Reading Recap: November 2025
Plato • Pre-Plato • 40 Years?
I set aside one post per month to highlight my reading life. Books of Titans is a reading project aimed at seeking the ancient paths by reading The Immortal Books by 200 authors chronologically over the next 15 40 years. Thank you for following my journey.
November Reading Recap
Plato & Pre-Plato
I faced a major decision for this reading project during November. When I set out to read The Great Books, I made a list of 200 authors and their works and figured it would take me 10 years to read through that list. I quickly realized I’d need more time and increased the project projection to 15 years. This past month, I increased that estimate to 40 years. Yes, 40 years.
The decision came down to two of the books shown above. I’m currently reading through the Complete Works of Plato in the edition edited by John M. Cooper. I’ve read nine dialogues by Plato so far. I began to realize something in these dialogues. Plato is often referencing earlier philosophers. He’s mentioning Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Heraclitus (just to name a few) and I didn’t know anything about their ideas.
I purchased three books in order to take a look at philosophers before Plato. They are called the Presocratics and the Sophists. And it was upon receiving those three books that I knew a major decision was before me. If I stopped reading Plato to read what came before Plato, it would derail my goal of reading through the 200 authors. I’d be diverting the plan to fill a knowledge gap. If I did it in this case, I’d do it in others. Since I have a lot of knowledge gaps to fill, I knew that decision would come close to tripling the amount of time required to complete the project.
I had already been diverting from the path quite a bit. I had planned to read a few tragedies by each Greek playwright, but ended up reading all of their surviving works. I had planned to read a few of Plato’s dialogues but decided to read all of them. These decisions were not very conducive to making it through these works in 15 years.
I’m 45 years old right now, so a 40 years reading project means this becomes a lifelong reading project if I’m fortunate with health. But it opens up opportunities for me to read the complete works by authors, to follow areas of interests, and to fill in gaps in knowledge.
So, I’m committed to the Immortal Books for the next 40 years, with many winding, adventurous paths along the way.
As for November, I read White Nights by Dostoevsky for the monthly reading group I lead. That book contained three short stories and I actually liked the first one, A Nasty Business, the best. After reading the Plato dialogue Parmenides, I began reading a book about Plato called Plato of Athens by Robin Waterfield and covered it in this episode of the podcast.
I then took the diversion mentioned above to begin reading a book about the philosophy of those who came before Plato called The First Philosophers. This collection is compiled and translated by Robin Waterfield. So far, I’ve made it through the portion about the Presocratics and will pick up with that book in March of next year when I start back in with The Immortal Books.
I also finished listening to the audiobook of Surrender by U2’s frontman Bono. I usually avoid audiobooks because I’m terrible at listening, but I’ve found that I really enjoy audiobooks about music. This book was wonderful. Bono is quite poetic in his writing and there were stories about songs that I will never forget. I wrote about one of those stories here.
December Reading Plan
Winter Break
I divide each reading year into semesters and breaks. I kick off the year reading the Bible during January and February. I then dedicate March - June to the Immortal Books and then take a Summer Break during July. August - November is back to the Immortal Books and December is Winter Break. I’m now in my Winter Break and these are books I’ve picked up during the year that I’d like to read. I’ll be reading these in order from top to bottom:
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books by Charles Dickens - I lead a monthly reading group called Short Great Books and Dickens’ beloved tale is our book for the month. We’re meeting in Franklin, TN on December 8th if you’d like to join.
Rhetorica Ad Herennium by Cicero - I’m doing some research into memory and this is a book suggested for that inquiry.
The Real Environmentalists by Jim Beach - Jim Beach had a huge impact on my life. He was my teacher of entrepreneurship during my graduate studies and I trace my current career path largely to his class. This book released this year.
The Last Economy by Emad Mostaque (eBook not pictured) - My friend Ben is quite prescient when it comes to societal and technological trends. He suggested this book to me and so I’m reading it.
The Secret Society of Success by Tim Schurrer - I met Tim a few months ago at a birthday party both of our children were attending. He told me about his book and I decided to read it.
Living the Braveheart Life by Randall Wallace - I met Randall at a TEDxNashville event in October and Braveheart is my favorite movie. I figured it was high time to read his book.
Maria’s Scarf by Zoro - Zoro lives right here in Franklin and I’ve gotten to know him at Landmark Booksellers over the past few months. He’s the drummer for Lenny Kravitz and this book contains his life story.
When Bad Things Happened To Bad People by Tim Storey (eBook not pictured) - Tim is a friend and a pastor in the United Kingdom. My wife and I visited him earlier this year and he mentioned the book he was writing. The premise sounds very interesting and so I’m going to give it a read.
Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music by (audiobook) - Charlie Peacock has produced artists such as Switchfoot and The Civil Wars and is my wife’s favorite music producer. We had him in at Landmark Booksellers last year and he’s a staple here in Nashville. I wanted to learn more about him and started this audiobook during Thanksgiving travels. It’s really interesting so far.
December Reading Group
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
If you’d like to join the December online reading group covering A Christmas Carol, please become a paid subscriber (as little as $5/month) to this Substack. I’ll be sending out a message this week to determine the best day/time next week to discuss this wonderful tale over Zoom.
November Bookish Adventures
I book author events at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin, TN, and we had quite the author lineup during November. One of my favorite events was with
around the release of his excellent new book The Idea Machine: How Books Built Our World and Shape Our Future. I was fortunate enough to read an advance copy of this book earlier this year and it is amazing. It’s a book about the book, the physical object we hold in our hands as we take in adventures, ideas, and knowledge. I learned so much in this book and I highly encourage you each to read it.
We also had musician Michael J. Tinker in from the U.K. It was delightful having a concert in the comfort of a bookstore.
Recently Acquired
I started a new feature of this newsletter last month where I highlight books I purchased during the previous month. I buy an absurd number of books and it’s fun to see what’s tickling my fancy. Here’s what I purchased during November:
Presocratics & Sophists - the top three books cover Greek philosophy from before Socrates and Plato. I found I had a huge gap in knowledge in what Plato was referring to in his dialogues, so I’m seeking to fill in that gap.
The Theology of Arithmetic by Iamblichus - this book is referenced in The First Philosophers and is translated by Robin Waterfield. It sounded too good to pass up.
Louis Markos Books - one of my main interests is how ancient literature connects to the Bible. I figured these three works would scratch that itch.
The Idea Machine by Joel J. Miller - I read an early ebook edition of this book but wanted to have a physical copy. I purchased a copy at the event we did with Joel and he signed & personalized it.
The Faerie Queene - I backed this three-book project on Kickstarter and received the set during November. It’s on my Immortal Books list, so I look forward to reading it.
Coming Up…
In the coming months, I’ll be…
Sharing my 2026 reading list.
Sharing the books for my monthly Short Great Books reading group (I’ll likely only continue this in person in 2026 and stop the online meeting due to low interest).
Recording a podcast episode covering all books read during 2025.
Recording a podcast episode about what’s ahead in 2026 and in the reading project.