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A podcast about books

Worker & Parasite

A fortnightly podcast on which Stably and I take a single book—philosophy, history, politics, fiction—and use it to think aloud about power, belief, and human nature. Recurring themes include modernity’s costs, institutional decay, post-religious belief, mass psychology, and decline without collapse.

Cover of Buddha's Little Finger

Latest · No. 113 · Sep 25, 2026 · 50 min

Buddha's Little Finger

by Victor Pelevin

In this episode Jerry and Stably discussed Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin. The hosts explored this postmodern Russian novel that weaves together multiple narrative threads across different time periods and realities.

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The Shelf

113 books since September 2020

  1. 113 Buddha's Little Finger Victor Pelevin Sep 25, 2026
  2. 112 Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong J.L. Mackie Sep 10, 2026
  3. 111 The Great Leveler Walter Scheidel Aug 11, 2026
  4. 110 The God Test Robert Wright Jul 16, 2026
  5. 109 Addiction by Design Natasha Dow Schull Jul 2, 2026
  6. 108 The Special One Diego Torres Jun 16, 2026
  7. 107 Homo Ludens Johan Huizinga Jun 2, 2026
  8. 106 Ride the Tiger Julius Evola Apr 20, 2026
  9. 105 Leap of Faith Michael J. Mazarr Mar 24, 2026
  10. 104 The Digital Reversal Andrey Mir Mar 10, 2026
  11. 103 On Photography Susan Sontag Feb 25, 2026
  12. 102 On the Suffering of the World Arthur Schopenhauer Jan 27, 2026
  13. 101 The Return of the Common Good Stefan Borg Dec 30, 2025
  14. 100 The Human Stain Philip Roth Dec 8, 2025
  15. 99 Days of Rage Bryan Burrough Nov 6, 2025
  16. 98 The Invention of Good and Evil Hanno Sauer Oct 15, 2025
  17. 97 Total Defense Andrew Preston Sep 18, 2025
  18. 96 The Dorito Effect Mark Schatzker Aug 14, 2025
  19. 95 Why Nothing Works Marc J. Dunkelman Jul 17, 2025
  20. 94 The Cynic Philosophers: From Diogenes to Julian Jun 5, 2025
  21. 93 The Unaccountability Machine Dan Davies May 18, 2025
  22. 92 The Art of Happiness Epicurus May 4, 2025
  23. 91 Huey Long T. Harry Williams (Part 2) Apr 17, 2025
  24. 90 Huey Long T. Harry Williams (Part 1) Mar 15, 2025
  25. 89 A Generation of Sociopaths Bruce Cannon Gibney Feb 18, 2025
  26. 88 Kaiser! Rob Smyth Jan 28, 2025
  27. 87 Fat Leonard Craig Whitlock Jan 17, 2025
  28. 86 Heart of a Dog Mikhail Bulgakov Jan 2, 2025
  29. 85 The Image Daniel J. Boorstin Dec 17, 2024
  30. 84 The Theological Origins of Modernity Michael Allen Gillespie Nov 24, 2024
  31. 83 The Prophets of Doom Neema Parvini Nov 7, 2024
  32. 82 What Went Wrong with Capitalism Ruchir Sharma Oct 22, 2024
  33. 81 The Case Against Reality Donald Hoffman Sep 26, 2024
  34. 80 Losing the Long Game Philip H. Gordon Sep 3, 2024
  35. 79 The World That Wasn't Benn Steil Aug 19, 2024
  36. 78 The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford Jul 25, 2024
  37. 77 The United States of Paranoia Jesse Walker Jul 8, 2024
  38. 76 The Populist Delusion Neema Parvini Jun 25, 2024
  39. 75 Lessons in Stoicism John Sellars Jun 14, 2024
  40. 74 The Formula Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg May 17, 2024
  41. 73 Virtue Hoarders Catherine Liu May 3, 2024
  42. 72 The Collapse of Complex Societies Joseph A. Tainter Apr 19, 2024
  43. 71 Technopoly Neil Postman Mar 21, 2024
  44. 70 How the World Really Works Vaclav Smil Mar 5, 2024
  45. 69 A City on Mars Kelly and Zach Weinersmith Feb 15, 2024
  46. 68 Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror Andrey Mir Jan 30, 2024
  47. 67 The Rise and Decline of Nations Mancur Olson Jan 6, 2024
  48. 66 In Defense of Civilization Michael RJ Bonner Nov 28, 2023
  49. 65 Offside Andrei Markovits and Steven L. Hellerman Nov 7, 2023
  50. 64 The Origins of Woke Richard Hanania Oct 19, 2023
  51. 63 Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman Oct 6, 2023
  52. 62 Transformative Experience L. A. Paul Sep 20, 2023
  53. 61 Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl Sep 7, 2023
  54. 60 The World Behind the World Erik Hoel Aug 22, 2023
  55. 59 Up From Coservatism Michael Lind Aug 10, 2023
  56. 58 End Times Peter Turchin Jul 21, 2023
  57. 57 The White Album & Miami Joan Didion Jul 7, 2023
  58. 56 The Closing of the American Mind Allan Bloom Jun 20, 2023
  59. 55 After Liberalism Paul Gottfried May 30, 2023
  60. 54 Outlive Peter Attia May 16, 2023
  61. 53 The End of Equality Mickey Kaus May 2, 2023
  62. 52 The Myth of the Eternal Return Mircea Eliade Apr 11, 2023
  63. 51 Beauty: A Very Short Introduction Roger Scruton Mar 21, 2023
  64. 50 The Mind and the Market Jerry Z. Mueller Mar 7, 2023
  65. 49 By the People Charles Murray Feb 14, 2023
  66. 48 Obedience is Freedom Jacob Phillips Jan 31, 2023
  67. 47 The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism Daniel Bell Jan 17, 2023
  68. 46 Western Self-Contempt Benedict Beckeld Dec 19, 2022
  69. 45 The Authenticity Hoax Andrew Potter Dec 4, 2022
  70. 44 Soccernomics Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski Nov 21, 2022
  71. 43 Nostalgia for the Absolute George Steiner Nov 6, 2022
  72. 42 Liberalism and Its Discontents Francis Fukuyama Oct 25, 2022
  73. 41 Red Card Ken Bensinger Oct 9, 2022
  74. 40 Telluria Vladimir Sorokin Sep 24, 2022
  75. 39 The Nineties Chuck Klosterman Sep 11, 2022
  76. 38 The True Believer Eric Hoffer Aug 28, 2022
  77. 37 The United States of Anonymous Jeff Kosseff Aug 16, 2022
  78. 36 The End of the World is Just the Beginning Peter Zeihan Jul 10, 2022
  79. 35 The Machiavellians James Burnham Jun 26, 2022
  80. 34 Bad Religion Ross Douthat Jun 5, 2022
  81. 33 War and the Liberal Conscience May 12, 2022
  82. 32 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche Apr 19, 2022
  83. 31 The End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama Mar 27, 2022
  84. 30 This Is Not Propaganda Peter Pomerantsev Mar 6, 2022
  85. 29 Not Born Yesterday Hugo Mercier Feb 20, 2022
  86. 28 Against Everything: Essays Mark Greif Feb 6, 2022
  87. 27 Wanting Luke Burgis Jan 16, 2022
  88. 26 The Sum of Small Things Elizabeth Currid-Halkett Dec 29, 2021
  89. 25 The Uncontrollability of the World Hartmut Rosa Dec 6, 2021
  90. 24 The Evolution of God Robert Wright Nov 22, 2021
  91. 23 The Aristocracy of Talent Adrian Wooldridge Nov 1, 2021
  92. 22 Waking Up Sam Harris Oct 4, 2021
  93. 21 The Benedict Option Rod Dreher. Sep 20, 2021
  94. 20 On Decline Andrew Potter Sep 7, 2021
  95. 19 After Nationalism Samuel Goldman Aug 23, 2021
  96. 18 Isolationism Charles A. Kupchan Jul 26, 2021
  97. 17 Great Founder Theory Samo Burja Jul 12, 2021
  98. 16 Private Truths, Public Lies Timur Kuran Jun 28, 2021
  99. 15 The Revolt of the Masses José Ortega y Gasset Jun 14, 2021
  100. 14 Unsettled Steven E. Koonin May 31, 2021
  101. 13 Why It's OK to Speak Your Mind Hrishikesh Joshi May 17, 2021
  102. 12 The Storm Before the Calm George Friedman May 3, 2021
  103. 11 The Final Pagan Generation Edward J. Watts Apr 19, 2021
  104. 10 On Desire William B. Irvine Apr 5, 2021
  105. 9 Nation of Rebels Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter Mar 22, 2021
  106. 8 Self-Portrait in Black and White Thomas Chatterton Williams Mar 8, 2021
  107. 7 The Culture of Narcissism Christopher Lasch Feb 22, 2021
  108. 6 True Names Vernor Vinge Feb 8, 2021
  109. 5 Whiteshift Eric Kaufmann Jan 15, 2021
  110. 4 Postjournalism Andrey Mir Nov 13, 2020
  111. 3 Enlightenment's Wake John Gray Oct 23, 2020
  112. 2 History Has Begun Bruno Maçães Oct 4, 2020
  113. 1 The Jungle Grows Back Robert Kagan Sep 15, 2020