Books of Titans Podcast

For the next month or so, I’m going to highlight different early Greek Philosophers on the podcast and in my Substack articles. Last year, I started reading Plato’s dialogues and realized that I didn’t know the philosophers or their ideas that he was referencing. I stopped reading the dialogues in order to get to know these Greek Philosophers.
In this episode, I cover Heraclitus, a philosopher famous for his ideas on flux, fire, and the logos. While we don’t have his complete work On Nature, we do have fragments that provide an understanding of his main ideas. This will be a two-part episode with this first one focusing on the life and ideas of Heraclitus and the second one focusing on Heraclitus’ idea of the logos.
Here are the books I referenced for this podcast episode:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* Heraclitus Fragments - Translation by Brooks Haxton - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Heraclitean Fire - Erwin Chargaff - Book 20 in 2017
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogene Laertius - Vol 2 of Loeb.
* Major Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins - Oxford University Press


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I start each year reading straight through a different version of the Bible during January & February. This year, I selected the Intertextual Tanakh for the Five Books of Moses and the Early Prophets and used the Bibliotheca version for The Latter Prophets, The Writings, and The New Testament. In this episode, I share what stuck out this year over the 80 hours of reading through the Bible.


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Here’s episode 7 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the New Testament books of the Gospels, Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
Show Notes:
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark):


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Here’s episode 6 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the books of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
Show Notes:
Purchase The Intertextual Tanakh from Landmark Booksellers.
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark):


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe

This special mid-week episode is a deep dive into the musical Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera that reimagines the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a haunting, jazz-inflected underworld. Last week, I had the joy of playing violin in the on-stage band for a series of local youth-theater performances of Hadestown, and sharing the stage with my daughter made the entire experience unforgettable.
During preparation, I became captivated by the music, the storytelling, and the rich threads of Greek mythology woven throughout Hadestown. I also discovered that the show’s writer published a book, Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown, which opens a window into the creative process behind the musical.
In this episode, I explore:
* The Greek myths at the heart of Hadestown
* The subtle ways the musical reshapes and reimagines those myths
* The connection points between this story and narratives found in the Bible
This musical moved me in a way that very few others ever have.
Audio Recordings
Original Broadway Cast Recording
Spotify / Apple Music
Live from London
Spotify / Apple Music
This one is my personal favorite but it only contains about half of the songs. Hermes is played by a female and she just absolutely kills it. I love her passion.
Talking Hadestown: Commentary & Songs
Spotify / Apple Music
This is a neat recording where Anaïs Mitchell talks about some of the songs from Hadestown.
The Book
Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell
The Band


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe