Book · 2003 · Poetry
Paradise Lost
#186 of 13,362 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- mentions
- 17
- people
- 13
- podcasts
- 11
- episodes
- 16
- critical mentions
- 0
In the first year we had an excerpt from paradise lost it was one of the great epic similes in the very first book.
The best things said about it
In Milton's 'Paradise Lost', there have been two readings forever, and one is that Milton's Satan is an anti-hero of the most profound sort— really, the embodiment of evil.
Jordan Peterson The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast · Jul 2023 William Blake said of the greatest religious poem, I think, in the English language, Paradise Lost — said of John Milton roughly this.
It's uh you know the Paradise Lost uh you know the Satan character says it's better to rule in Hell than to or it's better to rule in Hell than to serve in heaven and that's kind of their mentality.
I believe it's the FBI who they're able to see who's been checking out books like Paradise Lost things connect to the seven deadly sins.
I can't read Milton you've confessed similarly I I've tried re-paradise lost can't do it I even have a book that he happened to have bought before he took the course called reading Paradise losses was to help you.
Paradise Lost is published under the censorious regime.
Ada Palmer Dwarkesh Podcast · Mar 2026 Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
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How it comes up
13 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
Paradise Lost by John Milton is an epic blank-verse poem published in the seventeenth century that recounts the biblical fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan. Rex Murphy recalled on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast how hearing an epic simile from the poem during his first year at university inspired him to visit the library and read the entire work. Ian Hutchinson jokingly referenced the poem on the Lex Fridman Podcast in response to a philosophical question about Adam and Eve. Other podcast hosts and guests discussed the classic work from various angles: Robert Evans noted on Behind the Bastards that Francis Galton recited Milton's verses to his family as a child, Chris Williamson referenced it on Modern Wisdom while discussing human bias toward innate goodness, Ada Palmer discussed its survival under historical censorship on the Dwarkesh Podcast, Tyler Cowen debated its literary standing on Conversations with Tyler, and Saagar Enjeti briefly mentioned it on Breaking Points.
Every mention
Rex Murphy in the first year we had an excerpt from paradise lost it was one of the great epic similes in the very fir… 2
Discussed
“you read milton to find out uh if he was treated his daughter's not this this miracle that we call paradise lost or samson agonisties”
Recommended
“in the first year we had an excerpt from paradise lost it was one of the great epic similes in the very first book”
Ian Hutchinson you're gonna have to read paradise last to get your answer to that 1
Recommended
“you're gonna have to read paradise last to get your answer to that”
Jordan Harbinger So there's a lot we can talk about in the book, which we'll link in the show notes. 1
Recommended
“So there's a lot we can talk about in the book, which we'll link in the show notes.”
Jordan Peterson In Milton's 'Paradise Lost', there have been two readings forever, and one is that Milton's Satan is an ant… 3
Discussed
“In Milton's 'Paradise Lost', there have been two readings forever, and one is that Milton's Satan is an anti-hero of the most profound sort— really, the embodiment of evil.”
Discussed
“the images of satan in paradise lost and in dante's inferno are unbelievably instructive”
Discussed
“and that's modeled after an illustration from paradise lost by gustav dore if i remember correctly”
Ada Palmer Paradise Lost is published under the censorious regime. 1
Discussed
“Paradise Lost is published under the censorious regime.”
Ben Bowlin I believe it's the FBI who they're able to see who's been checking out books like Paradise Lost things conn… 1
Discussed
“I believe it's the FBI who they're able to see who's been checking out books like Paradise Lost things connect to the seven deadly sins”
Cass Sunstein William Blake said of the greatest religious poem, I think, in the English language, Paradise Lost — said o… 1
Discussed
“William Blake said of the greatest religious poem, I think, in the English language, Paradise Lost — said of John Milton roughly this.”
Chris Williamson We are reluctant to accept that anyone, even [ __ ] Satan in Paradise Lost, is rotten all the way through. 1
Discussed
“We are reluctant to accept that anyone, even [ __ ] Satan in Paradise Lost, is rotten all the way through.”
Joel Berry it's uh you know the Paradise Lost uh you know the Satan character says it's better to rule in Hell than to… 1
Discussed
“it's uh you know the Paradise Lost uh you know the Satan character says it's better to rule in Hell than to or it's better to rule in Hell than to serve in heaven and that's kind of their mentality”
Michael Knowles Another one of your countrymen, John Milton, I think described this quite well in Paradise Lost where and a… 1
Discussed
“Another one of your countrymen, John Milton, I think described this quite well in Paradise Lost where and actually he described your your discussion of, you know, the guy who can't get his leg to work, right? He says, 'Well, I hate legs, you know, I don't want it.' When when Satan is cast down into hell, he says, 'Well,”
Russ Roberts I can't read Milton you've confessed similarly I I've tried re-paradise lost can't do it I even have a book… 1
Discussed
“I can't read Milton you've confessed similarly I I've tried re-paradise lost can't do it I even have a book that he happened to have bought before he took the course called reading Paradise losses was to help you”
Saagar Enjeti You read Milton's, you read Milton's Paradise Lost. 1
Discussed
“You read Milton's, you read Milton's Paradise Lost.”
Tyler Cowen COWEN: John Milton’s Paradise Lost—overrated or underrated? 1
Discussed
“COWEN: John Milton’s Paradise Lost—overrated or underrated?”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker1
Discussed
“Francis recalled performing Milton's paradise loss and Pope's translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey for his family and his autobiography, perhaps sensing that bragging about his tendency for spouting versus a child made him seem arrogant, Francis included this passage.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (7: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“Milton of Paradise Lost fame wrote our first big defense of the free press.”
Passing
“There's a funny example where someone used AI to rewrite Paradise Lost, a classic, you know, epic poem, and then they had AI judge the two, and one was slop, and it preferred the slop.”
Passing
“There's a funny example where someone used AI to rewrite Paradise Lost, a classic, you know, epic poem, and then they had AI judge the two...”
Passing
“And I even think it’s more interesting to suggest that right now they’re super buddy-buddy or whatever because just a few days ago, in Bob Woodward’s new book, Biden was bashing Obama, saying that it’s like his fault that Ukraine has been melting down.”
Passing
“Well right, I mean the prophet Ezekiel writes about it in the first chapter, wheels in the sky. Yeah, that's a crazy one, boy, when you read that. Well it is crazy, if you read it, it's like, oh wow, you know?”
Passing
“if you click on the men the naked men three or three years with the John Milton's Paradise Lost”
Passing
“this is probably aimed for people who were english majors and who were reading the great classics you know if you're reading paradise lost or the great place of shakespeare or middlemarch or ulysses you're overwhelmed”