Constantine P. Cavafy — Poems as Teachers | Ep 3

A solid grasp of rhetoric—the art of persuasion—is a leg up in every aspect of your life. Whether you’re trying to get out of doing the dishes, admit a mistake without getting into trouble, or understand the true meaning behind a politician’s words, Thank You For Arguing provides smarter ways to argue and weigh others’ arguments.

Jay Heinrichs explains not only how to persuade people to do what you want, but also how to help opposing groups find common ground, get a bully to talk himself down, and spot the faulty logic others use to manipulate you.

In this guide, we’ll supplement Heinrichs’s ideas with the psychological reasoning behind persuasive tools and provide further suggestions on how to deal effectively with everyday arguments.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces explores the common themes and story elements that define the world’s mythologies—the hero’s journey. Through the cycle of initiation, separation, and return, the hero undergoes great trials and tribulations, experiences death and rebirth, and gains new powers that enable mankind’s ultimate redemption.

Far from being obsolete relics from long-extinguished civilizations, the myths of the ancients have profound lessons for today’s reader. By studying the struggles, transformations, and redemptions of the great heroes, we come closer to discovering the universal truths of the human condition and unlocking the divine potential that lies inside us all.

One of the most influential books of the last 50 years, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance demystifies the foundations of our modern ideas and values—and teaches us how to find fulfillment in any aspect of our lives. It combines a narrative of a father and son on a motorcycle journey across the country, along with philosophical musings on the human relationship with technology, metaphysics, and how to live a life of meaning.

In this summary, you’ll discover an intellectual thrill unlike any other: part family tragedy, part insightful meditation on the ways we think, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is nourishment for both heart and mind.

Orientalism is a study of the scholarly, intellectual, political, and ideological phenomenon known as Orientalism: the framework through which Western writers, policymakers, and the general public have interpreted and defined the Islamic societies of the Middle East as “the Orient.” Orientalism does not reflect objective truth about these societies or the people who live in them. Instead, it is an invention of the Western mind that posits a fundamentally different, exotic, dangerous, unchanging, and “other” East—an idea that was a major intellectual cornerstone of European imperialism and that continues to have profound implications on today’s geopolitical landscape.

How is it possible that defenders are responsible for most wars? Why is it a logical contradiction for military concerns to influence political policy? And why shouldn’t soldiers sleep in tents? We’ll answer these questions and more in our guide to On War.

On War is arguably the most influential Western treatise on the subject of war. In this guide, we’ll discuss Carl von Clausewitz’s philosophical ideas about war and walk through the chronology of a hypothetical war as we examine his tactical and strategic advice. We’ll also compare his advice to that of other military strategists, such as Sun Tzu, who wrote The Art of War (arguably the most influential Eastern treatise on war), and also consider non-military applications of some of his ideas.

In his 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus, French Algerian philosopher and journalist Albert Camus describes his philosophy of the absurd. The absurd is both a feeling and a condition of existence—it describes the irreparable tension between the human desire for meaning and purpose in life, and the inevitability of oblivion and death. Camus draws on existentialist theory to argue that humans are doomed to an absurd condition, and rather than denying this via religious belief or surrendering to it via suicide, you should continue to live and try to derive as much fulfillment as you can from your brief existence.

This guide will break down Camus’s theory of the absurd, which is built on the work of existentialist philosophers like Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche and writers such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Franz Kafka. We’ll also consider the historical context of Camus’s ideas, how absurdism has influenced other writers, and Camus’s 1942 novella The Stranger, which he intended to be read alongside The Myth of Sisyphus.

In the age of science, we’ve turned our backs on the myths our ancestors believed in. However, could it be that in giving up those stories, we’ve lost a crucial part of the human experience? In Maps of Meaning, Jordan Peterson argues that mythology provides a psychological tool that helps us create meaning in a chaotic world. Beneath their fanciful trappings, creation stories and heroic quests give us the moral foundations of society and the tools for adapting to life’s challenges. Perhaps even more importantly, myths teach us to recognize our individual capacity for good and evil.

In this guide, we’ll examine Peterson’s arguments on how myth affects the mind, mythology’s fundamental archetypes and stories, and how to apply the lessons of myth to live a more well-rounded life. We’ll also look at alternative interpretations of mythological stories, what science says about the intersection of myth and cognitive development, as well as how the symbols of myth have taken new form in the stories of today.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces explores the common themes and story elements that define the world’s mythologies—the hero’s journey. Through the cycle of initiation, separation, and return, the hero undergoes great trials and tribulations, experiences death and rebirth, and gains new powers that enable mankind’s ultimate redemption.

Far from being obsolete relics from long-extinguished civilizations, the myths of the ancients have profound lessons for today’s reader. By studying the struggles, transformations, and redemptions of the great heroes, we come closer to discovering the universal truths of the human condition and unlocking the divine potential that lies inside us all.

Do you want to learn to get more out of the novels you read? Are you interested in learning how authors communicate through literary devices like symbols, archetypes, and allusions?

How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a crash course in the art of reading intelligently. In this book, you’ll learn how to identify common literary conventions and gain the skills necessary to analyze them like a professor would. You’ll discover why Goose had to die in Top Gun and why sex scenes aren’t always about sex in literature.

In The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene asserts that whether you like it or not, you’re part of a never-ending game of power. You’re either striving for and wielding power, or you’re a pawn being played by someone more powerful than you. You choose your role.

This book is for those who prefer to be players rather than pawns. To turn you from an amateur into a master player, Greene has codified 48 laws of power based on historical examples of people who’ve excelled or failed at wielding power, with glorious or bloody results (or both). Some key principles you’ll learn: use your enemies, keep others dependent on you, say as little as possible, take credit for others’ work, and don’t get your hands dirty. You can choose to apply or dismiss these rules - but you can’t escape them.