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You Have To Make The Call (Podcast)
When you are leading, you have to make the big decisions. You have to make the call, not sit back, judge the prevailing winds, and cover your ass. If you are unwilling to put yourself on the line, you are a worthless leader and have no business being there. In this podcast, we discuss:
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The Wisdom Of Ibn Al-Muzarra
The writer and scholar Yamut Ibn Al-Muzarra’ (يموت ابن المزرع) was a native of Basra, Iraq. In the words of his biographer Ibn Khallikan, he was known as “an accomplished literary scholar, and well-versed in history.” His name (Yamut) was a source of some consternation for him as a young man, for it is the…
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On The Death Of Seneca
There is a preparatory plaster statue, very finely executed by Eduardo Barrón, on display at the Museo Nacional del Prado Museum in Madrid. It is called Nero and Seneca, and it was completed in 1904. Barrón never produced a final version in marble or bronze; and although it remains a preliminary study, it is a…
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Two Poems: “Sailing To Byzantium” And “The Lake Isle At Innisfree”
In this podcast, I read two short poems by William Butler Yeats: “Sailing to Byzantium” and “The Lake Isle at Innisfree.” Listen, relax, and let your mind roam to some other place.
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Sentinels Of The River Of Life
One of the myths associated with the foundation of Rome was that of the reconciliation between the Romans and the Sabines. This took place through the mediation of the Sabine women, who, after having been abducted by the Romans, grew tired of conflict and longed for peace. The kings of the two tribes—Romulus for the…
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The Brazilian Cat. A Tale Of Terror By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Podcast)
This podcast is a reading of A. Conan Doyle’s terrifying tale “The Brazilian Cat.” First published in 1898, the story describes the ordeal of a young heir to a fortune who is deliberately locked in a cage with a ferocious jungle cat by a sinister relative determined to murder him.
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The Roman Gestures Of The Clenched Thumb, And The Turned Down Thumb
The meaning of hand gestures may vary widely from culture to culture. In the modern West, approval is popularly expressed by the “thumbs up” sign, and disapproval by the downward turn of the thumb. These hand gestures even seem to be universal, at least in the modern era. But perhaps it was not always so. …
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The Flowering Of The Strange Orchid (Podcast)
In this podcast, I read H.G. Wells’s short story The Flowering of the Strange Orchid. It relates the weird tale of a mild-mannered orchid enthusiast who buys an unknown species of jungle orchid. As he cultivates it, he finds out that he got more than he bargained for. This story was first published in Pearson’s…
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The Meaning Of The Augury Of Safety
The Renaissance humanist Angelo Poliziano (1454—1494) composed a work called Miscellanies (Miscellaneorum Centuria Prima) that discussed various issues in classical literature, philology, and linguistics. Now while this sort of work may not suitable for every taste, it is certainly congenial to mine. What may be trifles to some, turn out to be treasure to others;…
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A Sudden Punch To Shatter Glacial Rigmarole (Podcast)
When things have reached a state of paralysis or gridlock, it is often necessary to shatter the paralysis by taking decisive, muscular action. Real leaders do not sit on their hands and wait to test the prevailing winds of opinion. Have the moral courage to act. Many today who call themselves “leaders” ignore or have…
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A Dog’s Heroism During The Wreck Of HMS “Harpooner”
Whether our canine friends risk themselves out of a conscious sense of duty, or whether they act out of blind instinct, is a question that dog lovers and animal behaviorists will endlessly debate. It is not an unimportant question. For if it is true that dogs may, under some circumstances, feel the pull of obligation,…
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“How To Drink” (Book Review)
It is often forgotten that Latin was a primary European language of education and literature until the late eighteenth century. University lectures were conducted in Latin; textbooks, treatises, doctoral dissertations, legal work, and government publications were composed in Latin; and scientific and religious tracts were written in Latin. There was a thriving vernacular literature in…
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The Diamond Maker (Podcast)
In this podcast, I read H.G. Wells’s short story The Diamond Maker. The tale raises questions about the price that creative people have to pay for their efforts. Have a listen, and see what you think.
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Some Observations On Responses To Disease Epidemics In The United States In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries
Disease epidemics are not new to the American scene. In fact, of all the historic threats to national and local security, they are the type with which we probably have the most experience. During the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, the United States faced and dealt with outbreaks of scarlet fever, yellow fever, cholera,…
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G Manifesto Tweet Reading: Lockdown Edition
You asked for it, and you got it. This is the latest installment in the G Manifesto tweet reading podcasts, and it’s called “Lockdown Edition.” Tune in, laugh, and catch the positive vibes.
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Even A Small Cave May Hold Calamities
The decrees of Fortune may be postponed, but they can never be vacated. He who imagines that he can avoid these rulings is like the man who exerts his limited control over a raft traveling on a swiftly-moving river; he may be able to organize the furnishings on his raft, but it is the river…
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The Six Most Important Leadership Principles (Podcast)
In this podcast, I state what I believe are the six most critical leadership traits that anyone in a position of authority needs to master. They can be applied to nearly any circumstance or situation.
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In Trying To Avoid One Harm, You May Cause A Worse One
Aesop tells the following tale called “The Son and the Painted Lion.” A fearful old man was worried about his robust son’s enthusiasm for hunting wild game. He imagined that the son’s courage might go too far, and result in serious bodily injury or death. So he did everything he could to shelter and sequester…
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Smoked Pork Neck Bones And Black Beans
I was in a grocery store the other day and saw a package of smoked pork neck bones. I don’t recall ever eating them before; but they were enticing, and I had a good intuition on how they might be prepared. Slow-cooked with spices and black beans, I thought, and they might evoke memories of…
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A Simple Dish With Pinto Beans And Chilies
I’m going to share an easy and satisfying recipe that I threw together yesterday. It doesn’t have a name, and I didn’t get it from any recipe book. I’ve been experimenting with this very useful Instant Pot pressure cooker lately, and thought readers might want to hear about this. If you don’t have one of…
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The Font Of Life And Leadership
How often do we really think about time, and our interactions with it? We know that Augustine of Hippo, in his Confessions (XI.20), expended significant effort on the nature of time, and its effect on human affairs. In his view it was not accurate to say, as we normally do, that the three “times” are…
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Captain Adolf Von Schell On Leadership And Composure In Adversity (Podcast)
Captain Adolf Von Schell was an infantry officer in the German Army during the First World War. In 1930 he gave a series of lectures on battle leadership to American officers at the Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia. These presentations were later collected into a book called Battle Leadership. In this podcast, I read…
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The Monkey Atop The Ship’s Mast, And How To Deal With Him
A nineteenth-century volume of nautical lore provides the following story of a strange incident at sea. In 1818 there was a ship—its name is not recorded by the tale’s author—on its homeward voyage from Jamaica to Whitehaven, England. One of the passengers was a young mother with her infant child, who was only several weeks…
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Special Kindle Discount Sale: Limited Time Only, From March 16 To March 19
In response to requests by students and instructors who want them for classroom use and recreational reading, Fortress of the Mind Publications will be offering, for a limited time only, a special discount sale on all of Quintus Curtius’s translations in Kindle format. All of them are fully annotated, with commentary and indices. They are…
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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