially to become better or wholly to become elite. Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit. Let me know your thoughts on this episode as a voice message to possibly share on a future episode at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps music teachers with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

I used to think reading more books was the goal. Then I encountered a moment in Plato's Protagoras where Socrates warns that what you learn will either help or harm you—and you can't take it back. That changed how I choose what to read. In this episode, I explain how I pick great books, how I avoid wasting time on shallow ideas, and how readers in real life—busy people with jobs and families—can build a reading life that actually makes them wiser. I also share one book recommendation that has deeply shaped my thinking.Send Me a Text Message with Your Questions

Jeremy Wayne Tate sits down with Dr. Jordi Wiersma, founding president of the Pascal Institute in the Netherlands, to discuss the renewal of classical education in Europe and beyond. They explore how modern schooling shapes culture, why liberal arts and Great Books still matter, and how rigorous seminars in philosophy, literature, and the history of ideas can form students in wisdom and judgment.​You'll hear about the mission of the Pascal Institute, its seminars and symposia, and its place within the broader classical education movement that is reconnecting students with Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Pascal, and more.​Learn more about the Pascal Institute:https://pascalinstitute.com/#ClassicalEducation #PascalInstitute #JordiWiersma #GreatBooks #Plato #LiberalArts #EuropeanEducation #ChristianEducation

RE-BROADCAST - The Omni-Americans by Albert L. Murray w/Tom Libby & Jesan Sorrells ---00:00 Insightful African-American Narrative08:55 "Generational Ethnic Awakenings in America"16:49 Critique of Moynihan Report Impacts19:14 White Perceptions of Black Defiance27:41 Unconditional Embrace Beyond Color30:18 Talent Overcomes Boundaries37:56 Debating Ancestry and Identity Perception43:53 "Harriet Tubman's Heroic Legacy"47:07 "American Identity in Political Shifts"51:17 "Debating America's Global Role"58:40 Bipartisan Leadership Critique01:04:01 Leadership and Workplace Culture Dynamics01:08:30 Principles Over Profit in Business01:16:32 "It Don't Mean a Thing"01:18:51 "The Blues: Resilience and Improvisation"01:25:22 Generational Wisdom Requires Compromise01:31:05 "Defining Reality Through Language"01:38:30 Preserving Wisdom Through Technology01:39:45 "Discover Albert Murray Online"---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Cheryl Drury, a lifelong reader, is on a misssion to read a long list of classic books which she found on Ted Gioia's Substack page. She now has her own Substack page that features her podcast "Crack the Book" about classic books. We talk about The Great Gatsby, The Red Badge of Courage, Romeo and Juliet and other works of Shakespeare, The Odyssey, David Foster Wallace, James Joyce's Ulysses, Swann's Way, Les Miserables, Louise May Alcott's Little Women, Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, reading on a Kindle vs hardcopies, things we learn about life and human nature from reading classic books, Great Expectations and Charles Dickens, Gentleman in Moscow, Dead Souls, Fathers and Sons, The Brothers Karamazov, The Death of Ivan Ilyitch, characters, taking notes while reading, Dante, what makes a book a classic, Bleak House, Blood Meridian, The Road and Cormac McCarthy, Canticles for Liebowitz, Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, reading aloud, poetry, Pablo Neruda, writing every day, why we love to read, Breakfast at Tiffany's, In Cold Blood, Brave New World, Blood Child, This is How you Lose the Time War, Isaac Asimov, classic science fiction, Don Quixote, The Golden Ass, and more.  Links are on the podcast shownotes page Support the show through Patreon

Leaders, our national critical thinking fails us around issues of race.---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode of The Codependent Doctor, I'm joined by Relationship Grief Coach Terraine LeBeau, founder of Behind the Shades Coaching. We talk about the kind of grief that doesn't always get recognized—like breakups, identity loss, and the painful process of letting go. Terraine shares how people-pleasing, comparison, and childhood trauma can shape our relationships, and how his SOAR method helps clients heal and reconnect with themselves. Whether you're grieving a person, a role, or the life you thought you'd have, this episode will remind you that healing is possible—and self-worth begins from within.Don't forget to contact Terraine for your 1 hour free coaching sessionWebsite, Facebook, YouTube, Email: behindtheshadesinterviews@gmail.comSend me a message This episode includes a paid partnership with BetterHelp. Click this link, betterhelp.com/drdowney, to get 10% off your first month.

On this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Great Hearts Academies' Dr. Helen Baxendale speak with Jay Tolson, editor of The Hedgehog Review and author of Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy. Tolson delves into the literary legacy of Walker Percy, the celebrated 20th-century Southern Catholic novelist. He explores how Percy's many personal hardships and family tragedies shaped his voice as a writer, and Percy being mentored by his uncle William Alexander Percy of Greenville, Mississippi. Mr. Tolson also describes the lifelong friendship Walker Percy formed with the American novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote. He also discusses how Percy being stricken with tuberculosis was pivotal to his Catholic conversion and literary mission, as well as Percy's first novel The Moviegoer, which examined the human search for meaning within 20th-century America's often soulless media culture, winning the 1962 National Book Award. Mr. Tolson concludes the episode by reading an excerpt from his award-winning biography, Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy.

Mash Up Episode ft. Leadership Models w/John Hill---00:00 "Leadership, Legacy, and Modern Challenges"09:51 Leadership Misalignment and Sales Challenges16:04 Understanding Others' Values at Work17:24 "Meaningful Sales and Success Strategies"27:51 "Shifting Perspectives and Accountability"30:15 "Creating Space for Open Dialogue"38:52 "3Cs Methodology for Effective Leadership"41:06 "Candor and Courage in Leadership"45:22 "Leadership Models in Chaos"53:42 "Blind Devotion and Growth"57:34 "Enlightenment's Legacy and Limits"01:02:50 "Assumptions About Religious Knowledge"01:07:11 "War, Faith, and Cultural Disjunction"01:17:14 "Change, Reading, and Growth"01:22:47 "Embracing the Past in Modernity"01:27:20 "Gurus, Algorithms, and Autopilot"01:31:15 "Literature & Leadership Mashups"01:34:57 "Leadership Starts with You"---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Leaders, you must have a vision before you have a model of leadership.---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

"The Great Instauration" by Francis Bacon w/Brian Bagley & Jesan Sorrells---00:00 "Leadership Lessons: Knowledge and Strength"07:03 Francis Bacon: Philosophy and Legacy11:26 Francis Bacon: Enigmatic Historical Figure20:25 "Voltaire's Shock at Christian Roots"27:48 "Chaos, Society, and Leadership Insights."33:46 "Turner's Civil War Film Flop."38:34 "Idols of Human Perception."42:11 "Searching for the Correct Religion."51:02 Religious Diversity and National Challenges54:33 "Debating Theology and Division."01:02:29 "Unity in Christian Essentials."01:08:36 "Idols of the Theater."01:09:52 "Biases Shape Human Understanding."01:14:56 "Tearing Down Modern Idols."01:20:08 "Humility in Pursuit of Truth."01:28:09 "Restoration Begins Within Ourselves."---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Many listeners have been asking for more alumni interviews, and this episode delivers. Davies Owens sits down with Ashton Lawrence, an Ambrose School graduate who joined the classical Christian world in fifth grade and stayed through graduation. Ashton reflects on the early challenges of adjusting to a more rigorous environment, the slow-burning value of logic and Latin, and the way great teachers helped the pieces “click” over time.As the conversation unfolds, Ashton connects the classroom to real life, from learning to spot fallacies in everyday arguments to building the kind of clear communication and steady conviction that helps a young adult navigate college, friendships, and vocational decisions with maturity. Along the way, he shares how family conversations, meaningful friendships, and hands-on experiences shaped him into someone who can read deeply, think carefully, and also solve real problems in the shop.Tune in to hear:Why Ashton's “late entry” into classical Christian education in fifth grade became a formative turning pointHow Tolkien, Shakespeare, and the great books helped shape his imagination, loves, and view of virtueWhat logic training changed for him immediately, especially in how he listened, argued, and communicatedWhy students sometimes struggle to understand the “why” behind classical education, and what schools can do betterHow a classical foundation helped him thrive socially and spiritually at a large Christian universityWhy the liberal arts and the common arts belong together, and how hands-on problem solving reveals real wisdomAshton's encouragement to parents and school leaders is simple and hopeful: stay the course. Even when students resist or do not fully appreciate the rigor in the moment, the fruit often shows up later, with gratitude, clarity, and strength for the road ahead.Special Thanks to our partners who make BaseCamp Live possible:The Herzog FoundationThe Champion GroupWisephone by TechlessZipCastWilson Hill Academy Stay tuned for more enlightening discussions on classical Christian education, and join us next time on BaseCamp Live! Remember to subscribe, leave us a review, and reach out to us at info@basecamplive.comDon't forget to visit basecamplive.com for more info and past episodes.

Leaders restoration has more meaning behind it than as a synonym for gentrification. ---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Candide by Francois Voltaire w/Tom Libby & Jesan Sorrells ---00:00 "Voltaire, Leadership, and Absurdity"11:11 Voltaire, Swingers, and Pancakes14:12 "Timeless Stories Often Retold"17:38 "Reassembling Lost Meaning"26:36 "The Impact of the Printing Press"32:50 "Candide: Chapter 2 Overview"37:58 "Voltaire, War, and Absurdity"41:50 "Voltaire's Cynicism and Candide"44:46 "Leaders Are Problem Solvers"50:55 "Disgust, Pragmatism, and Leadership"57:16 "Timeless Thinkers and Their Impact"01:04:07 "Candide's Ordeal and Reflection"01:08:14 "Limits of Enlightenment and Reason"01:14:41 Promote Team Builders, Not Performers01:19:28 "Moral Courage Over Physical Acts"01:25:34 "Challenges in Leadership Perspective"01:27:58 "Shift to Prompt-Based Thinking"01:33:23 "Ironic Detachment in Leadership"01:41:26 Empathy and Generational Disconnect01:45:50 "Gen X's Call to Action"---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Leaders gain more value from Voltaire than from the Harvard Business Review.---Opening theme composed by Felipe Sarro - Bach - Silotti - "Air"  from Orchestra Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/

In this episode of The Codependent Doctor, I'm joined by Daniel Ratner, relationship coach and author, to talk about Emotional Vampires, the people in our lives who leave us feeling drained, overwhelmed, or emotionally exhausted. We explore why we stay in unhealthy relationships, how self-esteem plays a role in who we attract, and what it actually takes to set boundaries without drowning in guilt. Daniel also shares practical tools for protecting your emotional energy, navigating difficult family and work relationships, and identifying the “keepers” , the people who bring peace, kindness, empathy, and respect into your life.Books mentioned from Daniel RatnerSunscreen LoveNever Feel Unloved AgainEmotional VampiresThese are affiliate links and I may earn a commission at no cost to youConnect with Daniel:Website: coachratner.comInstagram: thecoachratnerpodcastYouTubeSend me a message This episode includes a paid partnership with BetterHelp. Click this link, betterhelp.com/drdowney, to get 10% off your first month.

Listen to my conversation with Penny Kittle, author of Micro Mentor Texts: Using Short Passages From Great Books to Teach Writer's Craft (Scholastic, 2022). This will be our book club selection for January - March 2026. Join the chat below.Full subscribers can also access the video recording of our conversation here. See a preview below.Brief Bio* Penny is a long time teacher at every level of education. She writes about her practice at https://substack.com/@pennykittle. * She is the author of several books, including Write Beside Them and 180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher, with whom she also co-hosts digital discussions). * Penny is also the chairman of the board for the Book Love Foundation, dedicated to providing “classroom libraries comprised of hundreds of books carefully chosen by the teachers to meet students where they are and lead them to the deep rewards of reading”. Check out the Book Love Foundation Podcast to learn more. * When not in the classroom, Penny enjoys spending time with her grandchildren in New Hampshire. SummaryIn this conversation, Penny talk about a variety of topics, including:* the importance of teachers being knowledgeable and able to problem solve,* how to build students' confidence as writers by showing them the process of writing that you as a teacher use, and* simple strategies, such as prompt writing, that can lead to students engaged in deep conversations during book clubs.Educators will walk away with a renewed sense of hope and agency in their own work with readers and writers.What part of this conversation resonated the most with you? Share your thoughts in the comments.Enjoyed this conversation? Restack and share this post to let others know!Full TranscriptMatt Renwick: Hi, this is Matt Renwick, and welcome to Read by Example, where teachers are leaders and leaders know literacy. And I'm joined today by someone I've met, I think a year ago in Wisconsin, when she was here doing a training around micro-mentor texts, Penny Kittle, long-time teacher, professor, all things education, literacy. So welcome, Penny.Penny Kittle: Thanks, Matt. It's good to be on your podcast. I enjoyed meeting you that day, that was a lovely day.Matt Renwick: Yeah, it was fun. I don't think it was on my schedule, but I'm like, I'm gonna make this on my schedule, like, I wanna hear Penny talk. Just all the good things I've heard from Reggie Routman, and just what I read about you, so I was not disappointed. It was a great experience, and I know the teachers walked away that I was working with, like, this is good, like, we want... and I'm still working with those teachers, actually.Penny Kittle: Oh, that's cool.Matt Renwick: Yeah, we still talk about the micro-mentor text, and just giving them that foundation, that knowledge that I think they were craving. They were looking for just a resource, and you really give them some nice ideas to build their practice, so...Penny Kittle: That's good.Matt Renwick: So I have been reading, as this year before, Micro Mentor Text through Heinemann, Using Short Passages from Great Books to Teach Writer's Craft.Penny Kittle: From Scholastic, just so they would want to know that.Matt Renwick: Oh, I'm sorry. I told you I'd mess something up, Penny.Penny Kittle: We all do.Matt Renwick: Yeah, I'm not gonna edit it out, though, so... Thank you for correcting me. Yeah, Scholastic. And, yeah, terrific book, very practical, very wise. I'm like, I think I'm highlighting the footnotes as much as the content.Penny Kittle: Oh, that's so funny. I had so much fun writing that with footnotes.Matt Renwick: Just the asides were just really cool, some of the cool stories from, like, Don Graves and Don Murray. But your subtitle says it pretty well, but what is your definition of a mentor text? Because I hear that tossed around a lot. What makes a mentor text micro?Penny Kittle: Yeah, I mean, I think that I always talk to students about, we're mentors to the authors and their craft, right? The text is just that particular vehicle, and we're using it to say, what kind of decisions do writers make? Are they things that I want to try? Are things that I want to imitate, or are these things that will make my writing stronger? So anytime we're studying anything, we're looking at pieces of work in that genre. You know, it's the idea of authenticity in a writing classroom. We're making things that exist in the world, and here are some people who make those things, and then what do our essays or poems or whatever we're writing look like next to them. And so, micro-mentor texts came about because I do quick writing with kids day after day, and I realized how much of the time, if I used a passage from a book, and said, what do you think of this? What do you... and used it instead of the whole, that I could get them interested in reading a book, but I could also, in a few minutes, look at craft. It was almost... I think we put a magnifying glass on the cover of the book, because I said it's like, a micro-mentor text is small enough that you can just look at it carefully. And you can't do that with a whole book. So, that is the idea, is that we look at a passage, we think about how does it work, and we imitate it.Matt Renwick: I used to teach 5th and 6th grade, and I would do, like, book blurbs, and I would read a small passage from it to promote it, to recommend it, but what you're saying here is you almost got, like, a two-for-one, like you're sharing great literature, but you're also honing in on those specific craft moves that writers do.Penny Kittle: It is definitely the way to combine a book talk with a little bit of writing. And I, you know, I honestly feel like I've taught more grammar through Micro Mentor texts than anything else. Because I'm often, when I ask them, what do you notice? Talk to each other, and I wander the room, they'll bring things up. You know, what is that? Is that the colon or the semicolon? What's it, you know, if it doesn't come up naturally, I often don't have to say anything, but I like that oftentimes this organic... Okay, do you see how this sentence is structured? Why is this such a long sentence, kind of thing. A really natural way to make grammar a decision, not a right or wrong.Matt Renwick: Yeah, you're pulling the lines away from the craft of it, you know, you're giving kids access to a writer, to the author's intentions.Penny Kittle: Right. And their choices.Matt Renwick: Yeah. So, let me frame it this way. I think with the science of reading, a lot of folks are concerned with decoding, and how kids learn to read, and I see less about actually helping kids comprehend text. I mean, it's there, but it's not as prevalent. And there's like this double-edged sword where I think literacy leaders, teachers want to get away from the 3-cueing system, we want to support kids with being good decoders. But I think what happens is we're not teaching kids to like read text for real, like once kids know to decode a word, what's the purpose of actually reading the text? And so what I like about your book is, you're using real text, you know, kids are reading it for real reasons, and so I'm wondering what are the connections between micro-mentor texts and the science of reading that you've been thinking about.Penny Kittle: I mean, I think for me, in the idea of what I do with a micro-mentor text, I'm not decoding it, right? Unless they're stopping and asking me. But I usually read it to them. And so I'm a fluent model, or another student in the room is a fluent model. And then we're diving into this idea of the pattern, the rhythm, what makes it interesting? And so to me, when you're looking at written text and thinking about writing text, you need fluency. And fluency is one of the pieces of the science of reading. So sometimes I'll have kids with me that are reading two and three years below grade level. And fluency was something that we never worked on. They're still word callers in high school. And so getting them to read with more automaticity and faster is gonna help comprehension because they're gonna have more energy and, you know, more focus to spend that effort on it, rather than in word by word. So my, you know, in the idea of the science of reading, I think that we have to first realize in secondary there are a lot of skills and strategies that I teach on a daily basis and a lot of kids lack. And so we have to keep teaching them and letting kids know it's okay to ask. You know, what does that word say? What is it? What does it mean? And when they hear us talk about it, then they learn, right? So I just think that there's a great emphasis on that 20 to 30 minutes of core instruction that, of course, is gonna support skills and strategies. But that then have a whole child, right? We can't just do 20 minutes of skills and strategies and think we've taught the whole learner. We need to get to comprehension, which is the whole point. And we also need to write, because when we're composing and creating text, we're adding to that power. The science of reading includes writing. It's not just about decoding. And I think sometimes that's where people come to rest. But of course, as you know, Scarborough's Reading Rope has both sides. And word recognition isn't any good without language comprehension. We need both of those things.Matt Renwick: So you do have like a routine in your book that you talk about. So you read text to kids. I've seen that example of you reading The Outsiders for example. But then what do you do after reading that text? What's the typical steps that you recommend?Penny Kittle: Well, I mean, the steps that I do are pretty simple. And I think that almost at any level, from elementary through college, you can do these steps. So I read a passage, or a student reads a passage. Then I say, turn and talk. What do you notice? And I give them time. And I try not to be the one that tells them. I want them to point out things. So they're gonna point out things. And then I might say, so what do you notice about this sentence? Or what do you notice about this? So I might do a little nudging in that conversation. And then we imitate it. So after they've talked about it and noticed it, I say, so take that idea. Let me show you an example of how I did it. Here's how I imitated it. Now you do your own. So they do a quick write. Sometimes that's five minutes or ten minutes. Sometimes they write for the rest of the class. And then many of those quick writes could stay in their journal forever. But often what I'll say to kids is, this might be the kind of craft technique that you want to save and try in your next piece, or that you might wanna use in your revision of your piece. So I'm teaching them to think about these tools as transferable to other times we write. Or I might, in that week or the next week, say, so I want you to take one from this list and put it in the piece you're working on. And then come talk to me, and I'll tell you whether I think it's working. So that's the steps. Read it, talk about it, imitate it, try it out.Matt Renwick: Yeah, I think you have Reggie Routman's steps there. And you also have that conversation in there around, like, self-assessment for kids. How did that work? What made that successful? What are you gonna do going forward? That agency piece, which I think is crucial for kids to take it on themselves, that responsibility for learning and being better.Penny Kittle: Yeah, I think for secondary especially. You know, what I like about Reggie is that shared demonstration step is so essential, and I think it's what's missed most of the time. So in secondary education, my professors would give me an assignment, like, you're gonna write a 15-page paper on this, and they wouldn't tell me how. They would just tell me to go do it. And that is completely lacking in what I think is good instruction. So when I'm writing with kids, I show them what I'm doing. I think aloud, I share my rough drafts. I show them, I think this is where I'm stuck, and I'm gonna try this. And that modeling and talking about our thinking is essential. And then we get kids writing, but we gotta talk about what we're doing. We've gotta show. That's the idea of a mentor text. We're gonna show you how someone else did it.Matt Renwick: Yeah, I can't think back to any instance in high school or college where I had a professor or teacher actually write with me or in front of me, and I had papers. So, yeah, it's a blind spot.Penny Kittle: Huge. And it is one that, you know, you and I have probably spent hundreds of hours doing this. Right? Because you write, and you know the challenges, and you think about kids, and you go, I need to help with this.Matt Renwick: Right. So those examples in the book, are those your writing or student writing, or both?Penny Kittle: They're both.Matt Renwick: Okay. So I think that's a good way to kind of mix it up. You give kids that authentic example from someone who's actually learning, and then yours. Did kids ever give you a hard time? Like, you're a published author, like, of course you're gonna write well. Like, this is easy for you. Or did you share your struggles as a writer?Penny Kittle: I shared my struggles all the time. And, you know, my quickwrites are way messier than the kids'. You know, I often would have scratch-outs and things where they would have done it on a computer and deleted. But I would just start with paper so that I could show them, and so, no. I mean, the kids, you know, it was funny. When I started writing Write Beside Them, I didn't have a publisher yet. I'd been working on it for a couple of years. And I, one day in class, I had a girl who said, do you even write? I said, I've been writing a book for two years. She said, well, when's it coming out? I said, I don't have a publisher. And she said, so you're just like us. And I said, yeah, I'm just like you. I'm trying to figure out how to get my work published just like you are. And I was in NCTE, and I went to Heinemann and pitched them the idea. And I came back and said, I have a publisher. And so it was, you know, it's not like I was sitting on this huge legacy of, like, I'm a published author. I was just somebody trying to figure it out, you know? And I think kids respond to that. They respond to our humanity.Matt Renwick: Yeah, and just the vulnerability of sharing, like, I don't have this down either, like, I'm still trying to figure this out.Penny Kittle: Yeah.Matt Renwick: So, you talked about teaching 180. Are you still teaching? 'Cause I know in the book you mentioned...Penny Kittle: No, I'm not.Matt Renwick: Okay, so what, about seven years ago or so?Penny Kittle: I retired in 2018, and then I taught another couple of years, so probably six years ago. Yeah.Matt Renwick: Okay. So I remember you telling, like, a story, I think it was your first year teaching, where, like, you handed out a paper, and kids were, like, upset about the directions, or something like that. Do you remember that story?Penny Kittle: I probably told that story, but I don't remember exactly. Tell me more.Matt Renwick: I think it was just like, you had made some assumptions about, like, what kids would understand, and they didn't understand it, and they got frustrated, and you're like, okay, I need to be more clear about what I'm asking kids to do.Penny Kittle: Yeah, I mean, I think that's, you know, that happens all the time, right? We make assumptions about what kids know, and they don't. And so we have to be really clear. And I think that's one of the things that I learned early on was, I need to show them what I want. I can't just tell them. I have to show them. And that's, again, that idea of shared demonstration.Matt Renwick: So, circling back to your book, I know you have a chapter on nonfiction, which I appreciated because I think a lot of times when we talk about writing, we're talking about narrative or fiction. But you have a whole chapter on that. What are some key things you want teachers to know about teaching nonfiction writing?Penny Kittle: Well, I think that, you know, we read so much nonfiction now. We read articles, we read blogs, we read all kinds of things online. And so kids need to be able to write that way. And I think that one of the things that I tried to do in that chapter was to say, here are some patterns that nonfiction writers use. Here are some ways to organize your thinking. And I think that's really helpful for kids. Because sometimes they sit down to write an essay, and they don't know where to start. And if we can give them some structures, some patterns, then they have something to lean on. And that's what mentor texts do. They give us something to lean on. So, you know, I think that nonfiction is really important. And I think that we need to teach it more explicitly. Because it's not as intuitive as narrative for a lot of kids.Matt Renwick: Yeah, and I think, too, like, the connection to content areas. Like, if you're a science teacher or social studies teacher, like, you're writing nonfiction all the time. So having those examples, those mentor texts, I think is really helpful.Penny Kittle: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's where, you know, in secondary, we have this huge advantage. We have kids for different content areas. And if we could coordinate and say, okay, in science, you're gonna write a lab report. Let me show you some mentor texts for lab reports. In social studies, you're gonna write an argument. Let me show you some mentor texts for arguments. Like, if we could do that, we would be so much more effective. But we don't often do that. We don't often coordinate across content areas.Matt Renwick: Right. So, I have a question about, like, the role of technology in writing. Because I know, you know, we have AI now, and we have all these tools. And I'm curious, like, what's your take on that? Like, how do we teach kids to write in a world where AI can write for them?Penny Kittle: Yeah, I think that's a huge question. And I think that, you know, we have to be honest with kids about the fact that AI exists. And we have to be honest with them about the fact that it can write. But we also have to help them understand that AI can't think for them. AI can't have their ideas. AI can't have their experiences. And so, you know, I think that what we need to do is we need to help kids understand that their voice matters. Their ideas matter. And that's what we're trying to develop. We're trying to develop their voice. We're trying to develop their thinking. And AI can't do that. AI can generate text, but it can't generate their ideas. And so I think that's where we need to focus. We need to focus on helping kids find their voice, find their ideas, and then we can use AI as a tool. But it shouldn't be a replacement for thinking.Matt Renwick: Yeah, I like that distinction. Like, AI can help with the mechanics, but it can't help with the meaning-making.Penny Kittle: Right. Exactly. And I think that's where we need to be. We need to help kids understand that. And we need to help them understand that, you know, the best writing comes from thinking. And AI doesn't think. It generates. And there's a big difference.Matt Renwick: So, thinking about your work, you know, you've been doing this for a long time. You've written several books. You have the Book Love Foundation. What's next for you? Like, what are you working on now?Penny Kittle: Well, I'm working on a few different things. I'm working on a book about leadership with a colleague. And I'm also working on some online courses for teachers. And I'm doing a lot of speaking. So I'm traveling a lot and talking to teachers. And I'm also working on my Substack. So I'm writing there. And I'm just trying to stay connected to teachers and stay connected to the work. Because I think that's really important. I don't want to lose touch with what's happening in classrooms. And so I'm trying to stay as connected as I can.Matt Renwick: That's great. And I think, you know, your Substack has been really helpful. I've been reading it. And I think it's a great way to stay connected to teachers and to share ideas. So, I appreciate that.Penny Kittle: Thanks. Yeah, I think it's been fun. I think it's a good way to just keep the conversation going.Matt Renwick: So, one more question about mentor texts. How do you find them? Like, where do you look for good mentor texts? Because I think sometimes teachers are like, I don't know where to start. Like, how do I find good examples?Penny Kittle: Well, I mean, I think that the first place you look is in what you're reading. So if you're reading, and you come across something that you think is really well-written, you save it. And I have, you know, I have a Google Doc that I've been adding to for years. And it's just a collection of passages that I think are really interesting. And I don't even know if I'll ever use all of them. But I save them. And then when I'm teaching, I go back and I look at that document. And I say, okay, what fits what I'm trying to teach right now? And so I think that's the first place. Just read a lot. And when you come across something that you think is really well-written, save it. And then the other place is just to look at books that are popular with kids. So, you know, what are kids reading? What are they excited about? And then you can pull passages from those books. And that's a great way to get kids interested in reading more. Because you're using books that they're already interested in.Matt Renwick: Yeah, I think that's a great strategy. And I think, too, like, you can also look at, like, articles and essays and things like that. Like, it doesn't have to just be fiction. It can be nonfiction, too.Penny Kittle: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's where, you know, I use a lot of articles. I use a lot of essays. I use a lot of different kinds of texts. Because I want kids to see that there are lots of different ways to write. And there are lots of different purposes for writing. And so, yeah, I think that's really important.Matt Renwick: So, in your Google Doc, do you organize it in any particular way? Or is it just kind of a running list?Penny Kittle: It's just a running list. I mean, I should probably organize it better. But it's just a running list. And I copied a bunch of those, because they're very interesting. They're often patterns of language and interesting phrasing that I'm looking for, and I don't even know how many of those I would use if I were teaching right now, but that's where I collect them.Matt Renwick: Yeah, I'm sure they get in your brain, and then they show up somewhere else when you're writing and thinking.Penny Kittle: Right.Matt Renwick: I noticed your awesome library in the background. I was supposed to ask you about your wavy bookshelf, but I don't see it. That must be somewhere else.Penny Kittle: Oh yeah, that's in a different room, and honestly, it's because it was on this wall. My desk was turned this way, and I kept banging it with the back of my head, because it sticks out from the wall like a foot. I was like, I can't do this anymore. So it's gone.Matt Renwick: Oh, darn it.Penny Kittle: Yeah.Matt Renwick: But you had an interesting metaphor, I think in that same post I mentioned before, or just a visual, a library without books. So, to the point you're making was, we don't have writers, we don't have readers, and so making that connection for kids, and stressing the importance of building writers. So, just to kind of close things out, what classroom conditions are essential to help kids write for real, you know, write without rules, Matt De La Pena said in the forward to your book, and then writing for life. What are some essential classroom conditions? So you mentioned before, shared demonstration, that's a Heli-Dion.Penny Kittle: Yeah, yeah, and I think so much about teachers that are in classrooms right now, where they have a scripted curriculum, and I'm really connected to that idea that it demonstrates a lack of trust of teachers, and the idea that I was thinking today, because I was gonna be late to a doctor's appointment, and I was super annoyed with my husband that we were gonna be late, and I was watching every minute to be sure I could get there, and then I thought about the crowd that would be at the front door to the school that was always late. And I thought, what are the conditions that would make kids be like, I can't be late, I gotta get to first period? So, I think that it goes back to those pillars of engagement, right? We talk about this. So there's a science to engagement. We talked about the science of reading, but the science of engagement says that kids will use the skills and strategies we teach with greater persistence and effort when they're engaged. And then they learn more, right? Greater persistence and effort. So for me, it has to be that. So they need to write for real purposes and real audiences, and they need the conditions that say what they have to say matter, right? They need to be in writing groups so that they get more feedback than just mine. They're writing for, you know, and they'll, in a group of 3 or 4 other kids, often they may not want to at the start, but they become kids who share their writing. And when you have to read your writing to someone, or a part of your writing, and ask for help, you hear it differently. Those are essential conditions. We need lots of books, because the more you read, the better you write. That's just a simple formula. Wait, I wrote them down, what else did I put up here? Oh, relationships. So, it's not just the teacher, but the teacher has to have a relationship with reading and writing that is positive, and that knows its power, as well as its challenges, because I think when I first got my secondary credential, what was demonstrated in all my coursework was that I need to become an expert on texts. And that isn't what we need to be expert in. We need to be expert in kids and motivation, and learning how to talk to a kid that doesn't want to talk to you about what they're working on in a way that you can help them. We need to be really superb listeners, and so the conditions are, we have to be able to set up a flow within a class period so that I have time to meet with as many kids as I can, both as readers and as writers, and I need to have us write every day. I'm really into volume, right? We read every day, we write every day, we work on revision almost every day. So that the conditions are a kind of a mutual agreement that we're here to work. They have a playlist for every class, they choose it. Like, the cowboy one was always killing me off, but the boys in this one class, Outdoor Writing, all wanted this, you know, very cowboy-centered playlist, but that stuff helps them feel like it's their space, too. And I think that the teachers who, you know, there are teachers that I worked with every year who volunteered for everything, who were at every dance, and you know, they're just giving 110% to the school and the culture of the school. I love that, but they also have to be that in their classroom, so that their content comes alive and feels meaningful.Matt Renwick: Yeah. Trust the kids, trust themselves, yeah.Penny Kittle: It's so much about trust.Matt Renwick: Yeah. Well, this has been great, Penny. You've got your substack. What is the URL again? Is it...Penny Kittle: You mean my on Substack, I'm just Penny Kittle.Matt Renwick: Penny Kittle, okay.Penny Kittle: Yeah.Matt Renwick: And then you have the Book Love Foundation. Yep. Several resources, which I'll link in the notes.Penny Kittle: I have a YouTube channel that has all my interviews with Kelly Gallagher, and the different authors, and we're putting up... we just released a podcast today called The Moves Leaders Make. It's all about leaders we're interviewing, and those are on Apple, and we actually have about 4 or 5 seasons of Book Love podcasts on there, and there's a lot of places that you can find out more.Matt Renwick: Cool. Well, thanks, Penny, for being here, and good luck with your time, and your time to yourself. So, thank you for being here.Penny Kittle: Thanks so much, Matt. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit readbyexample.substack.com/subscribe

Season Five Trailer - Literate Leaders Restore The Chaotic World---00:00 Literacy Fuels Peace and Progress.04:22 From the Current Chaos to a Future Golden Age.10:06  What Questions Over Why Questions.12:55  Patience, Persistence, and Leadership.17:26  Subscribe to Leadership Lessons from the Great Books Podcast.---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTl

Joel hosted a fun and freewheeling discussion, with a stand-out panel of readers, of our favorite books from 2025. They discuss many books that were published in 2025, but not exclusively new titles, covering a wide swath of genres from biblical studies to young adult literature to poetry. There's something in this discussion for everyone!Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University ('23). She co-hosts a podcast called The Scandal of Reading, and is the author of many books, including READING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD and THE SCANDAL OF HOLINESS.Nijay K. Gupta is Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He is the cohost of the Slow Theology podcast, and author of books including TELL HER STORY, STRANGE RELIGION, and many scriptural commentaries.Dorothy Littell Greco is a writer, speaker, and photographer. Her writing has been featured in many publications including Christianity Today, Missio Alliance, and The Common Good and her most recent book is FOR THE LOVE OF WOMEN.If you'd like to order any of the following books, we encourage you to do so from Hearts and Minds Books(An independent bookstore in Dallastown, PA, run by Byron and Beth Borger) Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice by Jessica Hooten WilsonThe Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints by Jessica Hooten WilsonTell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught & Ministered in the Early Church by Nijay GuptaStrange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous & Compelling by Nijay GuptaSlow Theology: Eight Practices for Resilient Faith in a Turbulent World by Nijay Gupta & A.J. SwobodaFor the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America by Dorothy Littell GrecoThe Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward by Malcolm FoleyRedeeming Eden: How Women in the Bible Advance the Story of Salvation by Ingrid Faro with Joyce Koo DalrympleThe Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan KamaliThe Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel NayeriHoles by Louis SacharDo Not Judge Anyone: Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World by Isaac SlaterWhere God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another by Rowan WilliamsJesus and the Law of Moses: The Gospels and the Restoration of Israel Within First-Century Judaism by Paul Sloan Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel MillerYou Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good & Beautiful by Karen Swallow PriorRomans: An Interpretation Bible Commentary by Susan Eastman1 Corinthians: A Theological, Pastoral & Missional Commentary by Michael GormanFor Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional by Hanna ReichlWhen Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women by Sarah C. WilliamsNervous Systems: Spiritual Practices to Calm Anxiety in Your Body, the Church and Politics by Sara BillupsA Pilgrimage Into Letting Go: Helping Parents and Pastors Embrace the Uncontrollable by Kara Root & Andrew RootSome of the Words are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon by Austic Carty

In today's episode of The Codependent Doctor Podcast, I'm joined by Jonathan McLean for a deep, grounding conversation about healing from the inside out. We talk about inner child work and why sitting with past versions of yourself can free up so much emotional and mental energy in your day-to-day life. Jonathan also breaks down Human Design in a way that feels accessible and practical, explaining how aligning with your strategy and authority can profoundly support healing, especially for people who tend to self-abandon or overgive. We explore mindset shifts, spirituality, and how even tiny changes in thought patterns can create meaningful transformation. This episode is especially powerful if you've been feeling disconnected from yourself or stuck in old patterns.During the episode I recommended checking out the book Dare to Lead by Brenee Brown. (I am an affiliate partner with Amazon and may make a commition on the purchase of this book at no cost to you)You can connect with Jonathan and learn more about his work here:Website,  Facebook, InstagramJonathan is also offering Codependent Doctor listeners a special discount on his courses. Use Codependent20 to receive 20% off any course for the first 20 people, and Codependent10 to receive 10% off any course for the next 100 people.Course sign-up linkSend me a message This episode includes a paid partnership with BetterHelp. Click this link, betterhelp.com/drdowney, to get 10% off your first month.

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Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy.We were excited to record and share this conversation with Matt Dinan, a professor who teaches in a Great Books program at St. Thomas University, a liberal arts college in New Brunswick, Canada. It brings together longtime preoccupations of the show — Saul Bellow's late novel, Ravelstein, Allan Bloom, Straussian political philosophy — with the fraught emergence of LLMs like ChatGPT. This past semester, Dinan took a fairly radical approach to confronting AI in the classroom, and it seemed to work. We consider the art of teaching, the qualities of great teachers, and what it all reveals about an insidious technology's effect on how we live and learn as citizens in, at least for now, a democratic republic.Listen again: "Unraveling Allan Bloom and Saul Bellow," June 21, 2021Sources:Saul Bellow, Ravelstein (2000)Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (1987)Matt Dinan, "Saul Bellow's Ravelstein," Hedgehog Review, Spring 2025— "Permission Structures," Prefaces, Dec 10, 2025— "It's Not Just a Calculator," Prefaces, Aug 28, 2024Jorge Luis Borges, "The Lottery in Babylon," Collected Fictions (1999)Jonathan Malesic, "ChatGPT Is a Gimmick: AI cannot save us from the effort of learning to live and die," Hedgehog Review, May 21, 2025— "Taming the Demon: How desert monks put work in its place," Commonweal, Feb 2, 2019

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis w/Christen Blair Horne & Jesan Sorrells---00:00 Welcome and Introduction - Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.00:10 Belief, Theology, and Worldview.08:32 "Confused Reading Journey"10:44 "Fear of Critiquing Islam"20:01 "Somme: 60,000 British Lost"21:40 "Reflections on War and Legacy"29:44 "Chesterton vs. Lewis: Class & Wit"36:48 "Enlightenment's Law of Human Nature"42:05 "Secular Shift in Christian Education"44:49 "Exploring the Hebrew Roots Movement"49:42 "Revelations, Robots, and Survivalists"58:09 "Towards a Unique American Theology"01:01:26 Critique of Billy Graham's Approach01:07:21 Controversial Reformed Christian Leader01:10:31 "Church vs. State Authority"01:17:04 "Faith, Debate, and Dismissal"01:25:45 "Paul Johnson on Christianity"01:29:41 "Modern Beliefs and Ancient Heresies"01:34:53 "Questioning Moral Relativism"01:41:13 "Parable of the Sower"01:44:22 Rooted Faith or Shallow Ground01:49:03 "Seeking Understanding and Context"01:55:50 "Disagreement Isn't Sinful"---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the 2022 Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/

In this special year-end bonus episode, hosts Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson take a break from their usual Great Books discussion to share their personal Top 5 favorite books read this year—works that fell (mostly) outside of the main Classical Mind reading list.The Classical Mind is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.JuniusFrankenstein by Mary ShelleyPhantastes by George MacDonaldThe Liberation of Jerusalem by Torquato TassoThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienThe Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. ChakrabortyWesleyThe Meaning of Christian Brotherhood by Joseph Cardinal RatzingerOn Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain by Ronald C. WhiteAttack Upon Christendom by Soren KierkegaardEverything Sad is Untrue by Daniel NayeriNietzsche is My Brother by Bridget Edman, O.C.D. Get full access to The Classical Mind at www.theclassicalmind.com/subscribe

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens w/Tom Libby---00:00 Welcome and Introduction - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.01:00 Charles's Struggles in Childhood.05:39 Charles Dickens: School to Journalism.11:44 Christmas' Modern Origins and Dickens' Influence.20:10 "Marley's Ghost Visits Scrooge."23:25 "Scrooge's Haunting Confrontation."30:18 Never Too Late for Leadership.38:29 Willingness to Change Matters.44:08 "Cratchit Family's Festive Spirit."47:39 Perception of Poverty Then & Now.51:09 Shifting Narratives and Religious Fundamentals in the Industrial Revolution.01:00:03 AI, History, and Uncertainty.01:01:29 Technology's Future: Uncertain Impact.01:10:12 "Appraising the Pilfered Goods."01:14:46 Life, Legacy, and the Internet.01:19:20 Humanity Matters in Leadership.01:24:32 Stay Present and Connected.01:29:09 Leadership, Clarity, and Moving Forward into the New Year.01:34:51 Staying on the Leadership Path with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Check out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvVbIU_bSEflwYpd9lWXuA/.Leadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTlbx.

Send us a textIn this third annual Christmas tradition, I welcome Eric back to the show for a wide-ranging conversation about books, reading, and the lifelong pursuit of understanding. We talk about his ambitious “great books” journey—now stretching toward what may become a 40-year project—covering everything from Greek tragedies and Plato's dialogues to Confucius, Viktor Frankl, and modern classics.We dig into Eric's disciplined reading habits, his yearly practice of starting January and February by reading the Bible (including his experience with the King James Version this year), and how he structures his reading year to stay motivated without burning out. We also explore big ideas like Plato's theory of forms, the difference between philosophers and sophists, how ancient texts continue to shape modern thinking, and how AI can be used responsibly to deepen understanding—after you've done the hard work of reading.Eric shares the books that stood out most to him this year, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, Man's Search for Meaning, The Analects of Confucius, and The Idea Machine, along with the powerful concept of finding a “single thread” that ties together everything you read. We close with practical, encouraging advice for anyone who wants to read more: start with what you love, and let curiosity do the rest.This is a thoughtful, inspiring conversation for readers, thinkers, and anyone looking to build a richer reading life—perfect for closing out the year and setting the tone for the next one.Click here to see Erik's list of books read in 2025 https://books.booksoftitans.com/2025-reading-list/ Support the showI ♥ my podcast host @Buzzsprout. This link will get us both a $20 credit if you upgrade! https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1087190 The Scott Townsend Show Merchandise https://teespring.com/stores/tsts-2Resources and Links--------------------------------------------My contact info:LinkedIn https://bit.ly/2ZZ4qweTwitter https://bit.ly/3enLDQaFacebook https://bit.ly/2Od4ItOInstagram https://bit.ly/2ClncWlSend me a text: 918-397-0327Executive Producer: Ben TownsendCreative Consultant: Matthew Blue TownsendShot with a 1080P Webcam with Microphone, https://amzn.to/32gfgAuSamson Technologies Q2U USB/XLR Dynamic Microphone Recording and Podcasting Pack https://amzn.to/3TIbACeVoice Actor: Britney McCulloughLogo by Angie Jordan https://blog.angiejordan.com/contact/Theme Song by Androzguitar https://www.fiverr.com/inbox/androzguitar

A Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather w/Tom Libby---00:00 - Welcome and Introduction - A Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather.04:25 - Opening A Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather.08:21 - Willa Cather Wrote at the Crossroads of Modernity.12:43 - Setting Goals and the Vagaries of New Year's Resolutions.18:01 - Check Out Jesan's Time Management Training Videos on YouTube. 25:24 - Joan Didion, Virginia Woolf, and What We Don't Say About the Patriarchy. 31:13 - Leaders Avoid Hiding in the Word Salad. 32:47 - Willa Cather's Story, with Hunger and Envy. 42:12 - Seinfeld's "The Strike," Festivus and The Death of Black Friday.45:04 - Societal Grievances, Commercialism, and Festive Celebration. 51:55 - Leaders Provide the Freedom to Voice Grievances without Repercussions.01:02:13 - Nietzsche, Cather, and the Myth of Eternal Return.01:06:14 - Millennials, Gen-Zers, and Gen X-ers.01:13:10 - The Potential of the Internet Needs to be Reconsidered.  01:20:47 - Drivers For Success When You Have Children vs. When You Don't Have Children 01:32:34 - Leaders Maintain a Consistent Culture on Teams.01:37:06 - Introspection and Goal Setting. 01:43:29 - Leaders Genuinely Care About People, Teams, and Success. 01:44:27 - Staying on the Leadership Path with A Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather.---Opening and Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the 2022 Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Check out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvVbIU_bSEflwYpd9lWXuA/.Leadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTlb ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A collection of ramblings about Christmas memories...---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the 2022 Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/

At Christmas Time by Anton Chekhov---00:00 Welcome and Introduction - At Christmas Time by Anton Chekhov.02:50 Unable to Read, Write, and See Hope at the End of a Long Year.10:33 Struggles, Soldiers, and Family.13:41 Three Faces of Patriarchy.15:00 You Got What You Want. Now, You Can Hardly Stand It, Though.16:37 Understanding Power Cycles in Russia.21:18 New Year at the Door.25:56 Leadership Beyond Box-Checking.26:50 Chekhov, Tyranny, and Transition.34:53 Restoration, Leadership, and Forgiveness.25:00 Healing and Restoration at the End of a Long 2025.---Opening and Closing theme composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the 2022 Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!---Check out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvVbIU_bSEflwYpd9lWXuA/.Leadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/LdrshpTlb ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this week's episode of the LiberatED Podcast, Kerry McDonald interviews Ali Ghaffari, founder of Divine Mercy Academy, a K–8 classical Catholic school in Pasadena, Maryland, and now Executive Director of the St. John Henry Newman Institute, an organization dedicated to accelerating the renewal of Catholic education worldwide. Ali's path to school founding is anything but ordinary. After graduating from Colby College, he spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy as an F/A-18 fighter pilot before teaching leadership and ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Raised without religious belief, Ali experienced a dramatic conversion sparked by reading the Great Books—an encounter that convinced him of the importance of deep intellectual and moral formation. When he couldn't find a classical Catholic school nearby for his children, he joined with other families to start one. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at edentrepreneur.org. Kerry's latest book, Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling, is available now wherever books are sold!

Today on Ascend, we discuss Plato, education, the role of the teacher, eros, beauty, and much more drawing from the dialogues First Alcibiades and the Meno. Returning to the podcast, we have Dcn. Garlick, Dr. Frank Grabowski, Dr. Brett Larson, and Thomas Lackey.Visit thegreatbookspodcast.com for our reading schedule.Visit our LIBRARY OF WRITTEN GUIDES to help you read the great books. What does it mean to teach like Plato? In this rich, wide-ranging conversation the panel explores lessons on education drawn from Plato's First Alcibiades and Meno. The central idea: the true teacher is not an information-dispenser or job-trainer, but a lover of the soul who serves as a living mirror in which the student comes to “know himself” and is drawn toward virtue, happiness, and ultimate beauty.Summary:The conversation revolved around a single, radiant idea: for Plato, the true teacher is not a dispenser of information or a trainer for the marketplace, but a lover of the soul. In First Alcibiades, Socrates positions himself as the living mirror in which the young, ambitious Alcibiades can finally see himself clearly and be drawn toward genuine happiness through virtue. Education is therefore deeply personal, erotic (in the classical sense of an ardent desire for not only pleasure but also nobility and wisdom), and irreducibly communal; self-knowledge is never solitary navel-gazing but requires another soul whose loving gaze reflects one's own. The panel repeatedly contrasted this rich, teleological vision—where education aims at universal happiness, orders the whole person toward truth, goodness, and beauty, and ultimately points to God as the final mirror—with the thin, “unerotic” reality of modern schooling, which often reduces teachers to talking search engines and students to economic cogs in a materialist machine.A second major thread was the haunting, unresolved tension of the Meno: teaching demands both an able and willing teacher and an able and willing student. Virtue can be cultivated, but it cannot be forcibly downloaded; the student must respond, cooperate, and allow his desires to be re-ordered toward what is truly lovable. This led to broader reflections on beauty, rhetoric, place, and hierarchy: truth is beautiful and therefore insists on being loved; philosophy without rhetoric is impotent, rhetoric without philosophy becomes tyrannical; ugly buildings and disembodied logic deform the soul; natural hierarchy is not abolished by grace but perfected and placed in service of the common good. Throughout, the panel returned to the conviction that genuine education is slow, embodied, relational, and oriented toward the transcendent—an ascent that begins with a teacher who truly sees and loves the soul before him.Key words: Plato, First Alcibiades, Meno, classical education, teacher as lover of the soul, know thyself, virtue, happiness, eudaimonia, beauty, transcendentals, eros, mirror of the soul, rhetoric, philosophy, modern education critique, materialism, teleology, Socratic method, student-teacher relationship, hierarchy, imago Dei, Christian Platonism, and Great Books.This conversation was recorded April 2025.

Leaders, what is the reason for the season? ---Opening and closing themes composed by Brian Sanyshyn of Brian Sanyshyn Music.---Pick up your copy of 12 Rules for Leaders: The Foundation of Intentional Leadership NOW on AMAZON!Check out the 2022 Leadership Lessons From the Great Books podcast reading list!--- ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Subscribe to the Leadership Lessons From The Great Books Podcast: https://bit.ly/LLFTGBSubscribeCheck out HSCT Publishing at: https://www.hsctpublishing.com/.Check out LeadingKeys at: https://www.leadingkeys.com/Check out Leadership ToolBox at: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/Contact HSCT for more information at 1-833-216-8296 to schedule a full DEMO of LeadingKeys with one of our team members.---Leadership ToolBox website: https://leadershiptoolbox.us/.Leadership ToolBox LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ldrshptlbx/.Leadership ToolBox YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leadershiptoolbox/videosLeadership ToolBox Twitter: https://twitter.com/ldrshptlbx.Leadership ToolBox IG: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiptoolboxus/.Leadership ToolBox FB: https://www.facebook.com/

Cindy and Alison discuss several children's books that did not exist when they were young but are valuable resources for teaching social-emotional skills and emotional regulation. Time to update your book collection? Check this episode first!Check out our website:  https://www.howpreschoolteachersdoit.com/Be sure to like our Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/howpreschoolteachersdoitLearn more about Cindy's work, including professional development, family education, and consulting opportunities:  https://hihello.com/hi/cindyterebush-RXMBKA

This week, Liberty and Patricia discuss Good Things, Art Heist, Recipes from the American South, and more great books! Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify and never miss a book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Keep track of new releases with Book Riot's New Release Index, now included with an All Access membership. Click here to get started today! Books Discussed On the Show: A Literary Letter for Every Day of the Year by Liz Ison  Bibliophile Advent Calendar for Booklovers by Jane Mount Expensive Basketball by Shea Serrano Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love: A Cookbook by Samin Nosrat Puzzle Mania!: Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Minis and More! by The New York Times Games The Portable Feminist Reader by Roxane Gay Art Heist: 50 Artworks You Will Never See by Susie Hodge Six Seasons of Pasta: A New Way with Everyone's Favorite Food by Joshua McFadden with Martha Holmberg Around the World in 80 Birds by Mike Unwin, Ryuto Miyake Recipes from the American South by Michael W Twitty How Comics Are Made: A Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page by Glenn Fleishman Syme's Letter Writer: A Guide to Modern Correspondence About (Almost) Every Imaginable Subject of Daily Life, with Odes to Desktop Ephemera and Selected Letters of Famous Writers by Rachel Syme The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains by Pria Anand The Year's Best Sports Writing 2025 by Hanif Abdurraqib The New Book: Poems, Letters, Blurbs, and Things by Nikki Giovanni Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores by Katie Mitchell For a complete list of books discussed in this episode, visit our website. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When people think of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they often picture tweedy Oxford professors and beloved fantasy authors. But their writing wasn't drawn only from their bucolic days teaching at Oxford and walking in the English countryside; it had a darker, deeper backdrop: the trenches of World War I and the cataclysm of World War II. Lewis and Tolkien weren't just fantasy writers — they were war veterans, cultural critics, and men with firsthand knowledge of evil, heroism, and sacrifice.In today's episode, I'm joined by Joseph Loconte, returning to the show to discuss his latest book, The War for Middle Earth. We explore how both world wars shaped the perspectives of Tolkien and Lewis, found their way into works like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, and infused their literary masterpieces with moral weight, spiritual depth, and timeless themes of resistance, friendship, and redemption. We also talk about the legendary friendship between Tolkien and Lewis, the creation of the Inklings, and how the men demonstrated the countercultural power of imaginative storytelling.Resources Related to the PodcastRelated AoM podcasts:#178: The Inklings Mastermind Group#272: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Myth of Progress (Loconte's first appearance on the AoM podcast)#430: Why You Need to Join the Great Conversation About the Great Books#499: A Fascinating Primer on Norse Mythology #594: How Churchill (and London) Survived the Blitz of 1940#723: Men Without Chests#765: C.S. Lewis on Building Men With Chests#951: The Hobbit VirtuesRelated AoM articlesThe Power of Conversation: A Lesson from CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien Lessons in Manliness from Viking Mythology Lessons in Manliness: The HobbitMen Without Chests“Blood, Sweat, and Tears” speech by Winston Churchill4 Classic Chapter Books to Read Aloud With Your KidsRelated outside articles:Tolkien's Deadly Dragons Munich AgreementOwen BarfieldTolkien books mentioned:The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Beowulf translated by Tolkien The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings Beren and Luthien Letters from Father Christmas Lewis books mentioned:The Letters of C.S. Lewis The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis The Pilgrim's RegressThe Chronicles of NarniaThe Great DivorceThe Screwtape Letters The Space Trilogy The Four LovesMere Christianity The Reading Life Related books by other authors:Tolkien and the Great War by John GarthThe Somme by Martin GilbertThe Guns of August by Barbara TuchmanThe Future of an Illusion by Sigmund FreudThe Aeneid by VirgilPhantastes by George MacDonaldThe Vinland SagasThe Iliad and The Odyssey by HomerThe Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas MaloryConnect With Joseph LoconteJoseph's websiteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wrestling with Shakespeare, Faith, and the Limits of Technology   Host Curtis Chang and Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson—Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University—explore The Tempest by William Shakespeare and its timeless wisdom for our technology-driven world. Through Prospero's struggle with power, control, and love, they draw parallels between Shakespeare's "magic" and our modern dependence on digital tools. Wilson explains how the play invites us to surrender our illusions of control, embrace humility, and rediscover relationships grounded in grace. Curtis and Jessica's discussion touches on C.S. Lewis, Andy Crouch, and the spiritual discipline of wrestling with hard texts and ideas in an age of easy answers from ChatGPT.   (02:30) - Dependence Upon Technology as Magic (05:40) - What Do We Forget in Our Obsessions? (11:03) - The Change in Prospero (13:41) - Engaging With Challenging Texts (18:53) - The Temptation of AI (21:40) - Celebrating Good Faith Podcast Production   Join The After Party   Send Campfire Stories to: info@redeemingbabel.org   Donate to Redeeming Babel   Mentioned In This Episode: William Shakespeare's The Tempest (entire play) Andy Crouch's The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place Genesis 32:22-32 (ESV) - Jacob Wrestling with God or "the Angel" C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man (pdf) The Tempest Act V, Scene 1: "Prospero's Speech" John 1:1-14 (ESV) - Jesus as the Word or "logos" Hebrews 5:11-6:12 (ESV) - the metaphor of milk and solid food   More From Jessica Hooten Wilson: Jessica Hooten Wilson's website Explore Jessica's books HERE Read articles and Essay by Jessica HERE   Follow Us: Good Faith on Instagram Good Faith on X (formerly Twitter) Good Faith on Facebook   Sign up: Redeeming Babel Newsletter   The Good Faith Podcast is a production of Redeeming Babel, a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Redeeming Babel.  

When she discovered the idea of a personal curriculum, today's guest couldn't wait to apply this concept to her reading life. Amy St. Amand, a primary care clinical pharmacist from Rhode Island, wants to know a little bit about a whole lot of things. She's working to build a personal learning plan that encompasses a variety of her assorted interests, and she's here today for Anne's help in developing and refining her selected topics. Anne couldn't wait to hear more about Amy's approach, why this idea resonated with her so much, and her progress so far. After they explore Amy's project, Anne recommends a whole lot of mostly nonfiction books that will help Amy delve deeper into her chosen topics. See the list of titles mentioned today at our show notes page, which you'll find at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/501. If you're a member of our Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club, today's topic may sound familiar in a really fun way. We touched on the idea of a personal curriculum in our recent book club class, A Close Look at Great Books. Among other topics, this class explored our community manager Ginger Horton's ongoing grad school experience focused on a Great Books curriculum, and how you can apply some of those ideas to your own reading life. If this sounds like good nerdy fun to you, head over to ModernMrsDarcy.com/club for even more of these types of conversations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices