I recently had a great podcast with scholar and historian Dr. Michael Bonner, who can be found on X (formerly known as Twitter) by clicking here.
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Podcast With The Bonner Report
“Oppenheimer”: A Movie Review (Podcast)
In this podcast, we discuss Christopher Nolan’s masterful Oppenheimer (2023), and explore its strengths and minor flaws. As a character study, the film is highly instructive; it paints a picture of a brilliant man who failed to appreciate the role of emotions and personalities in human affairs, a fact which caused him to fall victim to his hubris and naivete.
Continue readingThe Chessboard Of Sissah
Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary contains an entry (III.68) for one Abu Bakr Al Suli, who is described as an accomplished scholar, biographer, and enthusiast of the game of chess. He was so good at this game, we are told, that his name entered the roll of Arabic proverbs in the saying, “He plays chess like Al Suli.”
Continue readingThe Torrent Does Not Precede The Rain
The noted jurisprudent, polymath, political scientist, and theologian Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib (علي إبن محمد إبن حبيب) was a native of Basra, Iraq, and lived from about A.D. 974 to 1058. He is more commonly known by the name Al-Mawardi (الماوردي).
Continue readingA Pig Cannot Teach Minerva
There is a saying referenced in Cicero’s Academica (I.5) that touches on our practical inability to give instruction to power. The reference is as follows:
Continue readingThe Past Never Leaves Us
Ambrose Bierce remains the only major writer who actually experienced, and survived, combat in the American Civil War. Henry James and Mark Twain chose to sit out the war. Twain’s actions in particular look very much like the behavior of a deserter. Walt Whitman served as a nurse, but he did not fight.
Continue readingThe Mysterious Onager Of Bahram Gur
An enigmatic story is contained in Ibn Khallikan’s biographical summary of the life of the seventh century Basran poet Ibn Mufarrigh. The story is one of the few times that the biographer, speaking of himself in the first person, relates an incident connected with his own life.
Continue readingThorinquiry: A Conversation With Thorin On Current Events, Movies, And Culture (Podcast)
I had a great conversation recently with Thorin (Twitter: @Thorin). This is a must-listen podcast.
Continue readingService Is Our Purpose (Podcast)
Service to others is what gives life meaning. We were put on this Earth to contribute, to share, and to pass on what we know for the benefit of mankind. Every person has an instinctive, fundamental desire to teach and help others, and we should develop this instinct. Doing this will contribute to the positive energy in the world, and will come back to us in unexpected ways.
Continue readingWe Must Be Bold In All Our Designs
We will relate two anecdotes that appear in the historian Polyaenus’s Stratagems (V.14—V.15). There once was a young man named Thrasymedes who fell in love with the daughter of Peisistratus, an ancient tyrant of Athens. One day, as the girl was walking in an official processing through the streets of the city, Thrasymedes boldly approached her and attempted to engage her in conversation.
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Quintus Curtius 
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