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

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kd3bC6

This link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission - at no additional cost to you.

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/

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kddt5e

This link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission - at no additional cost to you.

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/

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4aavP2l

This link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission - at no additional cost to you.

Buck's pampered life shatters as he's kidnapped and hurled into the frozen Yukon, where the wild's primal howl drowns out everything he knew. Join us on ReReadium as we rip into Jack London's heart-pounding classic, tracking Buck's feral transformation from lapdog to legend amid brutal blizzards and betrayals. It's a timeless gut-punch on instinct vs. society—think your daily grind against that inner urge to ditch the 9-to-5 and run wild. Crank it up, hit play, and feel the call yourself!

Additional sources for this episode:

• http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/JackLondon.html
• http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/gold2.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/gold/
• http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/exhibits/klondike/
• http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/ag.asp
• https://humansandnature.org/to-be-human-david-abram/
• https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=54511
• http://previous.focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2041.html
• https://yakutattlingittribe.org/2019/10/25/tongass-national-forest/
• https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/but-is-the-anthropocene.html
• https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/jack-londons-call-wild-nature-faker
• https://www.sierraclub.org/ https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/7112
• https://americanliterature.com/author/jack-london/short-story/a-relic-of-the-pliocene

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kcUtUs

This link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission - at no additional cost to you.

Catch-22 remains a timeless satire on the insanity of war and bureaucracy, where Yossarian's desperate fight for survival collides with a system designed to trap him. This ReReadium episode unravels Heller's darkly hilarious masterpiece, revealing why its absurd logic still mirrors today's endless red tape—from corporate boardrooms to viral government fails. Tune in for laughs, insights, and a reminder that some catches never change.

Additional sources for this episode:

• https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/01/31/kurt-vonnegut-joe-heller-having-enough/
• https://bookmarks.reviews/
• http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/15/home/heller-something.html
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/04/27/new-questions-dog-catch-22/21c2c1f7-dcfa-4e1c-bced-eba2fd3bdaa6/
• https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/08/heller-201108
• http://digitalreпpository.trincoll.edu/theses/279

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4a6N2tj

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez weaves a spellbinding tale of the Buendía family across seven generations in the mythical village of Macondo, blending magical realism with profound human truths.

Additional sources for this episode:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/literature/comments/1bxnhnx/100_years_of_solitude_liking_it_but_wondering_why/
• https://direct.mit.edu/ecps/article/9/2/254/126205/Ascent-to-glory-how-One-Hundred-Years-of-Solitude
• https://ijrjournal.com/index.php/ijr/article/view/1922
• Proceedings of the 2022 3rd International Conference on Mental Health, Education and Human Development (MHEHD 2022)
• https://anabaptistworld.org/una-sociedad-conflictiva-muestra-como-indicios-conflictos-de-valores-un-analisis-del-libro-cien-anos-de-soledad-de-gabriel-garcia-marquez/
• https://lithub.com/why-is-one-hundred-years-of-solitude-eternally-beloved/
• Journal Home Page Available: https://ijels.com/, Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijels, 3IJELS-2025, 10(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LOCfvZ

This link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission - at no additional cost to you.

Slaughterhouse 5 remains Vonnegut's timeless gut-punch on war's absurdity, following Billy Pilgrim as he's unstuck in time amid Dresden's firebombing and alien abductions. This episode unpacks its sci-fi satire, dark humor, and enduring mantra "So it goes"—a stark reminder that in 2026's endless conflicts, humanity still hasn't learned to stop the madness. Join us for a reread that transcends eras.

Additional sources for this episode:

• https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/slaughterhousefive/book-summary
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/slaughterhouse-five-analysis.html
• https://www.grin.com/document/267472?srsltid=AfmBOorKXN_vgkGoD8DBiAu-M841AsX0CXTcAbSVe9aqpZ9vbW2Kz5D2
• https://bookanalysis.com/kurt-vonnegut/slaughterhouse-five/
• https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Slaughterhouse-Five/
• https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184345/slaughterhouse-five-by-kurt-vonnegut/9780385333849/teachers-guide/
• https://crafterfox.eu/review-kurt-vonnegut-slaughterhouse-five/

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bz5lK5

In this episode, we’re talking about Dostoevsky’s The Idiot — a story that feels surprisingly modern for a 19th-century novel. Prince Myshkin shows up in a world driven by ego, greed, and power plays, trying to live with total honesty and kindness. Sound familiar? We explore how his struggle fits right into today’s age of social media, moral gray zones, and endless noise — and what it really means to stay good when the world calls you naïve.

Additional sources for this episode:

• https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-idiot/themes
• https://anunexpectedjournal.com/beauty-in-tragedy-the-idiot-dostoevsky-and-eucatastrophe/
• https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/idiot-analysis-major-characters
• https://hesse.projects.gss.ucsb.edu/works/idiot.pdf

Buy this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4asEazv

This link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission - at no additional cost to you.