Join us as we revisit Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, a timeless satire where a shipwrecked explorer encounters bizarre worlds of tiny tyrants, giant kings, and warped societies. Swift's 1726 masterpiece skewers human folly with razor-sharp wit. In today's era of polarized politics, AI overlords, and surveillance states, these tales feel eerily prophetic—perfect for sparking debate over your next commute or coffee break.

Additional sources for this episode:

• https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/gullivers-travels-analysis-setting
• https://literariness.org/2025/05/04/analysis-of-jonathan-swifts-gullivers-travels/
• https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-vs-literature-an-examination-of-gullivers-travels/
• Essay on Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels by Vinay Rajoria

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In this episode, we dive into Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum — a novel that predicted the age of internet conspiracies long before social media even existed. Join us as we unravel Eco’s intricate web of secret societies, symbols, and scholarly obsession, discovering how a fictional “Plan” mirrors today’s hunger for hidden meaning in a world overloaded with information. Is truth still truth when the story sounds better? Let’s swing between reason and madness — one revelation at a time.

Additional sources for this episode:

• https://annabookbel.net/a-plan-for-jan-echoes-of-eco-ii-re-reading-foucaults-pendulum/
• https://literariness.org/2022/10/11/analysis-of-umberto-ecos-foucaults-pendulum/
• https://thetorogichronicles.com/2025/12/22/book-review-625-foucaults-pendulum/
• https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/foucaults-pendulum-and-other-prophetic-texts-september-2022/
• https://www.full-stop.net/2018/08/15/blog/cory-austin-knudson/qanons-pendulum-on-umberto-ecos-fiction-and-right-wing-conspiracism/
• https://renminds.org/2025/02/25/the-adaptable-educators-book-review-foucaults-pendulum-by-umberto-eco/

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Step into the mud-soaked hell of WWI with Erich Maria Remarque’s raw tale of shattered youth and senseless slaughter—where glory dies in rat-infested trenches amid endless artillery. This anti-war gut-punch feels timeless, mirroring today's drone wars and viral battlefield horrors that numb us on our feeds. Tune in for camaraderie, carnage, and a stark reminder: war devours generations, from 1918 to endless scrolls.

Additional sources for this episode:

• http://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/an-analysis-of-power-struggles-in-all-quiet-on-the-western-front-a-novel-by-erich-maria-remarque-qvoYsfnb
• https://www.ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2305475.pdf
• https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/all-quiet-western-front-stresses-futility-war
• https://literariness.org/2022/10/08/analysis-of-erich-maria-remarques-all-quiet-on-the-western-front/
• https://artsfuse.org/307511/book-review-all-quiet-on-the-western-front-diagnosing-the-illness-of-war/
• https://carnegiecouncil.org/media/series/ethics-on-film/all-quiet-western-front
• https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/10yt3so/netflixs_all_quiet_on_the_western_front_misses/
• https://publicseminar.org/essays/the-lesson-of-war-we-dont-learn/

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