Confession: for a long time I never understood why Tolkien had to make up a language to go with The Lord of the Rings. It felt a little bit like trying to tell an adventure story while getting bogged down in the details of imaginary corn law. But when the Daily Wire asked me to invent a new language for the Pendragon series, I instantly understood Tolkien in a whole new way. So when a listener asked me to comment on the idea that world building essentially is language building, I was all in. Here's what I learned from my first time language building, or "conlanging."

Check out more behind-the-scenes footage from Daily Wire: https://x.com/dailywireplus/status/1717656941122461910

Order Osweald Bera: https://ancientlanguage.com/vergil-press/osweald-bera/

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Odysseus' journey isn't over when he reaches Ithaca's shores. It won't be fully over until he takes back his rightful place at the head of his household--but first, he has one last journey of self-discovery to make. With the help of his nursemaid Eurycleia, he has to learn at last that he's not just the person war has made him: he's also the person he left behind at home. At the end of all his wanderings, he returns at last to find himself.

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Check out iBreviary: https://www.ibreviary.org/en/

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Simon Netchev's Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home

My guest today is someone who I believe, without exaggeration, will help transform the way people learn ancient languages for years to come. While our institutional academies crumble, a new academy is quietly emerging in independent organizations like the Ancient Language Institute, and Colin Gorrie is one of its leading figures. His aspiration is to "bring linguistics out of the ivory tower," which he's done magnificently with his new book Osweald Bera, now available for pre-order. We talk about Tolkien, Beowulf, and the magic of learning ancient languages.

Pre-order Osweald Bera: https://ancientlanguage.com/vergil-press/osweald-bera/

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

We've met the ladies at the end of Odysseus' journey--though not, of course, the most important one. But now it's time for the main man to get re-acquainted with the fellas: his faithful wingman, his furry friend, and most of all, his long-lost son. In a moving series of reunion scenes, Odysseus learns that though he brought much of himself to war and back again, he also left much of himself at home--and the worst of his failures are not the last word. Plus: an update about the revival of higher ed at New College, Florida.

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Check out iBreviary: https://www.ibreviary.org/en/

Watch my conversation with Jordan Peterson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMRT2ZbXa2s

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Catch up on my livestream with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/new-livestream-october-7-6pm-et

Simon Netchev's Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home

If tomatoes are a fruit, why can't you put them in a fruit salad? Somewhat more importantly, did you know cashews aren't nuts? And most importantly of all, what does any of this have to do with the theory of translation? Today I'm responding to a question about the difference between technical, scientific terminology, and the words we use in everyday speech. Are these really the same language, even if they use the same vocabulary? The answer may surprise you, and affect the kinds of mixed nuts you serve at parties.

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Catch up on my livestream with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/new-livestream-october-7-6pm-et

We are truly on the home stretch now--folding up the frame story around Odysseus' adventures, we can see there are three women that walk beside him on his way back to Ithaca. Each of them, in her own way, must love him without holding on to him, as he goes through the painful process of recovering who he is after all the accretions of war and wandering have been stripped away. It's an epic drama but also, in some deeply essential way, the story of all of us.

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Check out iBreviary: https://www.ibreviary.org/en/

Watch my conversation with Jordan Peterson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMRT2ZbXa2s

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Catch up on my livestream with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/new-livestream-october-7-6pm-et

Simon Netchev's Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home

We're so back, folks--it's Words, Words, Words, our series on translation! Election or no, we stay translating Homer. This time I've taken one of the passages from our Odyssey walkthrough--the summoning of the dead in Book 11--and compared versions from the 1700s to today. What sorts of compromises do translators have to make, and how well have different translators (including me) made them? We'll answer those questions while reading Homer a bunch, which honestly is just always good for the soul.

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Catch up on my livestream with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/new-livestream-october-7-6pm-et

We're nearing the last leg of Odysseus' journey, and he's really caught between a rock and a hard place. Between the devil and the deep blue sea. Between...well, between Scylla and Charybdis. After a dramatic turning point among the dead, Odysseus is now faced with what he says is the saddest and most pitiable horror he has ever seen on all his suffering journeys across the sea. What is it--and would you have chosen differently?

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Catch up on my livestream with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/new-livestream-october-7-6pm-et

Simon Netchev's Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home

It's been just under a week since my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World was released. In that time, I've been privileged to have a whole array of wonderful conversations about the book and its themes. One of the most stimulating, wide-ranging, and enjoyable of those was with the UCSD physicist Brian Keating, who asked well-framed and fascinating questions about the reconciliation of science and faith.

If you haven't already, you really should subscribe to Dr. Keating's own podcast, Into the Impossible. It's consistently one of the best out there.

And if you order my book today (October 21), send me a screenshot of your order--I'll enter you to win one of five free signed bookplates.

If you've already got the book, please consider giving it a five-star review on Amazon. That makes a huge difference in spreading the word.

SIGNUPS OPEN: Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

I was startled when I walked into my living room today to find Andrew Klavan (no relation) sitting in my chair! But while he's in town I thought we might as well talk about his new book, A Woman Underground, the latest in the Cameron Winter series. It's a detective story that's at once gripping and intellectually fascinating, so we explored some of the influences and themes that make this book an essential read for our times. As it turns out, we've taken two very different approaches to one idea: materialism is in decline. So what comes next?

Read the new mystery, A Woman Underground: https://a.co/d/9qvGY33

SIGNUPS OPEN: Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

My book is out!! Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Catch up on my livestream with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/p/new-livestream-october-7-6pm-et

Simon Netchev's Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home