Henry Oliver is a writer, thinker and critic. He writes the popular literary Substack The Common Reader and his excellent 2024 book Second Act is a study of late-blooming talent. We discuss why the humanities matter, stoicism, separating great writing from the writer, routes to truth, and reading literature as a great way of thinking. Henry reads some poetry beautifully and I mangle some Chaucer.

Henry Oliver

The Common Reader

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