Online Great Books Podcast

Scott and Karl begin discussing Philip Rieff's book The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud. Published in 1966, the problems that Rieff saw with an increasingly irreligious view of society have only expanded with time.  Rieff asks, "The question is no longer as Dostoevsky put it: “Can civilized man believe?” Rather: Can unbelieving man be civilized?” The duo talks about the elements that may have created a therapeutic culture in place of theology. Scott says, "He's kind of like Nietzsche. A keen observer who gets all of the problems right, and I don't like that."  Tune in for the beginning of this two-part discussion. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Scott and Karl conclude their discussion of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International Book 1.  The duo talks about what it takes to write an urban fantasy novel with a coherent worldview.  There's great value in reading books that aren't "important." Karl says, "It's not high-brow, it's funny, it's a book you can enjoy because as far as I can tell Correia has good character, so it has good character in the story too." For one, the characters in Correia's novels operate with extraordinary will. Scott says, "There are certain arenas where the only thing that works is will." Tune in to hear more about what it takes to habituate genuine acts of the will when you need it the most. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Scott and Karl begin their discussion of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International Book 1. Self-published in 2009, this novel kicks off what will soon be a ten-book series.   Scott says, "He manages to write about this world exposing these hidden monsters that seems consonant with the world I see."  Monster Hunter International ends up being a cautionary tale akin to Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.  Tune in for monsters, werewolves, vampires, trolls, and much more. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Scott and Karl finish their two-part discussion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust.  The legend of a man selling his soul to the devil seems to have particular resonance at times of moral crisis. Regarding modern Faustians and their insatiable appetite for expansion, Karl says, "It's the idea that this is where fulfillment lies that is the problem." Largely considered one of the Greats in German literature, you can hear echoes of Goethe's Faust in the works of later philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger.  Tune in as the duo wraps up their discussion of this legendary battle between good and evil. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Scott and Karl begin their two-part discussion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust.  Faust is highly successful and well-read yet dissatisfied with his life. As the now-legend goes, this leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for forbidden knowledge.  The duo talks about the relationship between good and evil, what function this tension serves, and what it implies about Faust and human nature. Scott says, "Evil does seem to be an active force that is personified." Scott and Karl are reading from Walter Kaufmann's translation which provides the original German text and its English counterpart on facing pages of the book. Tune in to learn more about the greatest work in German literature. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

This week, Scott and Karl discuss Jordan B. Peterson's Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.  As the companion volume to 12 Rules for Life, Peterson's new book offers "further guidance on the perilous path of modern life." While Scott and Karl agree these are decent, sensible rules for life, they are not well-grounded and possibly even planted in sand.   "I've read books for this show that I don't agree with, written by people who I think are awful like Marcuse and Alinsky," Scott says, "But their books at least hang together to push their end. This doesn't do that."  Both a self-help manual and a bestseller, Beyond Order has already resonated so profoundly with so many. Karl later adds, "It's a shallow pond, but it's a good pond."  Tune in for more Peterson talk, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Are we all in despair, whether we know it or not? Scott and Karl discuss S¢ren Kierkegaard’s cheerful little book, The Sickness Unto Death. Published in 1849, Kierkegaard outlines his theory of the self in relation to his categories of despair, wherein despair is a "disease" of the self. For Kierkegaard, an individual is in despair if he does not align himself with God or God's plan for the self. In this way, he loses his self, which Kierkegaard defines as the "relation's relating itself to itself in the relation." “Even talk of the self is philosophical baggage of the Christian theological doctrine of the Trinity,” Karl says, “They don’t think about the self very much before that.” Tune in as the duo takes their first dive into continental philosophy on the podcast. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

This week, Scott and Karl are joined by special guest Matt Reynolds to discuss Yukio Mishima's book, Sun and Steel. Born into a samurai family, Mishima died by his own hand in 1970, committing seppuku or ritual suicide.  While controversial, Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. Sun and Steel is a memoir of the author's relationship to his body.  Karl says, "I think this book is an aesthetic project, so it's Nietzschean. Take your life and make it a project. To make it a beautiful life you're going to need sun and steel." Mishima's return to classical aesthetics is a revolt against the sedentary body modernity causes.  As the founder of Barbell Logic and a former Strongman himself, Reynolds brings a unique perspective to the conversation.  Tune in to learn more about the parallel between books and barbells. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Small Is Beautiful is economist E. F. Schumacher’s classic call for the end of excessive consumption. Schumacher offers a crucial message for the modern world struggling to balance economic growth with the human costs of globalization. Scott says, "These problems are going to get a lot closer to our houses in the coming years than anyone is willing to recognize." This collection of essays also address the problems of production, especially with an economy that is premised on cheap energy.  Karl asks, "You have to look at the way you live. Is it a way that your great-grandkids could live? If not, there is probably something wrong." Tune in to learn more about this landmark statement against "bigger is better" industrialism.

In the second episode of this two-part series, Scott and Karl finish discussing The New World Order by H.G. Wells. Scott says, "There are people that write things that I don't agree with but they hang together and they are internally consistent. Wells is really not." The duo believes there are a huge number of people in the political class of the world that have read or been influenced by this small book. Do you agree?  Tune in to hear more about Wells's Declaration of the Rights of Man and Scott's disdain for it. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

In the first episode of this two-part series, Scott and Karl begin discussing The New World Order by H.G. Wells.  Published in January 1940, Wells’s motivation for writing The New World Order was based upon the outbreak of World War II. He proposes a framework of international functionalism that he believes could guide the world towards achieving world peace.  Karl says, "Wells thinks that the human race is in danger. He believes the only way out of it is collectivization."  As Scott points out, "In this short book, he doesn't acknowledge the fact that there are people who are driven in such a way that one-world government just makes a bigger, juicer target for war and overthrow."  Tune in to hear the first part of a fascinating conversation, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

This week, Scott and Karl read Going Postal by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 33rd book in his Discworld series.  The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Going Postal is the first book featuring the character Moist von Lipwig.  Moist is a con artist and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put the ailing postal service of Ankh-Morpork – the Discworld’s city-state –  back on its feet. Even though Discworld is a flat planet balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle, don't let this strange magic deter you. As Karl points out, "It's satire, set safety on an impossible world where things that could never happen, happen. But yet, it's the same things that happen in the regular world."  It’s also a novel about freedom, including the freedom to take the consequences. Scott adds, "The good things and the bad things surrounding hope are a main theme in this book."  If you enjoy wit, humor, and a fastly-paced plot, you will enjoy yoursel

This week, Scott and Karl discuss three of Leo Strauss' essays, "On a Forgotten Kind of Writing," "Esoteric Teaching," and "Persecution and the Art of Writing." Published between 1952-54, these works center around the same set of concerns: the relationship between philosophy and politics.  In Strauss' view, classic philosophers had to “adapt their literary technique to the requirements of persecution.” Their "art of writing" was the art of esoteric communication.  Of course, the reasons why philosophers write esoterically will shape how they write esoterically. But what about modern accounts of esotericism? Karl says, "It makes it look like you are making intellectual choices when you're picking from the very small menu of acceptable thoughts that you can have...If you wish to communicate things [not on the standard political menu], you're going to have to communicate them sideways as a what-if." Scott adds, "In 2021, there are a number of opinions, or noble lies, that are becoming pretty worn and they don't

This week, Scott and Karl read The Moviegoer, Walker Percy's first novel. Awarded the 1962 National Book Award for Fiction, the story follows Binx Bolling, a young New Orleans stockbroker who surveys the world with a removed gaze. Karl says, “There’s a certain type of person that these novels are going to be good for: the kind of detached person, the observer.” Binx gives a running commentary on life as it passes before his eyes, almost as if he were watching a movie. Scott says, "Life is a movie for Binx, he's a spectator in life until the end of the book." The novel focuses on "the search" for authenticity in a scripted, stylized, mediated world. Set in New Orleans, Percy incorporates a sense of place and legacy while grappling with Binx's malaise, as is the tradition of southern writers.  Tune in to hear about the book that establishes Percy as one of the major voices in Southern literature. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.  

This week, Scott and Karl discuss Allan Savory's book Holistic Resource Management. Savory warns that while fossil fuels and livestock grazing are often targeted as major culprits behind climate change and desertification, it's really our mismanagement of resources that pose the biggest threat.  Scott says, "If you care about regenerative agriculture, sustainable agriculture, permaculture, homesteading, or profitability, this is a formative text in the circles that are trying to fix a lot of the problems with Big Ag." Holistic Resource Management is an approach to help land managers, farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, and policymakers develop strategies for regenerating degraded landscapes. However, the beauty of Savory's framework is it requires no specialized knowledge or elaborate technology to utilize. Karl says, "It's books like this that make your wheelhouse bigger." Tune in to hear more about Savory's philosophy and method. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Scott and Karl discuss The Naked Sun, a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the second in his Robot series. Elijah Baley, a detective from Earth, is given a new assignment to investigate the murder of a Spacer (long-lived humans that colonize space) on a distant world called Solaria.  Asimov portrays Solaria as a place focused on avoiding physical contact with other people. Communication is frequent, but it is "viewing" of a transmitted image.  This world may strike a chord in the present day. Scott says, "It's a cautionary tale that no one paid attention to, apparently." Like any good science fiction, this book makes you practice thinking about the knock-on effects of the decisions we make.  The duo also dives into what it means to be a robot, mechanization, and more. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.  

This week, Scott and Karl read “Pray Without Ceasing” which is included in Wendell Berry’s collection of short stories That Distant Land.  Berry writes about a murder committed in the summer of 1912, 78 years before the narrator learns its details, a crime that has haunted Port William ever since. Still, if you're of the Port William membership, this story is part of your history. Scott says, "He writes the way I recollect things. It's a familiar groove for me." Berry’s idea of a healthy community, which relies heavily on filial piety, is embodied in all his fiction. Karl says, "Filial piety is a virtue that used to be everywhere that we've lost a bit. It's clearly in this story."  Tune in to hear more about this fascinating short story, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

This week, Scott and Karl discuss Albert Z. Carr's 1968 article "Is Business Bluffing Ethical?." Originally published in the Harvard Business Review, the article has become a classic on the subject of business ethics.  Mr. Carr was Assistant to the Chairman of the War Production Board during World War II, serving as an economic adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a Special Consultant to President Truman.  The basis of Carr’s argument seems to be that there is a difference between what he calls “private morality” and the moral context of the business world. Carr sets out to defend a "game-strategy" view of business, using the game of poker as his analogy.  As you might expect, Scott and Karl point out the many holes in his argument.  Scott says, "What does morality mean for him, what does ethical mean for him, what does lying mean for him, what does bluffing mean for him— it's all a little bit slippery." Karl adds, "Socrates would have stopped him right there."   Tune in for more great conversation,

Scott, Karl, and Trent explore Vince Guaraldi's timeless Christmas album, the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the 1965 TV special based on Charles Schultz's iconic Peanuts comic strip. At once hopeful and melancholic, Guaraldi's breezy jazz soundscape captures the childhood innocence of the Peanuts cast while lamenting the loss of meaning in the increasingly commercialized Christmas season.   This episode is a simulcast of the Music and Ideas Podcast, and is also being broadcast with our friends at the Barbell Logic Podcast. Barbell Logic is a premier online coaching service for people of all ages seeking to become stronger, fitter, and healthier.   Barbell Logic: https://barbell-logic.com Barbell Logic Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barbell-logic/id1255032859 Music and Ideas Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/music-and-ideas/id1500358614

This week, we are celebrating our 100th episode of the Online Great Books podcast! Thank you to our listeners and supporters of the show— we appreciate you.  To commemorate the occasion, Scott and Karl read the timeless tale, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Most of us know the story from one rendition or another. But have you read the original novella? Published in 1843, the book was written during a period when there was strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions as well as the introduction of new customs, such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. "There’s a lot about modern Christmas not to like," Scott points out.   Tune in to learn more about one of Dickens's most widely enjoyed work. Interested in joining the conversation? Head over to onlinegreatbooks.com to join the VIP list.