The Books We Read

Book Discussion of "Elon Musk" and "Out of the Silent Planet"

C.S. Lewis and Elon Musk views of the universe and humanity differ widely, but we find both to be worth considering. We look at Musk's view of the world through Walter Isaacson's biography called "Elon Musk," and C.S. Lewis' through "Out of the Silent Planet. Elon Musk: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122765395-elon-musk Out of the Silent Planet: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25350.Out_of_the_Silent_Planet Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller. Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock. The music is from Blue Dot Sessions

Book Discussion of "Live Not by Lies" and "12 Rules for Life"

After Reagan says, “Can we get a little more nuanced?! Can we have a more interesting conversation than ‘the sky is falling!’ We’re not political commentators, because that would be boring and lame.” in response to Jaran's report on Rod Dreher’s "Live Not by Lies,” we muse on Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life,” prolonging our 35 perilous minutes of talking out loud about books by two controversial characters. In short, we’ll go so far as to recommend “12 Rules for Life,” but we think that “Live Not by Lies” is boring.  Live Not by Lies: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53438190-live-not-by-lies  12 Rules for Life: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30257963-12-rules-for-life  Find Reagan at ⁠reaganschrock.com⁠ [https://reaganschrock.com/]; subscribe to his newsletter at ⁠reaganschrock.substack.com⁠ [https://reaganschrock.substack.com/]. Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller. Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock. The music at the beginning and the end is from Blue Dot Sessions. Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is a public domain recording.

Book Discussion of "Man's Search for Meaning" and "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"

“Buy a copy right now and go read it,” says Reagan about Frankl's “Man’s Search for Meaning.” After his enthusiastic review and recommendation, we morphed into a conversation about Douglas Adams’ "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” which questions man’s existance and proposes that it’s meaning is “42,” or something like that. Perhaps an epistemological dead end, but at least it has poetry. Man’s Search for Meaning: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11.The_Hitchhiker_s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy Find Reagan at ⁠reaganschrock.com⁠ [https://reaganschrock.com/]; subscribe to his newsletter at ⁠reaganschrock.substack.com⁠ [https://reaganschrock.substack.com/]. Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller. Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock. The music is from Blue Dot Sessions

Book Discussion of "Moby-Dick" and "The Virtues of War"

It turns out that the serpentine course of Ahab and Ishmael’s hunt for a whale illustrates "man's search for meaning in a world of deceptive appearances and fatal delusions.” Furthermore, Ishmael's taxonomy of whales merely demonstrates "the limitations of scientific knowledge and the impossibility of achieving certainty.” In other words, the book is too long for a good reason. Also, “The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great” by Steven Pressfield is really good. Moby-Dick or, The Whale: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153747.Moby_Dick_or_The_Whale The Virtues of War: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/73490691-the-virtues-of-war Find Reagan at reaganschrock.com [https://reaganschrock.com/]; subscribe to his newsletter at reaganschrock.substack.com [https://reaganschrock.substack.com/]. Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller. Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock. The music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Book Discussion of "The Better Angels of Our Nature" and "The Patient Ferment of the Early Church"

Jaran and Reagan are back to talk about Steven Pinker’s "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined" and Alan Kreider's "The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire." You might hear us being unsure what to do with the arguments in these books. We’d love to hear your thoughts. The Better Angels of Our Nature: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543093-the-better-angels-of-our-nature [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543093-the-better-angels-of-our-nature]  Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead?: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29340854-do-humankind-s-best-days-lie-ahead The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26266696-the-patient-ferment-of-the-early-church Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller. Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock. The music is from Blue Dot Sessions