Book · 2003 · Poetry
Paradise Lost
#174 of 16,776 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- mentions
- 20
- people
- 15
- podcasts
- 13
- episodes
- 19
- critical mentions
- 0
We are reluctant to accept that anyone, even Satan in Paradise Lost, is rotten all the way through.
Chris Williamson · Modern Wisdom · May 2026 What they say about it
- Discusses Milton and Satan“Milton's Satan is an anti-hero”3
The best things said about it
You're gonna have to read Paradise Lost to get your answer to that.
In the first year we had an excerpt from Paradise Lost. It was one of the great epic similes in the very first book.
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 The images of Satan in Paradise Lost and in Dante's Inferno are unbelievably instructive.
Jordan Peterson The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast · Apr 2021 William Blake said of the greatest religious poem, I think, in the English language, Paradise Lost — said of John Milton roughly this.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
1
1
5
3
3
7
How it comes up
15 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost explores the fall of man, temptation, and the battle between good and evil. On The Jordan Harbinger Show, Jordan Harbinger told listeners that the book offered much to discuss and linked it in the show notes. Rex Murphy shared on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast that hearing an excerpt read aloud by a professor during his first year at Memorial University inspired him to 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. On Interesting Times, James Marriott recalled trying to speed-read the poem at university as an example of hubris. A host on Stuff You Should Know cited the work as an example of a good-versus-evil battle motif, while another host admitted he had never read it. Robert Evans brought up the epic on Behind the Bastards while discussing Francis Galton's childhood habit of reciting literature to his family. Chris Williamson referenced the poem on Modern Wisdom to illustrate human bias against believing anyone is entirely rotten, and Ada Palmer discussed its historical censorship on the Dwarkesh Podcast.
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.”
James Marriott One of my great my great hubistic moment at university was trying to speed read Paradise Lost, which is eve… 1
Discussed
“One of my great my great hubistic moment at university was trying to speed read Paradise Lost, which is even even even more mad.”
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”
Mia Wong Or as you know here's how Markx puts it labor with the same content can therefore be both productive and un… 1
Discussed
“Or as you know here's how Markx puts it labor with the same content can therefore be both productive and unproductive. Milton, for example, who did Paradise Lost, was an unproductive worker. In contrast to this, the writer who delivers hackwork for his publisher was a productive worker.”
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 speaker2
Discussed
“And this is when we see you know kind of what we would see later on which is metaphor for good versus evil in a big battle. So that's what William Blake's Paradise Lost is about. Right. I've never read it.”
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 (9: 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
“Garrison, I want to congratulate you here because for years, Sophie will back me up on this. I have been trying to work in Paradise Lost connections to Behind the Bastards.”
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”
Passing
“And as a boy his favorite books were Paradise Lost and Cain by Byron both of which were epics about heroes who rebel against God.”