Philosophical Book Club Update
We're Reading Plato's Timaeus & Critias Then CSL's Perelandra!
We’re reading Plato’s Timeaus and Critias next in our philosophical book club!
If you’re new to the Parker’s Ponderings Book Club, welcome! This is a club where we read philosophical fiction and non-fiction books together and I write companion essays to help you get the most out of the ideas.
I’m Parker Settecase, I’m currently a PhD student in philosophy and I’ve also earned 3 Master’s degrees:1 in analytic philosophy of religion, 1 in systematic theology, 1 in theological studies.
I really like ideas and I will help you learn what I’ve learned through the books that have taught me—and through the companion essays I write for you, as well as our Zoom Book Club discussions.
The book club is easy to join, you just upgrade to a paid subscription here on my Parker’s Ponderings publication and look for the Book Club updates and essays.
You can find the mostly complete 2026 Philosophical Book Club Reads here:
Our Next Reads
Like I said above, our next read is Plato’s Timaeus and Critias. These two dialogues are wild. Timaeus has to do with Plato’s cosmogony, the origion of the cosmos. Critias is an incomplete dialogue where he introduces the myth of Atlantis—yep, it all goes back to Plato!
After Plato we’ll continue C.S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy with book 2, Perelandra. We read book 1, Out of The Silent Planet, earlier in the book club but you can jump in with us on book 2 without missing much, thankfully! Though you can catch up by reading OSP and my companion essays here:
Grab the Timeaus and Critias from my link below to support my work:
Then Grab Perelandra for our next read:
Perelandra is a wonderful book, one of C.S. Lewis’s favorites of his own works. It’s science fictiony but far less than Out of The Silent Planet. It’s much more of a fantasy work than a work of SF. It really is wonderful—you’ll see!
Schedule
Here’s the updated schedule for our next 2 reads. These are going to be just a little bit tentative because my second daughter is due at the end of June. If she’s on her due date we’ll be all good. If she’s early I will have to adjust a little but we’ll still get through these two around the same time.
Schedule (barring an early birth of my 2nd daughter):
June 12th - Essay 1 on Plato’s Timeaus & Critias | Intro - pg. 67
June 19th - Essay 2 on Plato’s Timeaus & Critias | pg. 67-end of Critias
June 20th - Zoom Call Discussion | 1pm central
June 26th - Essay on Perelandra | Essay covering whole book (it’s short)
June 27th - Zoom Call Discussion | 1pm central
I’m really excited for the rest of the year’s books! Thanks for joining me on this adventure and don’t forget to tell your friends about the book club!
Tell you friends!
I will get another update together for our books after Perelandra soon so you can get the books and get to reading. Thank you for joining me on this journey, whether you’re in for one book, many books, or the full gamut!