Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine about how the standard for what “good” literature is depends entirely on how long a work specifically haunts your memories.

For me, the coolest book I’ve ever read is The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche. I first read it when I was 11 and it fundamentally altered my perspective of reality. In that conversation I realized that Humans adapted to remember trauma.

Great literature is traumatic to some extent.

There are two people specifically who have written things that come to my mind randomly and even though there are very many talented writers who I’ve met on here, these two people specifically align with me in a way I can’t quite explain.

These two men are cool.

They are Chafic LaRochelle and Barnes.

Chafic, as a humorist and satirist, has developed a range that genuinely reminds me of Robin Williams. This might be a reach, but read ANY of his satires, then read this

This story is devastating.

I really can’t say more than that other than

I’ve about it and even had my friends in real life to read it.

And Barnes—

A truly gifted scholar. His capacity to compress complex ideas into something people can understand without over-simplifying is genuinely, and I mean this, spectacular.

Reading his work is like watching a flower bloom.

barnes7.substack.com/p/…

Please. If you respect me, read these two brilliant men.