Favourites from the Wiser Every Day archive (in case you missed them)

Our most-read essays so far—still free to read and share.

Dear Readers,

Whether you’ve just joined Wiser Every Day or have been reading from the start, thank you.

This newsletter began as an experiment: could we think out loud—about education, language, politics, faith, and the search for wisdom—and find like-minded people who care about the deeper questions beneath the daily noise?

I am delighted to say, we can.

Since Wiser Every Day is free to all, the entire archive is open. But many newer readers may have missed some of the essays that sparked the most conversation, comment, or (in at least one or two cases) mild alarm.

So, here are some of the most-read pieces so far, spanning topics from academic career advice to truth, science, politics and death.

📌 1. Microcosmographia Academica 2.0: A guide for the ambitious academic
Advice to an aspiring academic. Master the art of superficial profundity and prosper in the knowledge that, in the end, it's better to be superficially profound than profoundly superficial.

📌 2. A 21st-century enlightenment
All great discoveries begin as blasphemies, which are resisted by those with something to lose

📌 3. Campaign Speech by the Honourable Minister for Progress, Priorities and Posturing
Advice to politicians. When ideas fail, words come in very handy. (Goethe, Faust)

📌 4. Science without humanity, knowledge without character
A meditation on education, wisdom, and the things degrees don’t measure.

📌 5. Memento mori
A reflection on death—not morbid, but clarifying. Why remembering our end can help us live more thoughtfully.

📌 6. Western civilisation and its discontents
What happens when we stop teaching the foundations of our own culture? A look at the quiet dismantling of the Western canon.

📌 7. Why I am (or at least try to be) a libertarian
Not a political lecture—just a personal reflection on freedom, responsibility, and the dangers of too much government “help.”

📌 8. The age of bullshit
From AI book reviews to bureaucratic bafflegab, bullshit thrives where truth becomes optional. This essay explores why sounding right often matters more than being right.

📌 9. Do university rankings add up?
University rankings provide useless answers to the wrong question.

If you enjoy one of these, I’d love to hear your thoughts—just click the Comments Button. And if you know someone who might appreciate Wiser Every Day, feel free to share it with them.

Thank you again for reading Wiser Every Day. I’ll be back soon with something new. Until then, stay curious—and perhaps, we will all get a little wiser.

Steven