Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines Zine

Philip K. Dick studied philosophy in college before he dropped out, did a bunch of psychedelics, and became one of the best SF authors of the 20th century. He didn’t need a degree in philosophy to be a philosopher though. His books are philosophy books. They make you ponder the nature of existence, reality, minds, and your own sanity.

Last year, my book club read through his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—which is the story that gave rise to the Blade Runner movies.

This book is PACKED with philosophical ideas—way more than the movies. It’s one of my all-time favorite books (as you might be able to tell from my tattoo pictured below:

If you want to dive deeper into Philip K. Dick’s philosophy, and philosophy in general, give the book a read and read through my philosophical companion essays. I also included a bonus essay on PKD’s philosophy of science fiction and the recording of our book club Zoom discussion of the book.

These companion essays are for paid subscribers, so if you want access to these—and a whole ton more exclusive posts and video notebook tutorials—then make sure to upgrade to a paid subscription today.

Find all the essays and the recorded bookclub conversation below:

• Essay 1 HERE

• Essay 2 HERE

• Essay 3 HERE

• Bonus: PKD’s Philosophy of Science Fiction HERE

• Live Book Club Recording HERE

We’re continuing on with the 2026 Parker’s Ponderings Philosophical Book Club!! Our next book is The Mind of The Maker by Dorthy Sayers. You can grab the book here to support my work: THE MIND OF THE MAKER

And you can check out the brief introduction to Dorthy Sayers in my announcement post here:

Here’s the reading schedule:

• April 24th - Companion Essay #1 on chapters 1-6

• May 1st - Companion Essay #2 on Chapters 7-Postscript

• May 8th - Zoom Book Club discussion

These philosophical companion essays are for my paid subscribers. If you want to come join our book club and access my essays to help you understand the philosophy present in each one of our book club reads, definitely upgrade to a paid subscription today. There are lots of perks, including joining our live Zoom calls for paid subscribers, access to all of my notebook tutorials, and lots of exclusive videos and essays.

The Mind of the Maker: Chapters 1-6

I told you this was a philosophical book!! You may have thought this was just going to be theology blah blah blah. Nope. It’s philosophical theology written by a lay theologian for a lay audience! (‘lay’ being non-academic, non-specialist). Don’t doubt my book club book list again!

I know the book can be a little daunting. The terms may be foreign and the concepts big and unwieldy. But don’t get lost in the weeds. Each chapter has a very distinct idea in view as Sayers builds out her author analogy for the God-World relation, that is, her analogy that God relates to the world in an analogous way to that of an author and his story.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to draw out the big idea from chapters 1-6 respectively and put them on full-display for you to get the beauty of what she’s up to. Let’s dive in.

Ch.1 - The “Laws” of Nature and Opinion

In chapter 1, Sayers distinguishes between two senses of the word “law”. There is the law of human convention—speed limits, and crimes punishable by the death penalty—and there are natural laws which aren’t subject to the mind of man but are independent of us. The second sense of law

is employed to designate a generalized statement of observed fact of one sort or another… such laws cannot be promulgated, altered, suspended, or broken at will; they are not “laws” at all, in the sense that the laws of cricket or the laws of the realm are “laws”; they are statements of observed facts inherent in the nature of the universe. (pg. 4)

So, there are

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Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of philosophical fiction and non-fiction this year. You can find the full list HERE.

Right now we’re reading The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams. I write philosophical companion essays to every book we read in my book club and this post is the second of two companion essay to The Place of the Lion. It’s never too late to join us, and if you want to grab the book do so from this link HERE to support my work.

You can read essay 1 here:

Here’s our reading schedule:

The Place of the Lion, Charles Williams

• March 20th - companion essay for chapters I-X

• April 4th th - companion essay for chapters XI-end

• April 7th - Substack Live Book Talk @ 5pm

So you can grab the book still and start reading, the essays will be here waiting for you and if you finish by April 7th you can come join our live book club book talk here on Substack.

These companion essays are for paid subscribers so please consider upgrading to a paid subscription and come join us! There are lots of other perks as well, like accessing all of my other paid posts and exclusive videos, reading my commonplace book quotes, reading my notebook tutorials, and joining us live on screen or the book talk calls (they’re free for everyone to watch and comment on but only paid subs get access to the link to join). So, if you like what I do, please consider upgrading and help me keep doing it.

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Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of philosophical fiction and non-fiction this year. You can find the full list HERE.

Right now we’re reading The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams. I write philosophical companion essays to every book we read in my book club and this post is the first companion essay to The Place of the Lion. It’s never too late to join us, and if you want to grab the book do so from this link HERE to support my work.

Here’s our reading schedule:

The Place of the Lion, Charles Williams

• March 20th - companion essay for chapters I-X

• March 27th - companion essay for chapters XI-end

• April 3rd - Substack Live Book Talk

So you have plenty of time to grab the book still and start reading, the essays will be here waiting for you and if you finish by April 3rd you can come join our live book club book talk here on Substack.

These companion essays are for paid subscribers so please consider upgrading to a paid subscription and come join us! There are lots of other perks as well, like accessing all of my other paid posts and exclusive videos, reading my commonplace book quotes, reading my notebook tutorials, and joining us live on screen or the book talk calls (they’re free for everyone to watch and comment on but only paid subs get access to the link to join). So, if you like what I do, please consider upgrading and help me keep doing it.

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Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of philosophical fiction and non-fiction this year. You can find the full list HERE.

Right now we’re reading The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and this is the third and final companion essay to it. It’s never too late to join since these essays will remain for as long as Substack remains. If you want to grab the book do so from that linked title above to support my work.

Here’s our reading schedule:

• February 20th - Companion Essay on the Forward and introduction

• February 27th - Companion Essay on Part 1: The Pythagoras Sourcebook (pg. 57-155)

• March 6th - Companion Essay on Part 2: The Pythagorean Library (pg. 159-end)

• March 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

So you have plenty of time to grab the book still and start reading, the essays will be here waiting for you and if you finish by March 13th you can come join our live book club book talk here on Substack.

These companion essays are for paid subscribers so please consider upgrading to a paid subscription and come join us! There are lots of other perks as well, like accessing all of my other paid posts and videos, reading my commonplace book quotes, reading my notebook tutorials, and joining us live on screen or the book talk calls (they’re free for everyone to watch and comment on but only paid subs get access to the link to join). So, if you like what I do, please consider upgrading and help me keep doing it:

Essay 3 - Golden Wisdom

Alright, this second reading was probably even more difficult than the last one, but I hope the wise sayings made it all worth it for you—I know it did for me.

We read lots of fragments in this third reading, some of which were genuine and others of which were pseudonymous (written under a false name). I’m not a historian, so it’s hard for me to weigh in on the veracity of the different fragments but those little introductory notes were really helpful. Often the notes would say that the fragment in view was probably not genuine because it had obviously been influenced by Aristotle—who came much later than most of the Pythagoreans. I caught this here and there actually, especially when the author of the fragment would start talking about categories and four causes, which are Aristotle’s bread and butter.

But still, pseudonymous or genuine, these are very, very old philosophical writings and it’s such a privilege to have them at our fingertips and translated in our language. We don’t have to be of some priestly class to consider the philosophy of the Pythagoreans—I think that’s really wonderful. I also think this Sourcebook and Library is a perfect example of ancient philosophy. At times, the things they say are utterly profound and immediately applicable even to our own lives today. At other times they are utterly inscrutable and confusing—why the hate against beans???? This is the nature of reading ancient philosophy. It’s so odd and so beautiful. I hope you found that to be true of this text.

I don’t want to try and cover every single fragment or wise saying from our reading, that would be way too superfluous. So instead I’m going to pull out some of my favorite wise sayings from our reading for our consideration. Our first reading (the intro) was all about the theoretical teachings of the Pythagoreans. Our second reading was all about the mystical life of Pythagoras. This third reading and accompanying essay is all about the wisdom of the Pythagoreans.

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Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of philosophical fiction and non-fiction this year. You can find the full list HERE.

Right now we’re reading The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and this is the second companion essay to it. It’s never too late to join us, and if you want to grab the book do so from that linked title above to support my work.

Here’s our reading schedule:

• February 20th - Companion Essay on the Forward and introduction

• February 27th - Companion Essay on Part 1: The Pythagoras Sourcebook (pg. 57-155)

• March 6th - Companion Essay on Part 2: The Pythagorean Library (pg. 159-end)

• March 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

So you have plenty of time to grab the book still and start reading, the essays will be here waiting for you and if you finish by March 13th you can come join our live book club book talk here on Substack.

These companion essays are for paid subscribers so please consider upgrading to a paid subscription and come join us! There are lots of other perks as well, like accessing all of my other paid posts and videos, reading my commonplace book quotes, reading my notebook tutorials, and joining us live on screen or the book talk calls (they’re free for everyone to watch and comment on but only paid subs get access to the link to join). So, if you like what I do, please consider upgrading and help me keep doing it:

Subscribe now

Essay 2 - The Four Biographies

Okay, that second reading was a wild ride! What a major info dump. We read four biographies of Pythagoras: one from Iamblichus, one from Porphry, one from an anonymous source preserved by Photius, and one by Diogenes Laertius. I think the most important take away is that Pythagoras really did want people or oxen eating beans! I still don’t quite understand why though.

Now, there were some contradictory accounts across the four biographies, but on the whole, I was surprised how

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Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines Zine

The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov is another one of my all-time favorite science fiction stories. In my two companion essays I help you understand the philosophy of time and time-travel present in the story in order to better understand what’s going on and to help you dive deeper into philosophy in general. I give a brief introduction to Isaac Asimov, the retro-futurism motif, I categorize the different types of science fiction and place EoE, and I introduce the reader to different aspects of the philosophy of time in order to better understand Asimov’s masterpiece.

In addition to the philosophy of time—what is time? what kinds of times are there? Is time-travel possible? etc.—I also touch on the philosophy of artificial intelligence, Plato’s cave, the philosophy of possibility and possible worlds, and literary critical ideas like the Superman motif in golden age science fiction.

The End of Eternity is the basis for much of the retro-futurism in modern science fiction stories like the LOKI series and The Umbrella Academy—they both utterly ripped off Asimov—as well as the Good Place, Fantastic Four, and lots of other stories which have embraced retro-futurism today. So, exploring this book, and the philosophy behind it, now is a great way to dive deeper into philosophy and pop culture.

You can grab a copy of the book through my affiliate link HERE.

The companion essays are for my paid subscribers, so if you want to access them make sure to upgrade to a paid subscription.

You can find our recorded book club conversation on the book below the essays as well:

• Companion essay on chapters 1-9: HERE

• Companion essay on chapters 10-18: HERE

• Recording of the Substack Live Book Talk:

Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of philosophical fiction and non-fiction this year. You can find the full list HERE.

Right now we’re reading The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and this is the first companion essay to it. It’s never too late to join us, and if you want to grab the book do so from that linked title above to support my work.

Here’s our reading schedule:

• February 20th - Companion Essay on the Forward and introduction

• February 27th - Companion Essay on Part 1: The Pythagoras Sourcebook (pg. 57-155)

• March 6th - Companion Essay on Part 2: The Pythagorean Library (pg. 159-end)

• March 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

So you have plenty of time to grab the book still and start reading, the essays will be here waiting for you and if you finish by March 13th you can come join our live book club book talk here on Substack.

These companion essays are for paid subscribers so please consider upgrading to a paid subscription and come join us! There are lots of other perks as well, like accessing all of my other paid posts and videos, reading my commonplace book quotes, reading my notebook tutorials, and joining us live on screen or the book talk calls (they’re free for everyone to watch and comment on but only paid subs get access to the link to join). So, if you like what I do, please consider upgrading and help me keep doing it:

Subscribe now

Essay 1 - Forward & Introduction

Pythagoras is an utterly fascinating figure! Stephen West of PhilosophizeThis! called him Jesus with a protractor in one of his early podcast episodes and I think of that more and more often as I get to know Pythagoras better. If you don’t get it yet, you will soon.

So, what do you think? Are you guys enamored yet? If not, you will be once you get into the actual biographies. I really love this guy. Let me quickly recount a little of his info and then I want to dive in on my favorite parts of his philosophy to ponder.

Bio

Pythagoras was born in 570 BC to a gem maker named Mnesarchus and Pythias on the island of Samos, which is right by modern day Turkey. There’s a whole ton of lore around his birth and the gods and prophecy that we haven’t got into yet, but we will and it’s very interesting!

Pythagoras is said to have learned philosophy and wisdom and even magic from such great ‘presocratic’ philosophers (philosophers prior to Socrates) as Thales of Miletus (the g.o.a.t. who first predicted a solar eclipse, thus beginning all of Western philosophy and science on May 28th 585 BC), and Anaximander (my sheepadoodle’s namesake). He’s also said to have studied in Egypt for 20 years with all of their wisemen and magicians and sorcerers and then also in Babylon with the Chaldeans and the Babylonian Astronomers and wisemen and magicians and maybe even with Zoroaster who founded the religion of Zoroastrianism? But he also is said to have studied with some Hyperboreans as well—who were perhaps ancient or proto-Britans who were skilled in magic themselves.

He then found

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Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines Zine

Below you can find links to 5 philosophical companion essays to C.S. Lewis’s science fiction novel, Out of the Silent Planet. They will help you understand the philosophy and theology at play in the book.

Out of The Silent Planet is C.S. Lewis’s most straightforward ‘science fiction’ story—Perelandra is more fantastical and That Hideous Strength is more of an eschatological/dystopian fiction novel. Though, some have called OSP an ‘anti-science-fiction’ but more on that in the companion essays below.

The book is the result of a conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien as they lamented the state of science fiction in the 1930s. They decided to write their own SF stories: one on space travel and one on time travel. They flipped a coin and Lewis ended up with space travel and Tolkien ended up with time-travel. OSP is Lewis’s fulfillment of that agreement. We’re all the beneficiaries of that lucky coin flip—the book is wonderful! (Tolkien’s time-travel story is called “The Lost Road”).

Lewis went on to write 2 sequel books in what’s come to be called his “Space Trilogy” but is more accurately called his “Ransom Trilogy”—again, more on this in the companion essays.

Like Dune, this is a SF novel that’s been highly impacted by Plato’s Republic and the broader Platonist philosophy. I see Dune as a negative reaction to The Republic, arguing that we ought not seek for philosopher-kings because mankind is broken and those who seek power are corrupt already. Whereas OSP is a sort of “yes, but…” reaction to The Republic: “yes, political authority is legitimate and philosopher-kings are good, but not without spiritual authority.” But again, more on all of this in the essays below.

If you need a copy of the book, you can grab it HERE from my affiliate link to support my work.

The companion essays are for my paid subscribers, so if you want to access them make sure to upgrade to a paid subscription. You can find our two recorded book club conversations on the book below the paywall below as well.

• Intro Essay HERE

• Essay 1 HERE

• Essay 2 HERE

• Essay 3 HERE

• Essay 4 HERE

• Bonus Essay: C.S. Lewis’s 6 Kinds of science fiction HERE

Find the two Zoom book club recorded conversations below the paywall:

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Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of great, philosophical fiction and non-fiction books this year and I’ll be writing lots of philosophical companion essays to help you get the most out of the books we read. You can find the full 2026 reading list HERE

This post you’re currently reading is the second of two companion essay to Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity. If you don’t have the book yet, you can grab a copy of the book through my affiliate link HERE.

Here’s the schedule for The End of Eternity:

• January 30th - companion essay on chapters 1-9

• February 6th - companion essay on chapters 10-18

• February 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

Feel free to read at your own pace, the companion essays drop on the dates above but you can read them whenever you’re done with the readings. It would be nice to have the book completed by February 13th so you can join us for the Substack Live Book Talk. These companion essays are for paid subscribers, so if you want access make sure to upgrade.

Subscribe now

If you just want to follow along with us then make sure to join us for the live Book Talks which are open to paid and free subscribers—though paid subscribers can join me on the video stream through a Zoom link and the free subscribers can interact with us in the live chat. That’s just my way of prioritizing the paid subscribers and giving the most bang for their buck.

Essay 2

The end of Time-travel and the beginning of Space-travel

Okay, how awesome is this story???? Tell me you loved it. I think it may be the best science fiction story every told. What about Dune and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and all the others? Dune is the best Space Opera maybe or the best philosophical SF story—or maybe it’s tied with Androids, I’m not sure. But The End of Eternity is perhaps the best straight forward SF story there is.

The SF machine—time travel—is an integral part of the story and

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Here in this post you’ll find 5 essays to help you explore the deep ideas in Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy.

If you don’t know me, my name is Parker Settecase and I’m a student of philosophy and theology. I’ve got a Master’s in Philosophy and 2 more in theology and I love spreading philosophy far and wide. I lead a philosophical book club here on Substack lead a philosophical book club here on Substack.

In my book club I come up with a reading plan for those who want to read philosophical books and then I write companion essays to help my audience get the most out of the books we read. We’ve been switching off between non-fiction philosophy books and fiction novels with philosophical themes. It’s been fantastic!

I’ll be going back through my all of my book club essays in order to consolidate them into single Companion Posts with all the links for all essays for each book. This way you can have them all in one spot for easier access.

Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy is one of the best philosophy books ever written. It’s short and ancient and full of poetry and classical literature allusions and rich philosophical arguments and homages and connections to the Bible. There is a goddess-esque being, we call Lady Philosophy, who comes to help Boethius in his darkest hour and her reasoning is also immensely beneficial for modern folks like us even as it was for him way back when.

I highly recommend you give it a read! You can also find my companion essays below to help you get the most out of the philosophy and theology

therein!

If you need a copy of the book, you can grab the Penguin Classics edition HERE from my affiliate link to support my work.

The companion essays are for my paid subscribers, so if you want to access them make sure to upgrade to a paid subscription. You can find our two recorded book club conversations on the book below the paywall below as well.

Companion Essays

• Essay 1 HERE

• Essay 2 HERE

• Essay 3 HERE

• Essay 4 HERE

• Essay 5 HERE

Find the two book club recorded conversations below:

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Welcome to the Parker’s Ponderings 2026 Book Club! We’re reading a lot of great, philosophical fiction and non-fiction books this year and I’ll be writing lots of philosophical companion essays to help you get the most out of the books we read. You can find the full 2026 reading list HERE

This post you’re currently reading is the first companion essay to Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity. If you don’t have the book yet, you can grab a copy of the book through my affiliate link HERE.

Here’s the schedule for The End of Eternity:

• January 30th - companion essay on chapters 1-9

• February 6th - companion essay on chapters 10-18

• February 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

Feel free to read at your own pace, the companion essays drop on the dates above but you can read them whenever you’re done with the readings. It would be nice to have the book completed by February 13th so you can join us for the Substack Live Book Talk. These companion essays are for paid subscribers, so if you want access make sure to upgrade.

Subscribe now

If you just want to follow along with us then make sure to join us for the live Book Talks which are open to paid and free subscribers—though paid subscribers can join me on the video stream through a Zoom link and the free subscribers can interact with us in the live chat. That’s just my way of prioritizing the paid subscribers and giving the most bang for their buck.

Essay 1

Since we’re halfway through the book, I’m not going to comment a whole ton on the plot thus far. I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything. Be careful to avoid spoilers in the comments here, some of the readers are only halfway through.

I will be commenting on science fiction in general, the science fiction machines present in The End of eternity, and the rich philosophical themes present in the book thus far. I think most of the SF machines should be on the table by now and all the relevant philosophical themes are there to play with. In my second essay I’ll delve deeper into the actual plot and characters.

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Here in this post you’ll find 8 essays to help you explore the deep ideas in Frank Herbert’s Dune. I’ll be going back through my Book Club essays to consolidate them in these Companion Posts with all the links for all essays for each book. This way you can have them all in one spot for easier access—I should have done something like this a while ago!

If you don’t know me, my name is Parker Settecase and I’m a student of philosophy and theology. I’ve got a Master’s in Philosophy and 2 more in theology and I love spreading philosophy far and wide. I lead a philosophical book club here on Substack and you can find all of my companion essays for the books we’ve read so far HERE but I am going through all collecting them all into Companion Posts with all the links for all the essays for each book so it’ll be much easier to find the one’s you need.

In my book club I come up with a reading plan for those who want to read philosophical books and then I write companion essays to help my audience get the most out of the books we read. We’ve been switching off between non-fiction philosophy books and fiction novels with philosophical themes. It’s been fantastic!

Dune is to science fiction as Lord of the Rings is to fantasy. It’s spectacular. But Frank Herbert slipped in a lot of esoteric philosophy, religious tropes, and protreptic gems that you might miss if you don’t know where to look. So, if you want help understanding and getting the most out of Dune, I can help you. Just grab a copy and follow along through the companion essays below. Here’s how: grab a copy of Dune then come back here and find the reading sections covered in each essay, then go and read that section of the book and come back to read the companion essay for that section. Then go to the second essay, find the section of the book that it covers and read it then come back and read the companion essay and repeat until you’re all the way through. Herbert didn’t use chapters so it’s actually pretty hard to break the book into manageable sections but I think I figured it out with the epigraphs (the quotes he uses in the start of each section). So find those sections and jump in.

I’ve changed the approach to the read alongs and made the essays for my paid subscribers. I’m currently working with my literary agent to secure a book deal based on these companion essays. I’m waiting on a contract right now! So hopefully in the next few days I’ll be under contract to flesh this companion out much more! But that’s another reason to be hiding these essays behind a pay wall.

My free subscribers can still follow along on schedule with us for our latest read-alongs and they can join us for the live Zoom/Substack discussions but if you want to read the companion essays then upgrade to a paid subscription and all this (and much more!) will be opened to you. It really is a win-win, I get to support my family as an independent scholar and you get to learn deep, ancient, and cutting-edge philosophy and theology as you read some of the best books out there!

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The Dune Read-Along

Here are the philosophical companion essays I’ve written to help you get the most out of the novel:

• Introduction Essay : What is Dune Really About?

• Essay 1: Dune and Human Uniqueness

• Essay 2: Dune vs. Plato’s Republic

• Essay 3: The Enemy Within

• Zoom Book Club Recording 1

• Essay 4: Beware the Strong Man

• Essay 5: Feyd-Rautha as Paul’s Shadow Self?

• Essay 6: Don’t Wish for a Philosopher-King

• Bonus Essay on What I Missed and Zoom Book Clubs Recording 2

If you want to go deeper in your philosophical education, check out my philosophical science fiction magazine (zine), Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines. I write science fiction and fantasy short stories with philosophical and theological themes at the heart of each, then I add companion essays after each to help you explore the themes deeper and to fill you in on the Easter eggs I dropped in as well. I also include my own essays on the philosophy of science fiction and fantasy and my own philosophical poems as well.

Check out my SFF magazine and my wise saying magazine on my Etsy shop through the button below:

ParkerZines on Etsy

Here in this post you’ll find 8 essays to help you explore C.S Lewis’s Miracles. I’ll be going back through my essays and making these Companion Posts with all the links in one spot for easier access—I should have done something like this a while ago!

If you don’t know me, my name is Parker Settecase and I’m a student of philosophy and theology. I’ve got a Master’s in Philosophy and 2 more in theology and I love spreading philosophy far and wide. I lead a philosophical book club here on Substack and you can find all of my companion essays for the books we’ve read so far HERE but I am going through all collecting them all into Companion Posts with all the links for all the essays for each book so it’ll be much easier to find the one’s you need.

In my book club I come up with a reading plan for those who want to read philosophical books and then I write companion essays to help my audience get the most out of the books we read. We’ve been switching off between non-fiction philosophy books and fiction novels with philosophical themes. It’s been fantastic!

We started with C.S. Lewis’s Miracles and took a little over a month to read through it. HarperCollins was gracious enough to sent 10 copies to my audience members at random and Leuchtturm1917 was gracious to send 10 A5 notebooks to 10 more audience members. It was a great jump start to my book club.

Miracles is a very deep book full of tricky philosophical arguments and rich theological reasoning. Even major CSL nerds choose not to read it. But that’s a serious shame! This book is amazing! It’s definitely his most straightforward work of philosophy and philosophical theology and it really is a treasure trove for those who are willing to wade into the deep waters.

So this is my attempt at helping your understand what’s going on in each chapter of the book. Lewis really was a genius and I want to help you see more of his brilliance and maybe encourage you in your own spiritual and intellectual lives.

So, if you want help understanding and getting the most out of Miracles, I can help you. Just grab a copy and follow along through the companion essays below. Here’s how: read chapters 1 & 2 then come back here and read my companion essay for 1&2 and repeat all the way through. I also have our 3 book club zoom calls where we discuss the chapters we’ve read up to that point in the read-along.

I’ve changed the approach to the read alongs and made the essays for my paid subscribers. My free subscribers can still follow along on schedule with us for our latest read-alongs and they can join us for the live Zoom/Substack discussions but if you want to read the companion essays then upgrade to a paid subscription and all this (and much more!) will be opened to you. It really is a win-win, I get to support my family as an independent scholar and you get to learn deep, ancient, and cutting-edge philosophy and theology as you read some of the best books out there!

So, if you’re ready to jump in, find all of my philosophical companion essays to C.S. Lewis’s Miracles below:

• Essay for chapters 1 & 2 HERE

• Essay for Chapter 3 HERE

• Essay for Chapters 4-6 HERE

• Book Club Zoom Call 1 HERE

• Essay for Chapters 7 & 8 HERE

• Chapters 9-12 HERE

• Chapter 13 HERE

• Book Club Zoom Call 2 HERE

• Chapter 14 HERE

• Chapters 15, 16, Appendices, & Zoom Call 3 HERE

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If you want to go deeper in your philosophical education, check out my philosophical science fiction magazine (zine), Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines. I write science fiction and fantasy short stories with philosophical and theological themes at the heart of each, then I add companion essays after each to help you explore the themes deeper and to fill you in on the Easter eggs I dropped in as well. I also include my own essays on the philosophy of science fiction and fantasy and my own philosophical poems as well.

Check out my SFF magazine Etsy shop through the button below:

Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines

Hey everyone, don’t forget we have our first 2026 Book Club live discussion tonight at 8pm central. We’re going to be discussion the whole of St. Augustine’s Soliloquies now that we’ve read through it. So bone up on it before then if you need to and read my companion essays too if that’ll help refresh you on the ideas.

• Read my essay on book 1 HERE

• Read my essay on book 2 HERE

Tonight’s live discussion will be right here on Substack live and it’s free for anyone to watch and comment on. I will be watching the chat and answer questions from it. If you’re a paid subscriber you’ll also have access to a Zoom link that will bring you into the live video discussion if you want to go above and beyond the live chat and discuss with me in real time. You can find that Zoom link behind the paywall below in this post or in our paid subscriber chat here on Substack. If you want in on the paid subscriber perks make sure to upgrade to a paid subscription before the live starts tonight.

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After Soliloquies

We did it! We made it through Augustine’s Soliloquies! It was tougher than I remembered and I only realized that once I had to write about it. Book/Soliloquy 1 wasn’t so bad. It was pretty reminiscent of Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy (which was definitely modeled after the Soliloquies). But Book/Soliloquy 2 was pretty tough. Thanks for sticking with it.

Many of you will appreciate my oscillation between fiction and non-fiction none if you hadn’t before. After Augustine, we’re going to read The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov! This will be a major relief—reading wise—since it’s science fiction written by one of the best of the golden age of SF. The End of Eternity is another one of my all-time favorite science fiction stories. We’ll be getting into the philosophy of time and time travel as well as the retro-futurism motif in modern science fiction stories like the LOKI series and The Umbrella Academy—they both utterly ripped off Asimov—as well as the Good Place, Fantastic Four, and lots of others embracing retro-futurism today. The philosophy of time is so weird and fascinating and every position is just bonkers. I’m excited to welcome my readers into the weirdness.

You can grab a copy of the book through my affiliate link HERE.

Here’s the schedule for The End of Eternity:

• January 30th - companion essay on chapters 1-9

• February 6th - companion essay on chapters 10-18

• February 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

After The End of Eternity

After Asimov, we’re going to jump back into non-fiction with The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie. You can grab the book from my affiliate link HERE to further support my work.

Here’s the reading schedule:

• February 20th - Companion Essay on the Forward and introduction

• February 27th - Companion Essay on Part 1: The Pythagoras Sourcebook (pg. 57-155)

• March 6th - Companion Essay on Part 2: The Pythagorean Library (pg. 159-end)

• March 13th - Substack Live Book Talk

After Pythagoras

Next we’re going to the The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams. Back to fiction with this one but Charles Williams is deep! There is so much fascinating Neo-Platonism at play in this book. It’s a fun and wild read and I can’t wait to sit down and try and figure it all out. The companion essays will be as much for me as for you on this one.

Here’s the reading schedule:

• March 20th - companion essay for chapters I-X

• March 27th - companion essay for chapters XI-end

• April 3rd - Substack Live Book Talk

I’ll continue to flesh out the rest of the reading list with dates soon, so stay tuned for that, but I’ll also be updating the pinned book club post so you can always check back there as well (HERE is it).

If you want to join the book club and read my companion essays please do upgrade to a paid subscription, there are lots of perks including:

• full-length notebook philosophy essays/tutorials where I share in-depth instructions on how to use various notebook methods and the philosophers who inspired each method

• members-only access to For the Love of Wisdom entries (my digital intro to philosophy text book)

• members-only access to Sayings of the Sages, my digital commonplace book of wise sayings I’ve collected over my years of studying philosophy and culture

• access to our Zoom Book Club sessions where we discuss the read-along books and my companion essays

• the full catalog of members-only essays + lecture videos

• access to the members only chat

• and lots more!

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I’m pumped to talk with you all in a few hours! (8pm central!)

Find the Zoom link for tonights live book talk below:

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READ THE ESSAY FOR SOLILOQUY 1 HERE

We’ve got a lot more people joining us this year and I’m very pumped about that. If you’re unaware of what you’re reading then welcome. We are reading a bunch of books together in my book club this year—these books to be exact:

You can join us for one, for many, or for all of them. Feel free to drop in at your own convenience and as time allows. I will break down each book into sections to read each week and I will write philosophical companion essays to help you get the most out of the philosophy at play in the sections of each book.

These companion essays are for my paid subscribers so if you want access then upgrade to a paid subscription and come join us and leave your thoughts, questions, opinions, etc. in the comments for us to interact with.

Subscribe now

If you don’t want to upgrade to a paid subscription, feel free to follow along with the schedule and join us for the free livestream discussions at the end of the reading. You’ll be able to access the schedule in each post before the pay wall so you can follow along with the readings and catch the livestreams. I will host at least one live stream per book after the final companion essay and paid subscribers will get access to a Zoom link to join live and free subscribers will get a live alert to come watch and comment for free there. I try to interact with the live chat a lot.

Here’s the schedule for the Soliloquies read-along:

• January 9th - companion essay on Book 1

• January 16th - companion essay on Book 2

• January 23rd - Substack Live Book Talk @ 8pm central!

If you don’t have the book yet, grab it from my affiliate link HERE and come join us, there is plenty of time to make up the reading, just have it all done before the book talk on Jan. 23rd—you can always read my companion essays after they drop!

And here’s the schedule for the second book on the list, The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov:

• January 30th - companion essay on chapters 1-9

• February 6th - companion essay on chapters 10-18

• February 13th - Substack Live Book Talk Introduction to Soliloquies

You can grab a copy of the book through my affiliate link HERE. This one is going to focus a lot on the philosophy of time and time travel! It’ll be amazing—especially for fans of the Loki show and/or Umbrella Academy…

Alright on with the companion essay!

Soliloquy 2 - Truth is Everlasting and So Are You!

This second soliloquy is really arduous. I’m sorry about that. I forgot it was so tough. I hope I can make his main argument clear for us all, but drop a comment with your own thoughts or your remaining questions and we can all think through them together.

1. Do you know you exist?

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Welcome to the first Parker’s Ponderings Book Club essay of 2026! This post is too long to read in your email—sorry about that! They won’t all be this long, but just follow the prompts to read the full essay if you want. Read as much or as little of the companion essay as is needed for you to get the most out of the reading.

We’ve got a lot more people joining us this year and I’m very pumped about that. If you’re unaware of what you’re reading then welcome. We are reading a bunch of books together in my book club this year—these books to be exact:

You can join us for one, for many, or for all of them. Feel free to drop in at your own convenience and as time allows. I will break down each book into sections to read each week and I will write philosophical companion essays to help you get the most out of the philosophy at play in the sections of each book.

These companion essays are for my paid subscribers so if you want access then upgrade to a paid subscription and come join us and leave your thoughts, questions, opinions, etc. in the comments for us to interact with.

Subscribe now

If you don’t want to upgrade to a paid subscription, feel free to follow along with the schedule and join us for the free livestream discussions at the end of the reading. You’ll be able to access the schedule in each post before the pay wall so you can follow along with the readings and catch the livestreams. I will host at least one live stream per book after the final companion essay and paid subscribers will get access to a Zoom link to join live and free subscribers will get a live alert to come watch and comment for free there. I try to interact with the live chat a lot.

Here’s the schedule for the Soliloquies read-along:

• January 9th - companion essay on Book 1

• January 16th - companion essay on Book 2

• January 23rd - Substack Live Book Talk

If you don’t have the book yet, grab it from my affiliate link HERE and come join us, there is plenty of time to make up the reading, just have it all done before the book talk on Jan. 23rd—you can always read my companion essays after they drop!

And here’s the schedule for the second book on the list, The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov:

• January 30th - companion essay on chapters 1-9

• February 6th - companion essay on chapters 10-18

• February 13th - Substack Live Book Talk Introduction to Soliloquies

You can grab a copy of the book through my affiliate link HERE. This one is going to focus a lot on the philosophy of time and time travel! It’ll be amazing—especially for fans of the Loki show and/or Umbrella Academy…

Alright on with the companion essay!

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I can't believe it took me so long to figure out this way is way better for paid and unpaid subs.

Thank you , , , , and many others for tuning in to my live video!

Our next book club and read-along will be of St. Augustine's Soliloquies. Grab the book here to support my work and stay tuned for the reading schedule.

If you benefit from my work and want to access the Parker’s Ponderings read-along companion essays to the books we read (along with a ton of other exclusive videos and essays, updates, subscriber chats, and tutorials) then please do upgrade to a paid subscription. Every single paid subscriber helps 🫡🤝

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Welcome to the third read-along companion essay for Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This essay will cover the main philosophical themes from chapters 15 - the end of the book.

Here’s the full read-along schedule:

• Essay 1 on Nov. 21st - chs. 1 - 7

• Essay 2 on Nov. 28th - chs. 8 - 14

• Essay 3 Dec. 5th - chs. 15 - end

• Substack Live Book Club conversation December 12th

I’m flipping the read-alongs on their head starting with this book. The philosophical companion essays will be for paid subscribers and the Book Club calls—where I discuss the book and my philosophical analysis—will be live here on Substack. I think this is better for paid subscribers who want the most value for their financial support, and best for my free subscribers who may not be as invested in reading all the essays but would tune in to a live discussion of the book or would listen back to a recording of it. I think I’ve had this backwards during my previous read-alongs, so we’ll see if this is more desirable.

If you want to read my philosophical companion essays for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, as well as the back catalog of companion essays for our previous read-alongs, then please do upgrade to a paid subscription and help support this sort of public philosophy.

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Don’t Pause and Be Philosophical

Rick Deckard sleeps with Rachel Rosen… the android…

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Welcome to the second read-along companion essay for Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This essay will cover the main philosophical themes from chapters 8 - 14.

Here’s the full read-along schedule:

• Essay 1 on Nov. 21st - chs. 1 - 7

• Essay 2 on Nov. 28th - chs. 8 - 14

• Essay 3 Dec. 5th - chs. 15 - end

• Substack Live Book Club conversation December 12th

I’m flipping the read-alongs on their head starting with this book. The philosophical companion essays will be for paid subscribers and the Book Club calls—where I discuss the book and my philosophical analysis—will be live here on Substack. I think this is better for paid subscribers who want the most value for their financial support, and best for my free subscribers who may not be as invested in reading all the essays but would tune in to a live discussion of the book or would listen back to a recording of it. I think I’ve had this backwards during my previous read-alongs, so we’ll see if this is more desirable.

If you want to read my philosophical companion essays for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, as well as the back catalog of companion essays for our previous read-alongs, then please do upgrade to a paid subscription and help support this sort of public philosophy.

Subscribe now

Artificial Superintelligence

Here in chapters 8-14 we get lots of action! Deckard is out and about ready to hunt down and frag androids. But if the interactions with the rouge andies are intelligence tests, Deckard continually comes up short. Max Polokov, Luba Luft, and Officer Garland all get one over on Deckard one by one.

Polokov tricks Deckard and his bosses into thinking that he’s a soviet policeman—the accent and cultural differences in his disguise could cover any android slips. Luckily, Deckard’s police car has a sine wave that disables laser tube guns so Polokov couldn’t use his specialized weapon against Deckard and Deckard was able to blast him with an old school slug from his .38 magnum.

Laser tubes are just so awesome by the way! I’ve stolen these for my own science fiction novel and have some cool artwork on them to share in my Space Sage Handbook.

Luba Luft, the android who posed as an opera singer, pulled one over on Deckard by affecting a German heritage and obfuscated the results of the Voigt-Kampff empathy test by feigning cultural differences. She then dropped one of Deckard’s sensors from off her cheek and when he bent over to retrieve it from under her couch, she pulled her own laser tube on him. She probably should have killed him there but she wanted to maintain her celebrity persona and killing Deckard would have risked exposing her facade.

Officer Garland takes the biggest swing on Deckard as he tries

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