Arcane Book Club

In this episode we talked about the Cha Jing, or Classic of Tea by Lu Yu, written between 760 and 762 CE. While on its surface this is a book about how to make tea, its clear that there's more going on that Lu Yu isn't going to explicitly tell us. We also cover the Letter of Prester John, received by the Byzantine Emperor in 1165, from a fictional Christian king in a distant land. Who sent this to...

This episode focuses on Toki Pona: The Language of Good by Sonja Lang, a book detailing a constructed language with a very small amount of words. We go over its philosophy as well as its reception in the 25 years since the language was invented, as well as a discussion about the importance of a good translation. Additional reading: if you found this book interesting, you might also be interested i...

In this episode we read the 11th century grimoire known as the Picatrix or Ghayat-al-Hakim, a manual on how to create astrological talismans. In the process, we. talk about the philosophy and worldview this book has to share, as well as the flaws of a bad translator and the "Alchemy of the Soul".

This week we talk about the Chivalric Tale known as The Song of Roland, featuring Charlemagne, the first Crusade, a potential Iliad reference, and a long-lasting Medieval misunderstanding of Islam.

A discussion on Al-Khwarizmi's Al-Jabr, a foundational text about algebra written in the 800s, as well as a bit about our background and why we want to make this podcast.