Person
Every book Thomas Chatterton Williams recommended on podcasts
Thomas Chatterton Williams frequently draws upon his intellectual upbringing and literary background when discussing influential books on podcasts such as The Daily Stoic. Reflecting on his youth, he recalled how his father used financial incentives to encourage him and his siblings to engage with early literature, including Aesop's Fables and Shirley Jackson's short story 'The Lottery,' which they would carefully review and discuss at the kitchen table. Williams also shared experiences from his formal education, noting that he fell in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' during high school, while finding Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' difficult to comprehend at that age. Among more advanced works, he described Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'The Brothers Karamazov' as an astonishing reading experience that served as a vital connection to the world while ultimately shattering his faith. Additionally, he noted that Daniel Frank and Aaron Segal's edition of Maimonides' 'Guide of the Perplexed' had an enormous impact on his father, with whom he frequently discussed the philosopher's ideas.
Books recommended by Thomas Chatterton Williams
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Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables is a classic collection of moral tales attributed to the ancient Greek storyteller, designed to impart enduring lessons through allegorical animal characters.
Discussed“and to pay us handsomely um for our age to to sit and and and study and to read Aesop's Fables when we were really young and then to get on to more sophisticated things later.”
Where to get it
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Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a bestselling epistolary book written as a letter from the author to his teenage son, exploring the reality of growing up Black in America.
Discussed“there's an astonishing kind of passage in Between the World and Me where he basically sees um a kind of caricature of an upper class or wealthy um Frenchman”
Where to get it
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F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
F.
Discussed“Well, the type of school that I went to, I mean, yeah, The Great Gatsby, I fell in love with in high school.”
Where to get it
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Guide for the Perplexed
Discussed“for my dad, like enormously impactful um books for him were like Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, which I have to admit I I I've I used to talk to him about Maimonides, but I never did actually read um Guide for the Perplexed.”
Where to get it
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Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed
Discussed“For my dad, like enormously impactful books for him were like Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, which I have to admit I used to talk to him about Maimonides and stuff, but I never actually read.”
Where to get it
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The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a profound philosophical novel that delves deeply into faith, doubt, morality, and free will through the tumultuous relationships of the Karamazov family.
Discussed“and then I read The Brothers Karamazov and it was just an astonishing reading experience for me and it kind of shattered my faith”
Where to get it
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The Children
The Children by David Halberstam is a historical examination of the civil rights movement focusing on the ordinary college students who spearheaded the pivotal sit-in protests.
Discussed“And I was reading lately, I've been reading David Halberstam's book, The Children, on the sit-in movement.”
Where to get it
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The Lottery
Shirley Jackson's chilling short story depicts a seemingly idyllic small town that annually conducts a brutal ritualistic stoning, exposing the dark side of blind tradition and conformity.
Discussed“my dad gave us uh Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, this short story about uh this public stoning, you know, that the whole town participates in.”
Where to get it
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The Story of Philosophy
The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant is a comprehensive survey of Western philosophy and the lives of its greatest thinkers.
Discussed“he came across um a copy of Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy.”
Where to get it
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Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a classic gothic novel exploring destructive passion, revenge, and obsession on the Yorkshire moors through the turbulent relationship of Heathcliff and Catherine.
Discussed“And it's very difficult for me to see, even as somebody who was coming from a house full of books, it was difficult for me to see why at that age I was reading Wuthering Heights, for example.”
Where to get it
Books Thomas Chatterton Williams wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Chatterton Williams on Practical Philosophy and Embracing Contradiction | The Daily Stoic | 2022-09-20 | 19 |
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And that's actually really um one of the main arguments in my in my second book, Self-Portrait in Black and White.”
“And that's actually really um one of the main arguments in my in my second book, Self-Portrait in Black and White.”
“And that's actually really one of the main arguments in my second book, Self-Portrait in Black and White.”