I think about this all the time.

write one about cocaine and he'd smile even more

Sigmund Freud read your essay about cigarettes and is smiling

Back in the authorial and date-of-text murk with the Tao Te Ching for @booksofalltime.bsky.social. Lao Tzu might have existed at the time of Confucius, or a century after, or possibly he lived for more than 160 years because he was so good at the Way, or he went "into the west" and remains there. 🧐

One part of the Cassandra story that's rarely understood is that her warnings, at least in Aeschylus's telling, are believed in the final instance, and it doesn't matter. The chorus believes, they pray, and they do nothing.

A charming #Egyptian figurine of a hedgehog, made of faience, dating ca 1900 BC, from Thebes, #Egypt. The Egyptians associated hedgehogs with rebirth. On display at Neues Museum Berlin 📷 me 🏺

We can understand why it happened with Hesiod, who is furious at women and people who don't work for a living (e.g. his brother), but overall? No. Great books are for everyone.

i cannot stress enough how thoroughly stupid it is to let great books become right wing coded

I am reading The Art of War. Sun Tzu never actually says "remember to feed your men" but he does say things like "war is really, really, really expensive so try not to attack a strategic chokepoint impervious to attack that the enemy can hold for much fewer resources than you need to siege it"

Socrates: and what is the purpose of a screen? Gloucon: to look at S: just so. And where does one look when driving? G: at the road S: and does a man’s gaze best view object at a time, or two? G: surely just one S: indeed - thus it cannot be proper for a car to have a screen

Can't think why this popped into our heads, but if you missed our episode on Sun-Tzu and The Art of War (which reads like a compilation of BuzzFeed listicles on basic military strategy for idiots), that's here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b... #booksky #podcasts

Link:

The US once again demonstrating why Sun-Tzu had to pitch “try to feed your soldiers well” as if it were deep strategy.

William Blake would beat these people about the head with a copper printing plate.

One thing we've learned from reading 30+ ancient books over the last two years: Failsons with too much power have been a fact of human life since the first towns.

One thing we've learned from reading 30+ ancient books over the last two years: Failsons with too much power have been a fact of human life since the first towns.

I feel like Sun Tzu really missed out on "Invent Pete Hegseth and give him to the enemy"

This is where Hinduism actually cracked the code, yes the gods have portfolios but they also have overlaps and mediating fights over jurisdiction was basically Indra's full time job as king of the devas

Girl, the morning comes to consciousness Of faint stale smells of beer From the sawdust-trampled street With all its muddy feet that press To early coffee-stands.

My little suggestion today is that if you have to read a T.S. Eliot poem you put, “Girl,” in front of the first line & read the rest in the voice of a drag queen reading someone to filth.

We've heard of "consuming" literature, but this is a bit much.

Reading books, writing about them to figure out what I think about them, and then sharing those thoughts with roughly 2,000 listeners via @booksofalltime.bsky.social every few weeks is genuinely helping me be a better person.

#ICYMI, our newest episode is now in feeds. Start your Monday morning right—with the cringeworthy story of how Franz Kafka's fiancee dumped him in a Berlin hotel room with her sister and best friend present.

NEW EPISODE! In part 2 of our exploration of the Book of Job, we examine three reactions to it… #booksky #podcasts

Reading the Nicomachean Ethics; can confirm.

I knew I wanted to write ABOUT William Blake but I didn’t know what I actually wanted to say, soz. Wrote myself up a tree until I found a paper that helped. Listen now! Share and enjoy! #podcasts #booksky

The REAL trial was being engaged to Kafka, amirite?

NEW EPISODE! In part 2 of our exploration of the Book of Job, we examine three reactions to it… #booksky #podcasts

"Opinions are often only an expression of despair." Some #MorningMotivation from Franz Kafka (The Trial, ch. 9)

“Chat,

Absolutely! #BookSky

“The six types of terrain, folks—I know all the terrains very strongly. As an expert in real estate I’d look at the terrain and be able to say, “oh, it’s precipitous heights,” and the officers, great big officers with tears in their eyes, would say “sir, sir, you identified it so well, the terrain.“

“The six types of terrain, folks—I know all the terrains very strongly. As an expert in real estate I’d look at the terrain and be able to say, “oh, it’s precipitous heights,” and the officers, great big officers with tears in their eyes, would say “sir, sir, you identified it so well, the terrain.“

Job: fuck my chungus life

Is it bad that Kafka is this relatable?

Sometimes you can’t think of anything good to write, and that’s a perfectly normal thing a lot of writers struggle with. It just means you committed a great sin and displeased The Lord. It means He has punished you by cutting you off from The Source

Tag yourself, writers. I’m “Unending torment.”

Is it bad that Kafka is this relatable?

This book of the Bible brought to you by DraftKingOfKings.

Part 2 of our look at the Book of Job comes out Monday! We're covering three different works influenced by or commenting directly on Job: 👉Carl Jung's Answer to Job (1952) 👉Franz Kafka's The Trial (1925) 👉William Blake's engravings (1780–1826) Catch up with the first ep now! 👇 #booksky #podcasts

Appearing shortly in your feeds, our newest episode on The Book of Job! One of the most unusual books of the Bible, Job tells the story of a man whose life is destroyed by God for a bet. #booksky #classicsky #ancientlit #podcasts open.spotify.com/show/47CAiko...

Freud: I will now psychoanalyse Leonardo da Vinci Jung: I will now psychoanalyse God

Every now and then we remember this fact and it gives us a headache. Imagine trying to read, say, Freud in scriptio continua.

ONETHINGTOREMEMBERABOUTTHEBIBLEISLIKEMANYANCIENTTEXTSITWASWRITTENINSCRIPTIOCONNTINUAMEANINGNOWORDBREAKSORPUNCTUATIONYOUWEREEXPECTEDTOWORKALLTHATOUTFROMCONTEXTHEREISLUKE112INCODEXSINAITICUS

"... the treatment of heroes in the Iliad and the Odyssey is one of our earliest warnings against egoism and relying too much on ‘big men’. Each epic explains the separation between the worlds of gods and mortals and why heroes are also bad for us." neoskosmos.com/en/2026/04/0...

Classics friends may enjoy this. Some of the Latin pronunciation is a bit weird, but the essence is spot on! 😆

the realest part of The Metamorphosis is how on top of everything he is still expected to show up at the office somehow

The Art of War 1. Start war 2. Kill people 3. Fail to achieve strategic objectives 4. Declare victory 5. Agree ceasefire

Script.