Erik Rostad (Books of Titans)
@booksoftitans
Seeking the ancient paths and reading The Immortal Books by 200 authors chronologically over the next 15 years.
2025 is Year 8 of the Books of Titans reading project and Year 3 of reading through The Immortal Books: 2025 Reading List - books.booksoftitans.com/2025-reading-l… The Immortal Books - books.booksoftitans.com/immortal-books/ Join my Monthly Short Great Books Reading Group - books.booksoftitans.com/short-great-bo… Podcast -…
“After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own.” —Oscar Wilde, “The Critic as Artist”
Episode 256 is up. I just re-read The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time in 23 years. It has stuck with me over that time and in this episode I share my thoughts about this incredible and timely novel. booksoftitans.com/p/the-picture-…
Well guys, I didn't make the list.
Introducing TIME's list of the best podcasts of all time: 100 podcasts that shaped the genre and pushed it forward ti.me/451XhfW
I'm eagerly following AI technology that promises to decipher ancient texts or help scholars work their way through the myriad of tablets and scrolls. Here's a neat Google technology called Aeneas - deepmind.google/discover/blog/…
I’m returning to An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by @DAMendelsohnNYC. I started this book last month in preparation for an event with the author at Landmark Booksellers and Dr. Mendelsohn’s new translation of the Odyssey. I didn’t finish this book and am doing so now. It…
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Ivan Albright. He painted it between 1943 - 1944 and it now resides at The Art Institute of Chicago. It is so brutal.
Visiting a bookstore you’ve never been to has got to be one of the best feelings ever
Here's how I came up with my Immortal Books list of 200 authors I'll be reading chronologically over the next 15 years: booksoftitans.com/p/curating-the…
I love books 📚 But no, I don’t read all day Just one hour per day. Usually in the evening. You can read a lot of books over the course of a lifetime at just one hour per day. Consistency.
Here's my list of 200 Immortal Books authors I'm reading over the next 15 years in chronological order. I finished #17 / Xenophon last month and start with #18 / Plato in August - books.booksoftitans.com/immortal-books/
“For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its (the portrait’s) fairness. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience.”
Is it even possible to see this image and not immediately begin reading?
Details here - books.booksoftitans.com/short-great-bo…
If you are available Wed. evenings, then consider joining @booksoftitans online discussions!
Start your Great Books journey in Mesopotamia, or you'll miss the foundational narratives that inspired and contrasted with everything that came after.
Morning reading 📖: Book 22 - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Dorian has just made a Faustian bargain with a painting of himself where he will remain young while his portrait takes on his age. This book is so good in describing the philosophy of pleasure.
Nineveh was attacked in 612BC and a library built by King Ashurbanipal containing 30,000+ tablets was burned by the invading Babylonians & Medes. That fire actually preserved the clay tablets that now sit in the British Museum. Check out my latest podcast episode about this…
Started book 22 for the year this morning, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This is the book for July’s Short Great Books reading group (dm me if you’d like to join our Zoom call next Wednesday). I first read this book in August 2002 and it has stuck with me since then.…
