J. R. R. Tolkien didn’t just write fantasy.

He rebuilt a moral universe.

A thread on what The Lord of the Rings is really about (you'll want to bookmark this): 🧵 Tolkien lived through both World Wars.

He saw the machine age rise from the ruins of Europe.

He didn’t write about dragons to escape reality.

He wrote them to show what the real world had lost... courage, friendship, and the sense that good and evil are real things.

The Count of Monte Cristo isn’t just a novel about revenge.

It’s a novel about what happens when a man is destroyed — and then remakes himself into something more than human.

The story is older than Dumas. It’s the story of death and resurrection... 🧵 Edmond Dantès starts as a young sailor with everything: love, friendship, a career, a future.

In one night, it’s all taken from him.

Betrayed, falsely imprisoned, buried alive in a fortress.

He descends into hell.

George Orwell wrote the most important sentences of the 20th century.

But before he wrote 1984 or Animal Farm, he lived a life harder than most of us can imagine.

The story of Orwell’s life (you'll want to bookmark this): 🧵 Orwell wasn’t born Orwell. His real name was Eric Arthur Blair.

He grew up in colonial India in 1903, son of a British official.

Later, his family moved to England. He was bright but poor, an outsider at elite schools.

Don Quixote is more than a novel. It’s a mirror.

It shows us the comedy of life, the tragedy of dreams, and the strange beauty of being human.

A thread on Don Quixote, the most important novel ever written (you'll want to bookmark this): 🧵 Cervantes wrote Don Quixote in 1605.

It was the birth of the modern novel.

Before it, books were myths, epics, or chronicles.

After it, books became about people... real, flawed, hilarious people.

Theodore Roosevelt, an obsessive reader, consumed thousands of books in his lifetime — sometimes reading 2–3 a day.

But there were 7 books he considered essential (that every man should read).

Teddy Roosevelt’s ultimate reading list... (bookmark this) 🧵 1. The Bible

Roosevelt treated the Bible less like a relic and more like a manual for living.

He drew from it for strength, for its moral clarity, and for the stories that shaped Western civilization.

To him, it was the ultimate anchor in a turbulent life.

Ever wonder why Tolkien made Sauron an eye?

It’s no mere fantasy symbol — it points to a Satanic evil

Here’s what the Eye really means, and why Sauron’s evil is worse than you think…🧵 Tolkien didn’t believe in absolute evil

But he said Sauron was as close as you could get to pure evil

To understand why, we have to look at his roots:

Sauron used to be good — an angel

C.S. Lewis was an atheist for 30 years

Finally, one conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien changed his mind

So what did Tolkien say?

Here’s what they discussed, and how it led to the conversion of the 20th century’s greatest theologian… 🧵 Lewis was a member of the “Lost Generation”

He served in, and was traumatized by, World War I

The horrors of war — along with modernist philosophy — made him an atheist

It was no simple-minded atheism either. Lewis was a genius…

Dostoevsky demolished Karl Marx in a single paragraph

In just a few lines, he dismantled Communism — and exposed the evil at its rotten core

Here’s what Dostoevsky wrote, and how it put Marx and Communism to shame…🧵 First, let’s recap Marx’s communism:

He called for the poor to overthrow the rich and seize the means of production

Why?

Because it would (in theory) create a utopian society, free of suffering

CS Lewis, Tolkien, and Chesterton were all inspired by one writer

His works shaped Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and countless other tales

Here’s the writer behind the writers

And his books that inspired the greatest thinkers of the 20th century…🧵 George Macdonald was a 19th century author

He was a pioneer of the fantasy genre, and a personal mentor to Lewis Caroll

On the surface, he wrote simple children stories

But his worlds were also imbued with a hidden genius

The Iliad is the most violent book you'll ever read.

Skulls shattered, eyes gouged, severed heads, in a brutally accurate reflection of war.

But it's also the most beautiful book you'll ever read.

Here's why it still matters, 2,700 years later... (thread) 🧵 The Iliad follows the Trojan War:

It begins with Paris (a Trojan Prince), kidnapping Helen (a married Greek)

He brings her home to Troy, and the Greeks pursue in a fury

What follows is 10 years of bloodshed and terror

A beautiful library is more than a room with books.

It’s a cathedral for the mind.

Here are some of the most stunning libraries ever built — and what they say about the people who built them: 1. The Austrian National Library – Vienna, Austria

Founded in 1368 by the Habsburgs, it became the Imperial Court Library under Emperor Charles VI.

The stunning Baroque State Hall was built between 1723–1726 by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and his son.