I migliori Reading Guide podcast (2026)

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Reach Out and Touch Faith. Week 40: Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Frederich Nietzsche 24:55

20h ago24:55

24:55

Week 40 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course brings together three demanding—and deeply philosophical—works: Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor, and Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. But before we get started, I offer a short primer on reading Russian lit. The names can be a real challe…

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Born in the U.S.A. Week 39: A Handful of 19th Century American Writers 32:55

8d ago32:55

32:55

Week 39 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course takes on nineteenth-century American literature—and to my surprise, it became one of the most enjoyable weeks so far. I went in dreading familiar names and old high-school resentments, but came out newly energized. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (chapters 1–6) was funny, humane, an…

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God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen. Bonus! Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol 13:17

15d ago13:17

13:17

We take a little break from our reading list this week for some holiday cheer: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens! I thought I knew this one inside out, which was ridiculous because I had never actually read it. (When will I learn?!) This is a punchy little novel, and you can read it aloud over the course of less than a week with your kids. I hop…

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Two Logical Guys. Week 38: Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty 23:51

22d ago23:51

23:51

Week 38 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course pairs two seemingly unrelated works: Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (chapters 1–4) and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. What initially felt random turned out to be an enlightening combination! Darwin’s early chapters focus not on sweeping conclusions but on careful observation—natural sele…

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You Can’t Hurry Love. Week 37: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice 27:02

29d ago27:02

27:02

Such a treat this week! My daughter Darcy is joining me to talk about one of her favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice. For me, after several weeks of dense reading, returning to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice felt like revisiting an old friend—but this time, the experience was unexpectedly conflicted. While I still admire the novel’s perfectly e…

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You Say You Want a Revolution? Week 36: The U.S. Constitution, The Communist Manifesto, and A Vindication of the Rights of Women 31:08

1M ago31:08

31:08

This week on Crack the Book, we dive into a fascinating mix of political and philosophical texts from Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities List: the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Communist Manifesto, and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women. I revisit the Declaration with fresh eyes—its sharp list of grie…

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When Poetry is the New Sensation. Week 35: Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, and the Romantic Poets 32:43

1M ago32:43

32:43

This week is all poetry—our first all-poetry week of the Immersive Humanities project! After struggling through young Werther, I decided I needed to step back and understand Romanticism as a movement. I offer a brief review of the history leading up to Romanticism; after all, most movements are reactions against what precedes them. The printing pre…

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Bizarre Love Triangle. Week 34: Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther 24:20

2M ago24:20

24:20

This week we leave the Middle Ages far behind and land squarely in the emotional whirlwind of Romanticism with Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. Written in 1774 when Goethe was just twenty-five, the novel became what might be the first true worldwide bestseller—so influential that young men across Europe dressed like Werther, and suicides even…

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Under Pressure. Week 33: Descartes' Discourse on the Method, Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Spinoza's Ethics. 30:45

2M ago30:45

30:45

Ted Gioia warned this would be a tough week—and he wasn’t kidding. Week 33 of the Immersive Humanities Project had me wrestling with three giants of philosophy: Descartes, Kant, and Spinoza. I started with Descartes’ Discourse on the Method, where his famous “I think, therefore I am” felt surprisingly direct and human. His four rules for reasoning—…

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Cultivate Your Garden. Week 32: Rousseau's Confessions and Voltaire's Candide 31:07

2M ago31:07

31:07

This week on Crack the Book, we move from Rousseau’s Social Contract to his Confessions, and let’s just say my opinion hasn’t improved. Before we get to the books, I share some strategies for getting through a book you don't like (because I needed to take my own advice this week). Then we move on to our two books for the week. In Confession's Book …

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When Reason Became Unreasonable. Week 31: Machievelli's The Prince and Rousseau's The Social Contract 33:48

2M ago33:48

33:48

This week on Crack the Book marks a jarring shift in tone — and in time. After months steeped in medieval imagination, we start there with Niccolò Machiavelli and end firmly in the Enlightenment with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Their works, The Prince (1513) and The Social Contract (1762), straddle that uneasy moment when faith and hierarchy gave way to…

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Wouldn't It Be Good (To Live in Their World?). Week 30: Cervantes' Don Quixote and Moliére's Tartuffe 32:49

3M ago32:49

32:49

This week we pair two early-modern comedies that show how laughter can reveal truth. But first, we do a quick review of European history, looking at France, Spain, Italy and England, trying to place the things we're reading inside history. (I knew next to nothing about Spain at this time so it was really helpful for me!) Cervantes’ Don Quixote (160…

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True Colors, Renaissance Artists. Week 29: Vasari's Lives of the Artists and Cellini's Autobiography 29:30

3M ago29:30

29:30

After three (very full!) weeks of Shakespeare, we reluctantly leave England for Italy—and step into the vivid world of Renaissance art. Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities List serves up a refreshing change of scene with Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists and Benvenuto Cellini’s Autobiography. Both were brand-new to me, and both were a delight. Vas…

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A Smooth Criminal, and a Great King. Week 28: Shakespeare's Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and Othello 31:06

3M ago31:06

31:06

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Fools for Love. Week 27: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest 27:47

3M ago27:47

27:47

Back with more Shakespeare! Before we get started with Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest, I share a little about my experience with Shakespeare before this project. In short, it was almost ZERO. I tell you this so you can have confidence as you start your own Shakespeare journey. I have been shocked, amazed and gratified …

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Fate Up Against Your Will. Week 26: Shakespeare's Hamlet, MacBeth and King Lear 38:46

4M ago38:46

38:46

After the last three weeks with Dante, we jump to another three-week series with Shakespeare and NINE plays! Shakespeare can be daunting, so I offer a few thoughts on how to approach him: Watch a movie FIRST Get a good edition (hello, Folger Shakespeare Library) Keep a one-line-per-scene summary as you read Enjoy!! It will get easier and the plays …

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Everything's going to be okay. Week 25 (2): Dante's Divine Comedy, Paradiso 41:54

4M ago41:54

41:54

Jack is back as we discuss Paradiso, Jack's favorite part of Dante's Divine Comedy. I absolutely love getting to chat with him again (see a couple of earlier episodes linked below). We talk about why he loves Dante in general, and Paradiso in particular. Highlights include: Dante's bravery (or chutzpah!) in writing his poetry and scholarly works in…

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Learning to Fly. Week 25 (1): Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatorio 32:10

4M ago32:10

32:10

My very dear friend Lisa Beerman joins me for this episode, and we talk all things Purgatory. Since we share a deep love for this book of the Divine Comedy she's our perfect companion for this part of the journey. We have a wide ranging conversation about translations, "ways in" to the Comedy, and the usefulness of Dante in everyday life. I hope yo…

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Brothers in Arms. Week 24: Dante's Divine Comedy, Inferno 32:02

4M ago32:02

32:02

This week it’s Dante, and it will be amazing. Full stop. Of all the classics you could read, The Divine Comedy may be one of the most intimidating, but it’s also one of the most necessary. In this episode I’ll break it down and share how to make the journey approachable. You can do this. We begin with Dante’s early autobiographical work, the Nuovo …

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The Halftime Report: What I've Learned About How to Read Classics (so far) 31:55

4M ago31:55

31:55

This week marks the halfway point in my year-long reading project through Ted Gioia’s *Immersive Humanities* list, and instead of turning to Dante just yet, I’m stopping to take stock. Call it my “halftime report.” When Gioia built his list, he gave himself some rules: keep each week under 250 pages, make it global not just Western, mix in art and …

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What is Love? Week 23: Abelard and Heloise, and Troubadour Poetry 35:12

5M ago35:12

35:12

How is this project different than reading books in school? Well, I'm going a lot faster, but it's more than that. I reflect a little on the differences to get us started. I'm grateful that reading on my own is giving me time to reflect on goodness and Beauty-with-a-capital-B. And did this week ever deliver on the Beauty! This week’s reading was th…

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I Ran (So Far Away). Week 22: Sundiata and The Mwindo Epic 28:00

5M ago28:00

28:00

This week’s stop on Ted Gioia’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities List took me to Africa for two epics: Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali and The Mwindo Epic. One was a pleasant surprise, the other… well, I’d like my hours back. Sundiata follows a young prince who can’t walk or talk, is exiled, then returns to save his homeland with his griot (advisor and …

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Avalon. Week 21: Canterbury Tales and Le Morte D'Arthur 35:38

5M ago35:38

35:38

This week on Crack the Book, we take a big leap forward—from Augustine’s Confessions in the ancient world to 14th-century England—with selections from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. No translation was needed, technically, but the Middle English still felt like a new language. Both were new to me, whic…

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Running up that Hill (to God). Week 20: The Confessions of St. Augustine 30:17

5M ago30:17

30:17

What happens when a brilliant young skeptic is prayed into faith by his mother? This week I finished Confessionsby St. Augustine. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but the first nine books were a revelation. Written around 400 A.D., Confessions traces Augustine’s path from pagan philosopher to Christian convert. His story is deeply personal, full of re…

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Eye of the Tiger, Heart of a Monk. Week 19: The Bhagavad Gita and the Rule of St. Benedict 34:19

6M ago34:19

34:19

This week I’m considering two spiritual classics from very different traditions: the Bhagavad Gita and the Rule of St. Benedict—well, sort of. Due to a packing mishap and a limited bookstore selection, I ended up reading Benedict’s Way, a modern commentary that includes excerpts from the Rule, rather than the Rule itself. Not ideal, but still worth…

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Rock the Casbah. Week 18: The Arabian Nights 17:32

6M ago17:32

17:32

This week’s reading was A Thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian Nights. The backstory (very, very briefly) was that a king, upon finding his queen to be unfaithful, executed her, and declared himself done with women, sort of. Every night, a new woman was brought to be his queen. Every morning he had his vizier execute the poor unfortun…

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I Get Knocked Down...and I Get Up Again. Week 17: The Golden Ass 28:59

6M ago28:59

28:59

This week, we take on Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, a hilarious surprise from Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course. Written in the mid-300s A.D., this is the very first Latin prose novel, penned by Algerian-born Apuleius. Lucius, our hero, is a young man who meddles in magic, transforms into a donkey, and embarks on wild adventures before returning …

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Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting. Week 16: Sun Tzu and Lao Tzu 33:23

6M ago33:23

33:23

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. Before we start, though, we talk about graduation speeches...and share the graduation speech we wish we'd heard. Next, we journey from Western literature back to ancient China to explore two timeless texts: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (c. 500 B.C.) and S…

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Don't Dream It's Over. Week 15: Boethius and The Consolation of Philosophy 30:39

7M ago30:39

30:39

Di Cheryl Drury

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Rome Where You Want To. Week 14: Ovid, Virgil, and More Roman Poets 31:11

7M ago31:11

31:11

In this episode of Crack the Book, we take a look at Week Fourteen of Ted Gioia’s Humanities Course, covering Virgil’s The Aeneid (Books 1–2), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book 1), and selections from The Portable Roman Reader. The focus is on key texts from Roman literature, their historical context, and their connections to earlier Greek works, providin…

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People are People, Faithful and Infidel. Week 13: The Koran and Rumi's Poems 26:54

7M ago26:54

26:54

The Honest Broker’s Humanities Course shifts to the Middle East and Persia, exploring the Quran (circa 800 A.D.) and the 13th-century poet Rumi, before returning to Rome next week. The reading, kept under 250 pages, includes 14 of the Quran’s 114 surahs (1-5, 12, 17, 18, 32, 36, 55, 67, 103, 112) and self-selected Rumi poems. New to both texts, I a…

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Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Week 12: Lives of the Caesars 33:58

7M ago33:58

33:58

Can you be scandalized by a 2000-year-old book? I think I was with Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars, a gripping, gossipy account of the first twelve Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Domitian. Written around 120 AD, Suetonius’ work (part of The Honest Broker’s “Humanities in 52 Weeks” list) blends history with salacious details, offering a vivid…

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Let It Be. Episode 11: The Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus 31:51

7M ago31:51

31:51

Episode Overview This week, I consider the Stoic philosophy of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and Epictetus’ Enchiridion, part of Ted Gioia’s Humanities List (link below!). Moving from Greek dramas to 2nd-century Roman Stoics, we first talk about the move from Greek lit to Roman, how the mindset and history will impact what we read. I cover Marcus Au…

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I Can See Clearly Now. Week 10: The Bible 34:27

8M ago34:27

34:27

Di Cheryl Drury

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It's the End of the World as We Know It. Week 9: Aeschylus, Eurpides, and Sophocles 35:38

8M ago35:38

35:38

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. Ted listed SIX Greek dramas for this week: Bacchae (Euripides), Lysistrata (Aristophanes), Agamemnon (Aeschylus), and the three Theban plays from Sophocles, Oedipus the King, Oedipus in Colonus and Antigone. We discuss how to read drama in general. …

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How to Weigh a Heart. Week 8: The Egyptian Book of the Dead 30:39

8M ago30:39

30:39

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. This week’s reading was the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Somehow I did not get Ted’s recommended translation by Susan Hollis. Instead, I had the gigantic and very, very beautiful reproduction of the complete Papyrus of Ani. This edition had a huge inf…

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The Monster Inside of You. Week 7: The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Dhammapada 25:56

8M ago25:56

25:56

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. This week I tackled the Epic of Gilgamesh and also The Dhammapada. Gilgamesh was written in approximately 2000 BC, the oldest known story in the world, and is about 1500 years older than anything I’ve read to date. The Dhammapada is the oldest writi…

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Are You a Lover or a Fighter? Week 6: Plato and Herodotus 38:15

9M ago38:15

38:15

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. An interesting combination this week. Ted Gioia, the creator of my reading list, called it “Love and War,” but it felt like a lot more than that. And last week, I called it a hodgepodge, but I can admit I was wrong. Plato’s Symposium is the third of…

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To Be a Friend, Read Aristotle. Week 5: Nicomachaen Ethics and Poetics. 33:18

9M ago33:18

33:18

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. Ethics is the most challenging reading I’ve done, possibly ever. I’m not sure if it’s because I am out of the habit of reading deeply, or my attention span rivals a gnat’s, or if this text is actually that hard, but I pushed through. After reading a…

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True Faith. Week 4: Confucius and The Analects 21:11

9M ago21:11

21:11

This week we travel to ancient China with The Analects of Confucius — a book that’s equal parts wisdom, discipline, and quiet rebellion. Like the New Order song, it’s all about finding true faith in a messy world: not religious faith, but faith in virtue, order, and the hope that we can still live rightly, one deliberate choice at a time. First, Th…

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Talk Talk...with Jack! Week 3: Homer's Odyssey 33:58

9M ago33:58

33:58

I'm reading Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. We continue with the Odyssey this week. I'm joined this week by my son Jack Drury. Jack is pursuing a Masters in Classics at the University of Chicago, so we are on familiar ground for him here. I'm a beginner at reading the classics, but I've decided to just "crack …

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Don't Stop Believin'. Week 2: Getting Started with The Odyssey 28:26

10M ago28:26

28:26

I'm reading Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. Week 2 starts with Greek Poetry, and then we start Homer and The Odyssey. What a great week! I'm a beginner at reading the classics, but I've decided to just "crack the book" and get started. Here are a few of my key take-aways from this week: The surviving Greek Lyr…

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Don't Fear the Reaper. Week 1: Plato's Republic and The Last Days of Socrates 31:44

10M ago31:44

31:44

I'm reading Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics. We start with Plato! The Last Days of Socrates and excerpts from The Republic. I'm a beginner at reading the classics, but I've decided to just "crack the book" and get started. Here are a few of my key take-aways from Plato: Human nature just doesn’t change. The dis…

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Crack The Book Trailer 1:36

10M ago1:36

1:36

A NEW ADVENTURE. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the thought of diving into those classic books you feel like you should have read by now, but don’t know where to start, Crack The Book is for you. I’m your host, Cheryl. I stumbled upon a list of classic books and realized how much I’d missed. I wanted to understand these stories and ideas and di…

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How To Buy A Boat (And Why You Need A Broker) [REPLAY] 34:03

11M ago34:03

34:03

While we take a little break, enjoy this episode from last year. We interviewed our boat broker Michal Bach and learned a lot. If you enjoyed this interview, check out some of our other guests: JB Turner on August 6, 2024, Kate Seremeth on September 10, 2024, and Ali Hasell on November 26, 2024. Buying a boat is easier said than done. And finding t…

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22. Overwhelmed and Undervalued: Mental Health Struggles in Teaching 24:36

11M ago24:36

24:36

If you’re a teacher, you probably know the feeling of juggling too many things all at once, taking care of all the people around you. But how often do you stop to check in with yourself? Today we’re diving into a topic that’s not talked about enough, especially in education. It’s something that impacts each one of us every day—mental health. I’ll s…

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The Secrets of Cooking on a Private Yacht with Vanessa Verster [REPLAY] 34:52

11M ago34:52

34:52

While we take a little break, enjoy this episode from last year with our chef Vanessa! And if you enjoyed this episode, she also shares life at a charter yacht show. Check out that episode from November 19, 2024. Are you feeling hungry? You will be after listening to this episode! Vanessa Verster, our chef on board our sailboat, Abide (and Roland’s…

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Our Intrepid Captain’s Story: Part 1 [REPLAY] 31:28

11M ago31:28

31:28

While we take a little break, enjoy this episode from last year. And to continue to part 2, check out the episode from July 2, 2024. We love a challenge. And this story is all about jumping in head first. In episode one I uncovered the story of how our adventure began, from the first time Bill and I went sailing, to coming to own a 136-foot sailboa…

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A New Adventure - What’s Next For The Podcast… 9:15

11M ago9:15

9:15

I’m making some changes to Adventure On Deck. Over the past year, this podcast has been a space to share stories of adventure, discovery, and our life aboard Abide. And I thank you so much for being a part of this with me. But as all great stories must, this chapter has come to a natural close, now that we’ve told the refit story. During our advent…

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5 Lessons From The Odyssey For Modern-Day Adventurers 20:08

12M ago20:08

20:08

Have you ever read a book that feels like it was written for the exact moment you’re living? That’s how I felt when I read Homer’s Odyssey during our last trip to St. Thomas this year. The story of the epic, 20-year journey home has stuck with me, and I couldn’t help but see the parallels to our adventures aboard Abide. That’s why in this episode, …

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