The Books We Read

The Books We Read

By Jaran Miller and Reagan SchrockArtsBooks
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The Books We Read episodes

  • Book Discussion of "Elon Musk" and "Out of the Silent Planet"

    C.S. Lewis and Elon Musk views of the universe and humanity differ widely, but we find both to be worth considering. We look at Musk's view of the world through Walter Isaacson's biography called "Elon Musk," and C.S. Lewis' through "Out of the Silent Planet.


    Elon Musk: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122765395-elon-musk

    Out of the Silent Planet: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25350.Out_of_the_Silent_Planet


    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.

    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.

    The music is from Blue Dot Sessions

    37 min
  • Book Discussion of "Live Not by Lies" and "12 Rules for Life"

    After Reagan says, “Can we get a little more nuanced?! Can we have a more interesting conversation than ‘the sky is falling!’ We’re not political commentators, because that would be boring and lame.” in response to Jaran's report on Rod Dreher’s "Live Not by Lies,” we muse on Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life,” prolonging our 35 perilous minutes of talking out loud about books by two controversial characters. In short, we’ll go so far as to recommend “12 Rules for Life,” but we think that “Live Not by Lies” is boring. 

    Live Not by Lies: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53438190-live-not-by-lies 

    12 Rules for Life: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30257963-12-rules-for-life 


    Find Reagan at ⁠reaganschrock.com⁠; subscribe to his newsletter at ⁠reaganschrock.substack.com⁠.

    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.

    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.

    The music at the beginning and the end is from Blue Dot Sessions. Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is a public domain recording.

    36 min
  • Book Discussion of "Man's Search for Meaning" and "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"

    “Buy a copy right now and go read it,” says Reagan about Frankl's “Man’s Search for Meaning.” After his enthusiastic review and recommendation, we morphed into a conversation about Douglas Adams’ "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” which questions man’s existance and proposes that it’s meaning is “42,” or something like that. Perhaps an epistemological dead end, but at least it has poetry.

    Man’s Search for Meaning: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning

    Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11.The_Hitchhiker_s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy

    Find Reagan at ⁠reaganschrock.com⁠; subscribe to his newsletter at ⁠reaganschrock.substack.com⁠.

    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.

    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.

    The music is from Blue Dot Sessions

    30 min
  • Book Discussion of "Moby-Dick" and "The Virtues of War"

    It turns out that the serpentine course of Ahab and Ishmael’s hunt for a whale illustrates "man's search for meaning in a world of deceptive appearances and fatal delusions.” Furthermore, Ishmael's taxonomy of whales merely demonstrates "the limitations of scientific knowledge and the impossibility of achieving certainty.” In other words, the book is too long for a good reason. Also, “The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great” by Steven Pressfield is really good.

    Moby-Dick or, The Whale: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153747.Moby_Dick_or_The_Whale

    The Virtues of War: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/73490691-the-virtues-of-war

    Find Reagan at reaganschrock.com; subscribe to his newsletter at reaganschrock.substack.com.

    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.

    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.

    The music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

    30 min
  • Book Discussion of "The Better Angels of Our Nature" and "The Patient Ferment of the Early Church"

    Jaran and Reagan are back to talk about Steven Pinker’s "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined" and Alan Kreider's "The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire." You might hear us being unsure what to do with the arguments in these books. We’d love to hear your thoughts.



    The Better Angels of Our Nature: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543093-the-better-angels-of-our-nature 


    Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead?: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29340854-do-humankind-s-best-days-lie-ahead


    The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26266696-the-patient-ferment-of-the-early-church


    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.


    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.


    The music is from Blue Dot Sessions

    32 min
  • 2022 Recap: 15 of Our Favorite Books That We Read Last Year

    We read many worthy books that didn't make it onto the podcast last year. This episode mentions 15 books that we love but didn't mention to you until now.


    Proper Confidence by Lesslie Newbigin - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/273775.Proper_Confidence 


    The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072.The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People 


    Peanut Butter and Dragon Wings by Sheri Zook https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56169056-peanut-butter-and-dragon-wings


    Doing Good Better by William MacAskill https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23398748-doing-good-better 


    Unapologetic by Francis Spufford https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15929332-unapologetic 


    So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13525945-so-good-they-can-t-ignore-you 


    Neither Complimentarian Nor Egalitarian by Michelle Lee-Barnwall https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26266693-neither-complementarian-nor-egalitarian 


    Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34536488-principles


    The Man Who Was Thursday by G K. Chesterton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184419.The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday 


    The Clock of the Long Now by Stewart Brand https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33279.Clock_of_the_Long_Now 


    Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death 


    Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning 


    The Platonic Tradition by Peter Kreeft https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30072433-the-platonic-tradition 


    Atheist Delusions by David Bentley Hart https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/863971.Atheist_Delusions 


    The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157466.The_Supper_of_the_Lamb 


    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.


    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.


    Blue Dot Sessions kindly provided the music in this episode.

    36 min
  • Book Discussion of "The Communist Manifesto" and "The Lessons of History"

    Jaran and Reagan are back to talk about Marx's "Communist Manifesto" and Will Durant's "The Lessons of History." We are interested in and somewhat skeptical of the Manifesto, but we're big fans of Durant's book.


    The Lessons of History: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174713.The_Lessons_of_History 


    The Communist Manifesto: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30474.The_Communist_Manifesto 


    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74450648-jaran-miller.


    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93683928-reagan-schrock.


    The music is from Blue Dot Sessions with the exception of Beethoven's 5th Symphony that shows up in the middle.

    31 min
  • Book Discussion of "That Hideous Strength"

    "That Hideous Strength" by C. S. Lewis is the topic of this episode. We compare "The Space Trilogy" to "Lord of the Rings" (the two trilogies aren't remotely the same), discuss the perils of seeking the inner circle, and jabber about numerous other issues surrounding the book.

    That Hideous Strength: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100933.That_Hideous_Strength. Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3S2uXSc

    Follow Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jaranmiller

    Follow Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/reaganschrock

    Reagan's website: https://reaganschrock.com/

    Reagan's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ReaganSchrock

    Rocket Sound Effect from Pixabay.

    The other music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

    25 min
  • Book Discussion of "Wild at Heart"

    Reagan and Jaran talk about a book that was all the rage during their childhoods, "Wild at Heart" by John Eldridge. We try to resist the fashionable move of critiquing this book, but we can't help but conclude, as Reagan said, "Oh boy. I think you might have taken this a little too far."

    26 min
  • Book Discussion of "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and "Digital Minimalism"

    Reagan talks about Cal Newport's "Digital Minimalism," and Jaran talks about "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. We resolve that both "doomscrolling" and "doomsday scrolling" aren't  good for us (nuclear war isn't either).

    Find our website: https://thebooksweread.info/

    Visit kingdomoutpost.org to find our friends’ podcasts.

    Find Jaran on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jaranmiller.

    Find Reagan on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/reaganschrock

    The music in this episode comes from Blue Dot Sessions.

    27 min

About The Books We Read

From the publisher's feed

Informal discussions about the books that Reagan Schrock and Jaran Miller have been reading.