The goal of podcast is to supplement your reading of War & Peace with a down-to-earth description of what is happening and to provide commentary as well as context. Most episodes summarize a chapter. Particularly complex chapters are divided into two episodes.

The episode descriptions can also assist readers with descriptions on how each chapter plays out. Each podcast is expected to come in under 10 minutes. A few may be a tad longer but 10 minutes is the goal.  Recitation (review) chapters and bonus episodes can be longer.

The episodes are something like summaries/Cliffnotes on a podcast, hence Podnotes. This introductory podcast provides some of the motivation for attempting this Herculean effort: namely, a belief that this fictional book that stands above all others. It is like the top part of the pyramid on the back of a dollar bill, somehow rising above and standing apart from all other fictional works.

This introduction also provides a quick background on Tolstoy and how his aristocratic background and military experience during the Crimean War informed War & Peace.