The new Burning Archive essay podcast
I am starting a new podcast feature for you - a fortnightly audio-essay.
Every second Monday, I will bring you a slow, mellow reading of an important essay from history or literature.
Some will be by historians. Some by poets. Some by Westerners. Some from other intellectual traditions.
All will make you pause and think, and help you helps you make sense of the world.
This week I read for you: Isaiah Berlin, “On Political Judgment”
We all complain about the quality of our political leaders. They seem to have lost touch with reality.
But advice on how to fix the problem of political leadership is harder to find. What is the essential skill Western leaders need to regain a sense of reality, and be better leaders?
The great historian of ideas and political philosopher, Isaiah Berlin, proposed a solution. What can you learn from his 1996 essay, "On political judgment"?
You can read this essay in Isaiah Berlin, The Sense of Reality.
What can you expect from the podcast?
You may know that I have been experimenting with reading audiobooks on my YouTube channel. Much to my surprise listeners enjoyed this feature. Indeed, I started doing it for them.
The readings built from my initial Burning Archive podcast that I began in 2021. I am migrating the podcast to be delivered from Substack, so I can offer it as a bonus to you for joining the Burning Archive.
The full first episode is available for both free and paid subscribers.
From August 2024, the full reading will be available for paid subscribers.
Free subscribers will be able to listen to the opening segment.
Coming up in the next reading
Next fortnight’s reading will be another essay by Isaiah Berlin, “A sense of reality”. It really helps make sense of this crazy world.
Please enjoy this episode of the new Burning Archive podcast.
And please consider upgrading to become a paid subscriber so you can make sense of a crazy world with my carefully selected audio-essays from history.
Isaiah Berlin, On Political Judgment