You can find a complete listing of all the articles on this site here. They are listed in reverse chronological order, and are all clickable links. Twenty-five articles are displayed per page, with the publication date included. To find older articles, click on the page numbers at the bottom.
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“How Do I Transition From Youth To Middle Age?” (Podcast)
A reader emails me and asks for advice and guidance on how to navigate the passage from youth to middle age. But there are no magic answers, no magic wands. You have to keep moving forward, keep working on yourself, keep focusing on mind, body, and responsibilities. But I also detect some other things in…
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Arousing The Imagination
By what means can the imagination be activated? By what artifice may its secrets be coaxed to the surface of our consciousness, and made capable of articulation, as an enterprising fisherman might lure a rare specimen from deep waters to the surface? Are there tried techniques, or is it simply a matter of random inspiration? …
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“Should I Reopen A Closed Chapter?” (Podcast)
A reader reaches out to ask a question that’s been troubling him. He was recently re-contacted by an ex-girlfriend from several years ago. She appears to want to start over again with him, but he has his doubts and hesitations. Should he re-open this closed chapter of his life, or should he keep his distance? …
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The Anatomy Of The Scam
There has been a big surge in online scammery and con artistry in the past two years. Economic hardship and desperation have been contributing causes, but this kind of activity has been with us since the dawn of time. And con games will always be with us, because they are rooted in the timeless and…
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Betrayal Will Find Its Punishment
We will examine the consequences of treachery and betrayal. Zahir Al-Umar Al-Zaydani (ظاهر العمر الزيداني) was a charismatic regional potentate who managed to carve out a fiefdom for himself in Palestine during the waning centuries of the Ottoman empire. Born around 1690, he achieved ascendancy through the usual mix of piety, maneuvering, and ruthlessness; and…
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On The Right Delivery Of Advice
The best advice in the world will be of meager service if it is not conveyed in a way that enhances the likelihood of its acceptance. Knowledge is one thing, and communication of that knowledge is another. What is hard-won on the battlefield of experience may be dissipated in its conveyance to another. He who…
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If They Had Lived Up To The Responsibilities That Went With The Privileges (Podcast)
The distinguishing feature of our “leaders” today is their near total disregard for putting the mission ahead of themselves. They are unwilling to risk their careers to make the hard calls that would truly benefit society. And because of their moral cowardice, all of us suffer. We see this played out over and over. In…
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A Conversation With SolBrah (Podcast)
I had a fantastic conversation with SolBrah on his podcast show last night. He writes about fitness, health, and society in a very perceptive and up-to-date way. You can find his Twitter account here, and his podcast show here.
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Some Thoughts And Opinions On Investing
I’m certainly not a finance person. At least I don’t consider myself one. I am just a country lawyer. I have no magic formulas for anyone, unless common sense and my own experience can be considered a magic formula. I have no magic wands, no hidden secrets, no rabbits to pull out of a top…
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The Nutriment Of Hippocrates
The Ionian philosopher Heraclitus, who flourished around 500 B.C., was even in ancient times known for his obscurity and elusiveness. His well-deserved nickname was “The Obscure,” due to the fact that his elliptical sayings could be variously interpreted. Yet this was no impediment to his influence; his renown was considerable, and his fame rested on…
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Sometimes You Have To Make Allowances For People (Podcast)
Sometimes you have to accept the flaws and issues that people have, in order to accomplish the greater good. If you are in a leadership position, the priority is mission accomplishment. All else is secondary. Your people will not be flawless: some of them will have issues. If someone is a top performer, sometimes you…
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Interview At “Knowledge Without College” With Patrick Butler
Last week I had a great interview with Patrick Butler, whose fantastic “Knowledge Without College” series has the following mission statement:
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The Lack Of Thankfulness (Podcast)
There are many people who manifest a lack of thankfulness in their daily lives. This comes across not only in how they treat others, but in how they treat themselves. Lack of gratitude comes down to a failure of will: a failure to appreciate the real potential that lies within, and a failure to understand…
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The Mind Of Hippocrates
Thomas Kuhn, in his brilliant 1962 treatise on the structure of scientific revolutions, proposed that the advancement of knowledge takes place more often in periodic surges than through slow, incremental linearity. He proposed that progress can best be understood as a sequence of “paradigms;” in his view, a paradigm was a kind of general consensus…
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The Top 13 War Films
Someone on Twitter recently asked me to make a list of the top war films. The titles below are the result. I present them in no strict order, although I do believe the first five are superior to the remainder. There are a great number of war films, but my goal was to select the…
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Sometimes You Bite Off More Than You Can Chew (Podcast)
If you are out there pursuing your goals, overcoming obstacles, and blasting through barriers, there will be times when you take on more than you can handle. You will misjudge situations and, as the saying goes, will “bite off more than you can chew.” This is part of the growth process. This applies both professionally…
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Roman Surgical Extraction Of Projectiles In Ancient Combat
The most comprehensive treatise on Roman medicine that has survived is Celsus’s De Medicina (On Medicine), a work that fills eight carefully composed books written in a simple and elegant style. His full name was Aulus Cornelius Celsus, and appears to have flourished during the emperorship of Tiberius (A.D. 14—37). But beyond these bare bones…
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Max Hastings’s “The Korean War” (Review)
There are no “forgotten wars.” We may choose to talk about them, to write about them, or to learn from them. Or we may not. It is a question of what value we place on the lessons. Some eras, forged in strife and hardship, embrace history’s lessons, and consume narratives of past conflict with an…
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Some Recommended Books For Boys
In the past I’ve resisted the idea of making lists of recommended books. One gets the sense that the instant something is committed to a list, many will assume that the list is exclusive, and that other options should not be considered. There is also a personal feeling of distaste I have towards the “listicle”…
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Prisoner Of The Bolsheviks: The Ordeal Of Henry Pearson
The newspapers and magazines of previous eras provide us a window on the age. One gets a sense of the mood and odor of the times. Personal accounts are better still, especially when the writer has endured a direful or traumatic experience.
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Do The Job You Were Assigned To Do (Podcast)
When you are in a position of leadership or responsibility, you must carry out your duties. The mission comes first: you don’t have a choice. Too many people today want the benefits of being “in charge,” without being mindful of the responsibilities. Leadership carries many obligations, and some of them are not pleasant. But they…
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The Mystic Conviction Of Ibn Musaed
The mystic Yunus Ibn Yusuf Ibn Musaed was born around 1132 into the Mukharik family, of the tribe of Shaiban (بنو شيبان). The subdivisions of this tribe occupied an area called the Jazira, a region covering what is now eastern Syria and upper Mesopotamia. He would later found an order of dervishes that came to…
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The Top 11 Essays And Podcasts Of 2020 At Fortress Of The Mind
As 2020 staggers to a close, it is time to review the year’s eleven most viewed essays and podcasts here at Fortress of the Mind. The misery of the year’s events was in some way mitigated by its productivity in writing. I list them below, in descending order. Now would be a good opportunity to…
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J.M. Carpenter’s “Lives Of The Luminaries”
For the student of politics and public affairs, there are few fields so richly rewarding as study of historical figures. We find that the same circumstances, the same problems, and the same challenges present themselves again and again; and the solutions crafted in one era, even if not fully applicable to another, at least provide…
Original copy of Cicero’s De Officiis (On Duties) published in Holland in 1642. From the collection of Fortress of the Mind.
Quintus Curtius 
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