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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

As we learned in one of our main references for this week's episode ("Alexander: God, King, Man" by Edmund Richardson) Alexander's campaigns may have led to the death of 1% of the world's population. (p. 8) www.bloomsbury.com/uk/alexander...

The cover of "Alexander: God, King, Man" by Edmund Richardson, published by Bloomsbury. Alexander rides his horse on a blue and yellow background.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

We're planning to see Nolan's Odyssey this coming weekend and are happy to see it as just one more bard's rendition of the story. Meanwhile, if you ask us which film version has moved us most to date? We liked The Return (2024), but really, there's no contest.

Tim Blake Nelson, George Clooney, and John Turturro sing in the recording studio in O Brother, Where Art Thou

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Reading the Nicomachean Ethics; can confirm.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Finally, William Blake, the English poet and mystic who produced many iterations of illustrations of the Book of Job over 40 years from 1780-1823. Blake identified with Job, and we also look at a paper which suggests Blake was at least in part working though ideas about friendship.

Painting of William Blake, a balding, sensitive-eyed man holding a pen

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Next is Franz Kafka’s The Trial (1925), which has a Job-like narrator trying to navigate an opaque justice system after he’s arrested for an unspecified crime. Kafka began to write it after breaking off his first engagement to Felice Bauer (pictured).

Exquisitely awkward engagement photo of Felice Bauer and Franz Kafka, c. 1914.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

First up is Carl Jung’s Answer to Job (1952), in which he tries to psychologically profile, uh, God.

Photo of Carl Jung. He is a guy who wears glasses and holds a pipe. He looks down as if deep in thought, or trying to figure out what he’s stepped in

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

NEW EPISODE! In part 2 of our exploration of the Book of Job, we examine three reactions to it… #booksky #podcasts

Detail from illustration 11 of William Blake’s engravings for the Book of Job, in which Job lies on his bed and is tormented by nightmares. God, with a surprisingly demonic aspect, looms over Job while flames, and demons, threaten Job from below.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Is it bad that Kafka is this relatable?

Screengrab of a tweet from Lalia Lailami, which shows a photo of a book that contains entries from Franz Kafka’s diary:

“ Whenever I have a bad writing day, I take a peek at Kafka's diary.
EXCERPTS FROM KAFKA'S DIARIES
281
JANUARY 20. The end of writing. When will it take me
up again?
JANUARY 29. Again tried to write, virtually useless.
JANUARY 30. The old incapacity. Interrupted my writing for barely ten days and already cast out. Once again prodigious efforts stand before me. You have to dive down, as it were, and sink more rapidly than that which sinks in advance of you.
FEBRUARY 7. Complete standstill. Unending torments.
MARcH 11. How time flies; another ten days and I have chieved nothing. It doesn't come off. A page now and then is successful, but I can't keep it up, the next day am powerless.
MARCH 13. [...] Lack of appetite, fear of getting ba te in the evening; but above all the thought that I wro

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Appearing shortly in your feeds, our newest episode on The Book of Job! One of the most unusual books of the Bible, Job tells the story of a man whose life is destroyed by God for a bet. #booksky #classicsky #ancientlit #podcasts open.spotify.com/show/47CAiko...

One of William Blake's engravings illustrating a scene from the Book of Job. Job, in sackcloth and ashes, looks to heaven in agony as his three friends point at him accusingly and his wife grumbles at him.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

UK readers can substitute "Wally" as appropriate.

Comic from SMBC in four panels. Panel one, just text: "Discovery: The Bible is way better if you add 'Waldo' to all 'where' questions."
Panel two, labeled "Genesis": Waldo (from the "Where's Waldo" books, in his trademark red-and-white striped top and beanie hat) stands on a promontory holding a shepherd's crook as God's voice booms from the heavens: "WHERE IS ABEL THY BROTHER, WALDO?".
Panel three, labeled "Psalms": Hecklers yell "WHERE IS THY GOD, WALDO?" at a very irritated-looking Waldo.
Panel four, labeled "Job": God-in-the-whirlwind asks "WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH, WALDO?" as Waldo, his face dotted with scabs, looks on in terror.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Last year's episodes on Plato were pretty exhausting but at least they reinforced the fact that political theorists make terrible political consultants.

Post by Twitter user Charlie (@civic_crab): "charlie @civic_crab
greek court: socrates you are on trial for Never Shutting The Fuck Up, how do you plead
socrates: not guilty, and here is a book's worth of speech to back it up. plato you gettin all this? plato, scribbling furiously: yeah man this is gold"

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Ep. 50: Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics Ep. 51: Aristotle and Alexander the Great (possibly just Alexander the Great; we'll see how this shapes up)

"Aristotle Tutoring Alexander" (1895), a black-and-white print by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. A soft and youthful-looking Alexander sits in a chair of state on a platform, leaning on his hand as he listens intently to his tutor Aristotle. There is a Grecian plumed helmet sitting on the ground near the platform to let you know this is one fighty boi. Aristotle sits on a low stool to the left of Alexander. He has a scroll in one hand and he gestures with the other as he speaks. He looks startlingly like the actor Jeremy Renner.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Ep. 48: The Tao Te Ching Ep. 49: The commodification of the Tao (Tao of Pooh, Tao of Business, etc.)

Painting of Lao Tau, Confucius, and Buddha by Ming-era Chinese artist Ding Yungpeng (1547-1628). Three men sit in apparent discussion or meditation in an outdoor setting. Buddha wears red robes, Confucius wears blue robes and his distinctive hat, Lao Tau wears yellow or perhaps light brown robes.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Coming up over the next few months on BoAT: Ep. 46: The Book of Job Ep. 47: Two reactions to Job: William Blake's engravings; parallels with Franz Kafka's The Trial

Image shows "Job Rebuked by His Friends", an engraving by the English artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827). It illustrates Job 12:4, "I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn." Job, bearded and wearing only a loose covering over his lower half, kneels at the left-hand side of the image, staring up to the sky in distress. He is covered with scales and boils. His wife kneels next to him, glaring at him. To the right of the image are three men, dressed in clean robes, pointing accusingly at Job in his despair.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Couldn't trace this back to a definitive creator, but: Epicurus all the way, bro

We apologise to people with screen readers: this is a flowchart aimed at answering the question "Which Greek Philosopher Are You?"
First question is: "Do you prefer the indoors or outdoors?" If you choose "indoors", the next question is "Do you feel disdain for the common man?" If Yes, you're Plato. If No, you're Aristotle.

If you reply "Outdoors", the follow-up is "Do you enjoy masturbating in public?" If yes, you're Diogenes. If no, the next question is, "Do you like crowds?" If yes, you're Socrates. If no, you are asked "Porch or garden?" If your reply is "Porch", you're Zeno; if it's "Garden", you're Epicurus.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

“I lost my earthly mother who gave me birth long ago,” Gandhi wrote, “but this eternal mother [the Gita] has completely filled her place by my side ever since. She has never changed, she has never failed. When I am in difficulty or distress, I seek refuge in her bosom.”

Black and white photo of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi, 1869–1948) taken by Margaret Bourke-White in 1946. With a spinning wheel in the foreground, Gandhi sits cross-legged on a mat, reading from a book. There's a pile of papers in his lap. He is dressed in a loin cloth, as was his habit later in his life, and wears his round glasses.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

New episode! The Ramayana is one of two great Sanskrit-language epics that were written down around 350 BCE (but likely composed much earlier for oral performance). Get stuck into a great big sprawling story featuring battles, magic, court intrigue, love, and one amazing monkey... #booksky

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

don't think it's the quantity of alpha that's unreal, here, Marc

screen grab of several tweets:
Marc Andreessen: "There is so much alpha in books from 1870 to 1930, it's unreal"
Reply, from Elon Musk: "For maximum alpha, complete with fighting for princesses, the Iliad. Penguin audiobook at 1.25x speed is best. It was meant to be a spoken, not written, story."

Musk also has attached a link. But it's to the Odyssey.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Hello! New episode on Plato and Socrates out this coming Sunday, Nov. 9th. We apologise for the extended break between episodes—in addition to handling family responsibilities, Rose has been preparing for her first guest-hosting stint! More on Sunday. Thanks for listening! #podcasts #booksky

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

dactylic hexameter gets everybody on the floor

Screengrab of a tumblr post by thoodleoo: “dude you should have been at the club last night it was insane. the dj was playing the lament and funeral of hector from the iliad and everyone was beating their breasts and tearing open their garments. at the end we all built up a funeral pyre in the middle of the dance floor and set it aflame. we were all feeling the inherent human connection through millennia old poetry, it was wild”

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

NEW EPISODE! #icymi, our second (of three) episodes on Plato's Republic dropped last night. It covers the back half of Republic, exploring Plato's theory of forms and the famous allegory of the cave. Available now wherever you get podcasts! #philosophy #booksky #podcasts

Photo of a masculine figure in silhouette standing at the opening of a cave. There is water on the floor of the cave which partially reflects him. Caption reads: EPISODE 40: Plato, The Republic, Part 2: Out of the Cave

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

NEW EPISODE! We continue our trilogy on Plato's Republic with an episode exploring the latter half of the work, which includes philosophical ideas like universal forms, the nature of knowledge, and the Good (capital G), as well as Plato's dissection of the five types of states... #booksky #podcasts

Diagram of the scene described in Plato's allegory of the cave, with a superimposed text bubble from one of the prisoners watching the shadows. He asks "chat is this real"

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

It . . . did not go well. If you're interested in this topic, read Romm's book! We will talk about it at the end of our next episode. In the meantime, we leave you with this excellent quote from Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy. #booksky #philosophy

Photo of a page of text, with a passage underlined in green pen: "It seems to us unwise to have insisted on teaching geometry to the younger Dionysus, tyrant of Syracuse, in order to make him a good king, but from Plato's point of view it was essential."

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

It's time to think about thinking, fam. The first of our three-episode series on Plato's Republic (c. 380 BCE) is in feeds now! This philosophical dialogue, which interrogates morality and the just society, is the founding document of Western political theory . . . #booksky #philosophy #podcasts

Photo illustration (not AI) of a bust of Socrates wearing green aviator sunglasses. Caption read: Episode 39 - Plato, The Republic, Part 1: The Education of Our Heroes

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Tomorrow! We begin a three! Episode! Journey! into Plato’s Republic, here accurately described by friend of the show Holly Wood (actual name), who has a Harvard PhD. #booksky #podcasts

Screengrab of a chat thread. Text reads: “ “Actually honestly thinking back on that book [plato’s Republic] is it not just a long podcast
Like they're just bitching at each other is justice a soup”

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Some Greek-ish mask details on the side of the convention center in Asbury Park, New Jersey. #classicseverywhere

An architectural ornament shaped like a Greek-style mask

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

NEW EPISODE! Produced in 405 BCE, just months before Athens' disastrous loss of the Peloponnesian War, Aristophanes' Frogs is a comedy about how important — and ridiculous — great art can be. #booksky #history

A painting of a scene from Frogs, in which Dionysus rows across a river harassed by frogs. Dionysus wears a wreath of grape leaves and an alarmed expression.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

NEW EPISODE! Euripides's plays, including The Trojan Women, include many complex and sympathetic female characters. In this episode, we use Euripides's interest in women as a jumping-off point to look at the real lives of women in Classical Athens during the 5th century BCE. Or at least, we try to.

Image of Ancient Greek women playing lyres together. Text reads: NEW EPISODE! Episode 36 - Euripides, The Trojan Women, Part 2: I Was One of Those Girls

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Our research assistant is not terribly good at research, but he does make it difficult for our host to leave her desk. #ProofOfCat

A devastatingly handsome tuxedo cat naps in a spiral on the floor between a desk and an office chair.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Euripides is often portrayed by historians as a bitter loner who was disappointed by his failure to win the Dionysia more than a few times. But he was very popular in his time nevertheless.

An ancient marble bust of the Athenian playwright Euripides, who has a downcast and shaggy look: long stringy hair, a puffy beard, a large long nose and deep-set eyes.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

NEW EPISODE! Our first official Sunday show introduces us to Euripides (c. 480–406 BCE), the youngest of the three Ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived to the present day. We summarize his 415 BCE play The Trojan Women in this episode . . . #booksky #podcasts #classics

A statue of Hecuba, the tragic queen of Troy, gazes down and out of the frame. Caption reads: Episode 35, Euripides, The Trojan Women Part 1 - This Counts as Music

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

SCHEDULE CHANGE! Our host's day job is asserting its needs once again. We'll be a day late in your feeds, but it'll be worth it. This one is a bit ranty. #cocaineisahellofadrug #booksky

Three woodcut portraits of Sigmund Freud, in various shades of yellow and blue, overlap on a white background. Caption reads: COMING FRIDAY, JUNE 13: Episode 34, Sophocles, Oedipus Rex part 2 - The Soil Your Father Sowed

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Coming Thursday: a very special episode of CSI: Thebes! Years after cracking the riddle of the Sphinx, forensic mastermind Oedipus comes out of retirement to solve a notorious cold case—the murder of his wife's first husband. What he discovers is SHOCKING.

Decorative image from a 5th-century BCE drinking cup showing Oedipus and the Sphinx. Oedipus sits on a stone at the left of the image in a hat and traveling cloak, one leg crossed over the other, hand under his chin as if pondering. The Sphinx - a creature with a woman's head, a lion's body, and an eagle's wings, glares down at him from a pillar, wondering what he'll taste like.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

New episode! This week, we look into how the Jesuits tried to convert China to Christianity and wound up starting a cultural exchange program instead. Learn how the Jesuits blinded the Chinese elite with science, and hit them with theology. And also failed to get them into harpsichord jams.

18th-century portrait of Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, S.J., a Jesuit priest from France who, among many other scholarly achievements, was the first person to translate Sun-Tzu's Art of War into a European language. He is an elderly man with a thin face, large, gentle eyes, and a long white beard. He wears the sober clothes of a Confucian scholar.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

A listener provided us with this image. We’ve been through Sun Tzu twice ahead of next week’s episode and have yet to find this quote. Maybe it’s a problem with our translation? #BookSky #Podcasts

Photo of a black t-shirt with a fake quote from Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War on it. Quote reads: “Every body is an atheist until they clog a toilet in someone else’s house.”

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Rose’s sinus cavities feel like they’re full of bees. Her vocal folds are caked with spackle and sand. Our next episode will release next week (17 April) instead of 10 April as scheduled. Apologies for the delay! Blame the stupid sexy trees.

Screengrab of the Met Office’s pollen forecast for the West Midlands, 7-11 April. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday all have Very High labels; Wednesday and Friday merely High. The culprits are birch and ash trees.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Hopalong, hoplites, to the second part of our summary of Herodotus's Histories. Books 6–9 cover all manner of battles, and while not as entertaining as the first half of the work, there are some incredible battles to cover. Plus, the real story of Pheidippides, the first "marathon" runner.

Detail from an 1859 painting, "Heroes of the Battle of Marathon" by Georges Rochegrosse: Athenian hoplites run toward the viewer, spears and shields raised. The painting depicts the bold charge by the Athenians against the vastly larger Persian force at Marathon in 490 BCE.

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Herodotus: Father of History and so much more.

a three-ring Venn diagram with the following labels:
lower right circle: GOSSIP QUEENS
lower left circle: MIDDLE-AGED DADS WITH A FAVORITE BATTLE
upper circle: INFRASTRUCTURE NERDS
at the center of all three circles: HERODOTUS

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

who would ever do such a thing 😬😬😬

Reductress meme. A young woman stands in front of a library shelf looking at the camera. Caption: “Nice! Woman Sets High Reading Goal to Make Even Her Hobbies Stress-Inducing”

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Fasting, abstaining from sex, risking the literal wrath of god - today's Method actors have nothing on the pioneers of ancient Athenian drama. Following on from our episode about Aeschylus's Oresteia, this episode offers an overview of Greek tragedy . . .

Picture of a weathered statue's hand holding a grotesque Greek tragedy mask: a contorted bearded man's face with a hollow, toothless mouth. Caption reads: "NEW EPISODE: Episode 27 - The Oresteia, Part 2: Deus Ex Machina."

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Books of All Time @booksofalltime.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Your Sunday scaries have nothing on Cassandra's: #booksky

Photo of a passage from Aeschylus's AGAMEMNON (Ted Hughes's version from 1999).

Cassandra, the doomed prophetess, is speaking her last lines before entering the house where she knows she will be murdered:
"This was life.
The luckiest hours
Like scribbles in chalk
On a slate in a classroom.
We stare
And try to understand them.
Then luck turns its back -
And everything's wiped out.
Joy was not less pathetic
Than the worst grief."

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