Episode · Stuff You Should Know · 2025-05-15
Books mentioned on The Cliffs Notes on Cliffs Notes
When a man named Cliff packaged book summaries in yellow and black booklets he changed the way kids learned. But was he just creating a cheat code?
Josh Clark discussed The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Chuck Bryant discussed MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a classic American novel about a woman forced to wear a scarlet letter after committing adultery in a Puritan community.
Discussed“like if you went to read a book in high school in the 80s like the Scarlet Letter and you're like, 'Oh god, do I really have to read the Scarlet Letter?' You would go to a store and you would buy this uh yellow and black uh very thin pamphlet.”
Where to get it
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is an epic American novel that chronicles the obsessive, self-destructive quest of Captain Ahab to hunt down the giant white whale that maimed him.
Discussed“He is a Moby Dick afficionado and collects copies and versions of that and he said that is the best book of all time. He said it's not my favorite book. He said, 'It's the best book.' You mean The Scarlet Letter, the one with the Great White Whale?”
Where to get it
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Moby Dick
Moby Dick by Herman Melville is a classic 19th-century novel exploring the obsessions of Captain Ahab and the dramatic whaling voyage of the Pequod.
Discussed“He is a Moby Dick afficionado and collects copies and versions of that and he said that is the best book of all time.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“it's like if you went to read a book in high school in the 80s like the Scarlet Letter and you're like, "Oh god, do I really have to read the Scarlet Letter?"”