Classics Considered

December 11, 2025

Year in Review + Reading Goals for 2026

Knowing how busy things would be, I did not make any goals for this past year, but reading was fruitful nonetheless. Perhaps because my reading was so sporadic, it ended up surprising me in huge ways. I found a new favourite author (Rilke), and the best book I read was a historical biography (The Glory Read more >>

8 comments on Year in Review + Reading Goals for 2026

history, Reading Goals
November 11, 2025

What I’m Reading (and More) – Autumn 2025 edition

I’ve experienced all other seasons in the UK before, but this is my first autumn. It is much like a Pacific Northwest fall—instead of a sharp change from summer to winter, summer fades very slowly, giving autumn plenty of time to look around before making itself at home. Bright greens fade to pastel yellows, then Read more >>

23 comments on What I’m Reading (and More) – Autumn 2025 edition

personal, What I’m Reading
October 7, 2025

Shackleton’s Endurance – Doomed from the Start?

Fascinating new insights on why the Endurance sank, with implications for Shackleton’s legacy: A broken rudder wasn’t what doomed the Endurance, new analysis suggests Shackleton blamed the sinking of the Endurance on the destruction of its rudder; for more than a century, historians accepted this explanation. Now, an analysis suggests that structural weakness caused the Read more >>

2 comments on Shackleton’s Endurance – Doomed from the Start?

ernest shackleton, history
October 5, 2025

The Duino Elegies – Through Christian Eyes

The Swan: Finding Rilke In this year of personal joy and public tragedy, a little poem called “The Swan” crossed my path. The Austrian poet Rainier Maria Rilke was not unknown to me by name, but it was the first time I had read anything of his. Geoffrey Lehmann’s translation (to be released in a Read more >>

2 comments on The Duino Elegies – Through Christian Eyes

Christianity, Rainer Maria Rilke, Soren Kierkegaard