this is who runs this account (different hair, tho)

if anything reading lots of books has resulted in a -2 to our CHA score by annihilating our capacity for small talk at parties

also i hate to tell u but reading doesn't actually make you a better person? like i think engaging with art can increase your faculty of empathy but reading the brothers karamazov doesn't actually make you, like, superior? ive read it and didn't get a +2 to my WIS stat

if anything reading lots of books has resulted in a -2 to our CHA score by annihilating our capacity for small talk at parties

Last year's episodes on Plato were pretty exhausting but at least they reinforced the fact that political theorists make terrible political consultants.

Really enjoying catching up with this podcast, examining classic world literature in chronological order! I started with Episode 1 (Gilgamesh, so beloved of us Trekkies), then jumped forward to Homer - but it’s all so good that I’m listening to them all in order now. A fun way of learning a lot! 🖖🏼📚

Couldn't trace this back to a definitive creator, but: Epicurus all the way, bro

Coming up over the next few months on BoAT: Ep. 46: The Book of Job Ep. 47: Two reactions to Job: William Blake's engravings; parallels with Franz Kafka's The Trial

amaaaaaaaaaazing #art #classicsky

Love it! ❤️🐺 The Eumenides III Ink on paper - 2024

this is not news. we have been a fully sentient posting museum since at least 2016

Working on a q&a lecture for a class today: The story of robots is always a story about slavery. The story of LLMs labeled as AI is a story about class, and which humans pay the cost, including the physical toll on their bodies/minds, and the lack of water and electricity, so data centers can exist.

this reminds me of the best joke I ever made up: Which Greek philosopher invented studs on football boots? Soccercleats

Lord Nelson was 5ft 6in. His statue is 17ft 4in. That’s Horatio of 3:1.

unembarrassed enthusiasm about learning new things is genuinely the best way to live

Agreed. Sustaining your curiosity and excitement about the world is a way to fill your life with love and joy, no matter how solitary a person you may be.

I breathe the air that comes out of your nose, the north wind which comes forth from your mother. (BDF)

Couldn't trace this back to a definitive creator, but: Epicurus all the way, bro

Booke, booke, Reade a booke, Reade anothir booke, Reade a large amounte of bookes - Bookes are freakinge awesome

NEW EPISODE! The second part of our series on the Mahabharata looks at its most famous section: the Bhagavad Gita, a dialogue between a warrior having a crisis of conscience and his best friend, who is also his brother-in-law, who is also God. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

New episode came out late yesterday/early today (depending on your time zone)! I dive into The Bhagavad Gita, the 700-verse section of the 100,000-verse Mahabharata that is one of the most crucial Hindu scriptures—and one of the most studied works in world literature. Don't miss it. Links below!

NEW EPISODE! The second part of our series on the Mahabharata looks at its most famous section: the Bhagavad Gita, a dialogue between a warrior having a crisis of conscience and his best friend, who is also his brother-in-law, who is also God. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

"Mere bookish souls can never attain moksha." Um, excuse YOU, Mahatma Gandhi academic.oup.com/book/26346/c...

www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

We hope they wrote bromances like the Mesopotamians. "The hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic era developed a symbol system with a statistically comparable information density to the earliest proto-cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia – a full 40K years later." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"The habits cultivated by serious reading, such as tolerating ambiguity, holding competing ideas in mind and deferring judgment, are precisely what is required of citizens in a democracy under pressure." #booksky www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit...

Divine polycules, giant armies, and a truly strange ancient Indian version of in-vitro fertilisation involving ghee: The Mahabharata has all this and more. Second episode on the Bhagavad Gita coming Monday! #podcasts #booksky

Our next episode will be in feeds on Monday, 2 March! We also realise that we forgot to promote our most recent episode on social media! Episode 44, our first episode on the Mahabharata, came out in early February. Listen on Apple here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b... #booksky #podcasts

"The habits cultivated by serious reading, such as tolerating ambiguity, holding competing ideas in mind and deferring judgment, are precisely what is required of citizens in a democracy under pressure." #booksky www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit...

Heck of a day to be writing up this @booksofalltime.bsky.social episode on the Bhagavad Gita, I tell you what.

And also, you get to read Hesiod (one of the grouchiest voices of all time). #classicsky

"Reading enables us to see with the keenest eyes, to hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time." James Russell Lowell, born on this day in 1819

A spirit watches over Dartmoor. His face is granite grey. His eyes are dark as peat pools. His name is Old Crockern. And today he’s at The Museum of English Rural Life. Learn Crockern's story on Absolute Units, w/ Ruth Webb & @lisaschneidau.bsky.social, out now! merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

This week in 2018 I was capturing a thin Waxing Crescent Moon. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls.

I don’t think I’m a Luddite for worrying about the environmental toll of AI and its harm to certain communities (data centres and the use of AI itself) 🙏🏽

COMIC: What is a sycophant? Featuring Tacitus 3.65 and a certain US AG.

Heavens. Reading old books, as we've been doing for almost two years now, is incredibly rewarding. Struggling with complex or unfamiliar ideas strengthens the mind; recognising universal human anxieties and experiences down the ages is comforting. Plus, there are all the dick jokes in Aristophanes.

Done. Looks like a good meta-book for us (especially as the Romans loom in year three of our show)!

Bargain. Until 23.59 on 20 Feb you can order my new book 25%off RRP from Waterstones online. Discount code is FEB26. Details here: www.waterstones.com/campaign/feb...

Roses are redde Noble are the manatees For a bettir future Teach artes and humanityes

we're trying, bro

some of you are looksmaxxing when you need to be booksmaxxing

Coco ❤️ bebbies

Enjoying the serendipity of the timeline.

Heavens. Reading old books, as we've been doing for almost two years now, is incredibly rewarding. Struggling with complex or unfamiliar ideas strengthens the mind; recognising universal human anxieties and experiences down the ages is comforting. Plus, there are all the dick jokes in Aristophanes.

looking forward to the Satyricon #booksky #classicsky

Four fistfights with Audacity later and the podcast is published. Will be in feeds shortly.

Back in your feeds tomorrow! #podcast #podcats #proofofcat