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.
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.
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!
I’m pumped to talk with you all in a few hours! (8pm central!)
Find the Zoom link for tonights live book talk below: