Which Of These Books Should We Read Next?

Planning out the Next Parker's Ponderings Read-Along/Book Club

We’re finishing up out read-along of C.S. Lewis’s Miracles. The last two companion essays from me will be out this week and then we’ll plan our final Zoom book club (the video from the second call is all the way at the end of this post btw).

It’s been a wild ride for sure. I thought the companion essays would be easy because I reread the book so often but I think that made it way harder because I had so much to say. So it was more difficult than I thought but it’s also been way more rewarding that I anticipated as well! I’ve learned so much more about CSL, his arguments in isolation, as well as the main meta argument of the book and its structure by doing this read-along and by writing my companion essays to the various chapters. I think I want to continue doing read-alongs. The feedback has been really great from you all and I’ve enjoyed sharing some of the insights I’ve gleaned from my graduate studies with you.

So, say we do another read-along, what book should we pick? I need to pick a book I’ve reread multiple times so I actually have something to say about it. The book shouldn’t be massively long or I will feel like a prisoner. And it should have philosophical and theological implications, since those are the areas I’ve been trained in and can help you learn. Also, it should be a book I like or the whole process will be a slog and I won’t end up wanting to do another afterwards.

With all of that in mind, I’ve listed some potential candidates for our next read below, and I give a quick characterization of each book. Leave me a comment with your top three from the list below and give me a quick reason why you picked them (or at least why you picked your top pick).

Below the candidates I posted the recorded Zoom Book Club session 2 where we talked about chapters 7-12. If you’re not a paid subscriber and want to view those book club discussions or want to join us for the 3rd and fina; Zoom session on CSL’s Miracles, then upgrade to paid to access that perk. Paid subscribers get to access my lectures, courses (like my 8 week systematic theology course which is currently ongoing!), and exclusive essays, like my essays on notebook methods and stuff that took so much time to write that I have to justify it by making them paid posts. So if you like what I do and want to support me and get exclusive content that will make your life better, please do become a paid subscriber.

1. Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy

   Boethius penned this divine dialogue/philosophical soliloquy while in prison as a political prisoner. He personifies philosophy and she consoles him and argues him into a better state of mind. We see the therapeutic side of philosophy, arguments on the good life, lots of interaction with Stoicism, arguments about God and the nature of time, free will, fortune, determinism, and more. It’s a beautiful read chalked full of really fun philosophy.

2. Descartes, A Discourse on the Method

   Descartes gives a summary of his philosophical program and discusses his key insight, the cogito, as in cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am. Descartes wants to find bedrock for justifying his knowledge, he brings us along an an skeptical investigation and then builds back a system of philosophy and justification for the external world after finding his proposed bedrock, the cogito. He also gives his own version of the ontological argument and anticipates David Hume’s argument against induction. It’s a very short book and very fascinating. It’s foundational for understanding epistemology and modern philosophy. Descartes was a giant!

3. Augustine, Soliloquies

   An often neglected work of St. Augustine and one of his earliest works as a Christian convert. He began with dialogues and then coined his own term for a philosophical discussion/diaglogue with oneself, or with one’s personified reason: soliloquy: to speak alone. Augustine considers the nature of the self and knowledge of God in these two philosophical dialogues with himself. This would be the shortest of the books but will still be very informative and I can bring in some insights I’ve gleaned as I’ve been researching it for my book, Journal Like a Philosopher, which has an entire chapter on philosophical soliloquy.

4. Pascal, Pensées

   Blaise Pascal’s Pensées began as a work of Christian philosophy/apologetics but he died before it's completion. It was published posthumously and while there are some fun arguments for God in the book, it’s much more akin to a collection of aphorisms about God and life and human nature. It’s a beautiful, wonderful work of aphoristic philosophy, chalked full of amazing quotes and profound insights. One of my all-time favorite books.

5. Thomas Nagel, The View from Nowhere

   This will be the toughest read of the lot. Thomas Nagel is a first-rate analytic philosopher—one of the most influential of the 20th century. In this book he provides major insights into human nature, the nature of consciousness, free will, objective vs. subjective reality, global skepticism and answers to it, pleasure and pain, death, morality, idealism, and more! It’s a philosophically rigorous book and is on the longer end of the books on this list but it would be worth the effort for sure.

6. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

   C.S. Lewis took his life into his own hands during WWII and traveled from Oxford, which Hitler didn’t want to bomb, to London, which Hitler very much wanted to bomb, in order to give broadcast talks at BBC on Christianity. Lewis edited those talks and published them as Mere Christianity. It has become one of the most influential Christian books ever. While it is definitely a work of Christian apologetics, it’s also a book of Christian philosophy, delving into the nature of right and wrong, Christian ethics, a theory of virtues, and lots on the philosophical nature of the Trinity.

7. C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet

   Out of the Silent Planet is the first of C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy—his science fiction series. Lewis and Tolkien lamented the stated of science fiction during their own time and decided to write their own. They flipped a coin to see which one would write a space travel story and which would write a time travel story. Lewis ended up with the task of writing a space travel story and it turned out brilliant! This story is short and sweet but still delves into the nature of aliens, a theory of the cosmos, arguments against transhumanism, and an application of Plato’s tripartite division of the soul and the ideal society of Plato’s Republic—but on Mars. It’s a very good read with very intriguing philosophy, theology, and retro-futuristic adventure.

8. Frank Herbert, Dune

   Herbert wrote the best science fiction story we’ve seen yet. He took the best of Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and broad space opera to its culmination. There is no Star Wars without Dune. Herbert loads lots and lots of philosophy into Dune, both in aphorisms and epigraphs, and through the dialogue between characters. This is the longest book in the list but it’s fiction so it would be easier to read through than Nagel’s View from Nowhere. I’ve been obsessing over this book for a while now.

So, what do you think? Give me your top three from the list and tell me why you picked them. Definitely tell me why you picked your #1 pick at least! And leave me a like on here too. We’ll see if that helps push this post out to others to lure them into our read-alongs.

Find the discussion of chapters 7-12 of Miracles below: