In a world overflowing with information, opinions, and "hot takes," how do you separate the signal from the noise?

Welcome to Critical Thinking Week on the English Plus Podcast! We're dedicating an entire week to one of the most essential skills for modern life. Forget dry, academic lectures—we're giving you a fascinating and practical toolkit to help you think more clearly, confidently, and curiously.

Here’s a look at the massive week we have planned for you:

A 5-Part Podcast Series, "The Critical Thinking Renaissance": We'll start by defining what critical thinking really is, learn to spot logical fallacies in media and ads, uncover our own cognitive biases, and explore whether AI is a partner or an adversary in our quest for clarity.

In-Depth Articles & Interactive Quizzes: Head over to our website to explore the history of critical thinking from Socrates to today, learn how to raise a generation of critical thinkers, and discover why it's the single most valuable skill for your career and well-being. Then, test your new skills with our fun quizzes!

New "Thinking Out Loud" Episodes: Get personal with episodes on the liberating power of saying "I don't know," a satirical guide on "How to Be Right All the Time," and a story about the difficult process of changing a deeply held belief.

5 Themed Listening Comprehension Practices: Sharpen your English while learning about the Sherlock Holmes method of deduction, the tragic story of the Challenger disaster, and the powerful debate technique of "steel-manning."

By the end of this week, you'll feel better equipped to engage with the world around you. The journey starts now.

Follow us on your favorite podcast app to get every new episode, and visit our website to dive into all the articles and quizzes!

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

Ever finish a great book and immediately Google the author? There's a powerful reason for that. While some critics argue for "The Death of the Author," we believe a writer's life is the secret key that unlocks the deepest layers of their work.

Our latest article, "The Author's Shadow," explores how knowing an author's personal history—their struggles, their world, their loves and losses—can transform the reading experience into a dialogue with the past.

Find out why you can't truly understand The Lord of the Rings without knowing about Tolkien's time in the trenches of WWI. It's time to bring the author back to life.

Read the full story here: https://englishpluspodcast.com/the-authors-shadow-why-a-writers-life-unlocks-their-masterpieces/

#BookLovers #LiteraryCriticism #AuthorLife #Reading #Biography #Tolkien #VirginiaWoolf #JamesBaldwin

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

What do your earbuds, your tablet, and the submarine have in common? They were all dreamed up in the pages of a book long before they existed in reality. This episode is a journey into the profound power of the question, "Imagine what if." We'll explore how speculative fiction has served as the unofficial R&D department for humanity, inspiring everything from our gadgets to our social movements. More importantly, we'll talk about how to reclaim that "childlike" spark of imagination in our very adult lives—not as an escape, but as the ultimate tool for creative problem-solving and building a more magical future, starting today.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

This episode travels back to the dawn of writing in Mesopotamia. We explore the world's first known literary work, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and discuss how ancient civilizations in the Near East used cuneiform script not just for records, but to wrestle with the fundamental human questions of life, death, friendship, and the divine.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

Have you ever looked back on your life and tried to make sense of it, to connect the dots into a coherent story? In this episode, we're treating our lives as the ultimate literary works. We’ll unpack some philosophical ideas to explore one of the biggest human projects: finding meaning in life. Are we characters following a pre-written destiny, or are we the authors, wielding the pen of free will? How do we edit our own pasts? And how do we uncover the central theme of our own story? Get ready to look at the chapters of your life in a completely new light.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

What if the most important "novels" of our generation aren't books at all?

We're in a golden age of storytelling, but much of it isn't happening on the printed page. Our latest article, "Beyond the Bound Book," makes the case that prestige TV series, graphic novels, and even video games have earned a place in the literary conversation.

From the complex character studies in Breaking Bad to the heartbreaking narrative choices in The Last of Us, we explore how new media are tackling deep themes and pushing storytelling in exciting directions. It's time to expand the definition of literature.

Read the full argument here: https://englishpluspodcast.com/is-your-favorite-tv-show-literature-redefining-storytelling-in-the-21st-century/

#Storytelling #Literature #PopCulture #PrestigeTV #VideoGames #GraphicNovels #Art

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

We've all been there: you finish a book buzzing with thoughts, but when someone asks what you thought, you can only muster, "Uh... it was good." This language-focused episode is designed to change that forever. Danny provides a practical, non-academic toolkit of words and phrases to help you articulate your feelings and have richer, more engaging conversations about the stories you love.

This is your masterclass for your next book club meeting, your next chat with a friend, or even just for understanding your own reactions to a story on a deeper level.

In this episode, you'll get your toolkit for discussing:

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

Have you ever finished a book, closed the cover, and just… sat there, feeling like the world tilted slightly on its axis? You're not just processing the plot; the story is asking something of you. In this episode, we're diving deep into the practice of reflective reading. We'll move past "Did I like it?" to explore the powerful, sometimes uncomfortable, questions stories pose about our own lives, our morals, and our reality. What does a character's flaw reveal about your own? How does a fictional world expose the cracks in ours? This isn't about literary analysis; it's about letting stories become a catalyst for personal transformation.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

Have you ever felt that literature is an exclusive club with secret rules you don't understand? In this episode, Danny pulls back the curtain to reveal that you're already a member of the club—in fact, you're a natural storyteller. We'll demystify the art of narrative by breaking down the universal building blocks that appear in every story you've ever loved, from ancient myths to the latest Netflix blockbuster.

By the end of this episode, you'll see that the "rules" of literature aren't academic or arbitrary; they're hardwired into how we think, dream, and make sense of the world.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie and thought, "My life is so boring in comparison"? We’re here to challenge that. This episode is a deep dive into the profound idea that your stories matter, not despite their ordinary details, but because of them. We’ll explore how your unique perspective shapes your reality, why the most personal moments are the most universal, and how to start seeing your own life as the incredible, unwritten epic it truly is. This isn't about becoming a famous author; it's about becoming the honored author of you. Get ready to see yourself, and the world, a little differently.

To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don’t forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!