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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Australia’s Owen Gun: A Great Achievement
Australia’s Owen sub-machine gun is one of the little-known weapons stories of the Second World War. But the more we look at this story, the more we are amazed by its details. It was produced solely in Australia, and used solely by the Australian military. It was probably the best sub-machine gun of its era,…
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Sunday Film Roundup (6/12/2016)
Fires On The Plain (1959) Director: Kon Ichikawa The year is 1945, and the setting is the (just barely) Japanese-occupied Philippines. Japan has been losing the war and its army has been reduced by lack of supplies and manpower. As things go from bad to worse, discipline breaks down too, and the army begins to…
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Get Moving And Stay Moving (Podcast)
A young man from Australia writes that he feels a general malaise and depression, and finds it difficult to get motivated. I offer some blunt talk to put things in perspective. I also provide some specific guidance on how he can break out of his old patterns.
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Intuition Or Deliberation? (Podcast)
A reader wants to know how reliable his intuition is. Should he rely on it, or should he instead fall back on his powers of rational analysis and deliberation? It’s a great question.
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Sunday Film Roundup (6/5/2016)
Yes, I’m aware that it’s not yet Sunday. But so what? Why wait a day? Here are some recommendations.
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How Can I Get Motivated? (Podcast)
A follower on Twitter says that he’s having some problems focusing on his studies. He wants to know how he can get more motivated, and keep his motivation.
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Sunday Film Roundup (5/29/2016)
Opinions are opinions, and here are a few of mine.
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The Three Rings
An interesting fable is found in one of the published lectures of the late historian J.B. Bury. Some investigation into its lineage shows that it is of very old date, and has appeared in various literary sources. One was Boccaccio’s Decameron; another was the medieval chronicle Gesta Romanorum; and yet another was from Lessing’s drama…
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How Should I Leave My Corporate Job? (Podcast)
An engineer wants to know the best way he should leave his high-paying but low-satisfaction job, and start his own business. Are some ways better than others? What considerations should he be thinking about?
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The Revenge Of Clovis
Clovis I was one of the three truly foundational figures in French history, along with Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. As king of the Franks–rex francorum–he was the first sovereign to bring all of the recalcitrant tribes of the region under one dynasty and one regal roof. He founded a new dynasty and ruled for thirty…
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How One Man Turned His Life Around
We read so many media stories about how we have to “accept” or “deal with” mediocrity, or even things worse than mediocrity. It has all become so routine as to pass almost without comment. But every now and then an inspiring story will get the attention that it deserves. [To read the rest of the…
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Sunday Film Roundup (5/22/2016)
This was a good week for movies. Here’s the latest word from the front.
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Some Practical Ways To Gain Leadership Experience
What are some ways that a person can get real-world leadership experience quickly? We discuss some options. I also give my thoughts on the four most important leadership traits and principles.
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Disaster At Hadrianople
The worst military defeat that Roman forces suffered after the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest in 9 A.D. was the disaster at Hadrianople in 378. Both of these crushing defeats occurred at the hands of Germanic tribes. In the former battle, the emperor Augustus was haunted by the loss of three entire legions in the…
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Towards A Definition Of Art
I was recently talking to James Seehafer, the originator of the art school known as massurrealism. Although I am only an amateur in this subject, I have found myself thinking more and more about what can be called “art,” and what should not. Are we to imagine–as many careless people nowadays do–that anyone can create any…
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Sunday Film Roundup (5/15/2016)
We now consider a few of the most recent films I’ve seen. I should have started doing this a while ago.
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The Inscrutable St. Patrick
The first modern, comprehensive biography of St. Patrick was written by the scholar J.B. Bury, who was a professor of history at Cambridge University for many years. As usual in a work by this great author, it is thoroughly sourced and documented, and yet retains a readability and freshness that makes it timeless. He relates…
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Francesco Guicciardini And The Realities Of Power
The current political crisis in Brazil sharply divides the opinions of those who are interested in such matters. To some, Dilma is more sinned against than sinning. In this view, she is the victim of a shadowy (possibly US-inspired) desire for “regime change light.” Journalist Pepe Escobar is an insistent exponent of this view.
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The Writer Lu Hsun Reflects On Death
Those acquainted with modern Chinese literature tell us that Lu Hsun (1881-1936) is one of its most towering figures. His stories are of the most intimate type: he chronicles his thoughts, feelings, and impressions in a free-flowing manner, unrestrained by convention or rule. He did not subscribe to any political affiliation, preferring to remain beholden…
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Mentorship, Progressive Blindness, And Finding The Good In Things (Podcast)
We deal with two questions in this podcast. A reader asks whether he needs a mentor to find success. In the second part of the podcast, we hear from the writer Jorge Luis Borges on how he triumphed over his blindness by creating a new reality for himself. He tells us how he was able…
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A Few Recent Movies
I watch a lot of movies. You’d be surprised at the ways that movies can generate new ideas in you, or take you in new directions. I haven’t written any film reviews in a while, so I thought this would be a good time to take a break from some of my more serious posts…
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The Art Of Consolation
There used to exist a literary genre called the consolatio, or consolatory essay. It is the type of thing that would be written by one person to another on the event of some terrible personal tragedy, such as the loss of a loved one. Sometimes (e.g., in the case of Boethius) the writer simply wrote…
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No One Can Be Assured Of Having Tomorrow
I have finally finished the complete translation of Cicero’s On Duties. It has been an exhausting, laborious, maddening, and joyous experience. There still remains a lot of work to do before it is finally ready for publication: revising, editing, adding more textual notes, indices, explanatory essays, and a few other things. But the end is…
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How Can I Improve My Test Scores? (Podcast)
One reader thinks his test scores in school could use some improvement. He sees some mediocre people getting good test results, and wants to know how he can improve this skill set. I offer some suggestions that apply not just to academic tests, but to other fields of life.
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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