What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Ministry of Time’

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” published in 1886, is a powerful story about facing death and the lies we tell ourselves to fit into society.

At under 100 pages, this timeless classic moves beyond its 19th-century roots to ask big, enduring questions: What makes life meaningful? What happens when we refuse to see the truth about ourselves?

Ivan Ilyich, a respected magistrate in Tsarist Russia, lives a life governed by propriety and ambition.

A minor injury, however, escalates into a terminal illness, shattering his carefully curated existence.

As pain consumes him, Ivan descends into isolation, abandoned by family and colleagues who prioritize decorum over compassion.

In his final days, he confronts the hollowness of his achievements, leading to a searing epiphany: Only authenticity and empathy can grant peace in life’s closing act.

Tolstoy’s genius lies in his psychological brutality. He unveils Ivan’s psyche, exposing denial, rage and fleeting grace with unflinching honesty.

The novella’s interrogation of what makes life meaningful stands out as a universal experience through time.

Equally compelling is Tolstoy’s critique of bourgeois values, framing social climbing as a cowardly distraction from life’s impermanence.

The book’s realism influenced writers such as Albert Camus and philosophers studying the human condition.

For modern readers, Ivan’s journey — from delusion to clarity — serves as both a cautionary tale and a call to live with intention.

Author: Patrick Wallis

Apprenticeship dominated training and skill formation in early modern Europe. Years spent learning from a skilled master were a nearly universal experience for young workers in crafts and trade. In England, when apprenticeship reached its peak, as many as a third of all teenage males would serve and learn as apprentices.
In “The Market for Skill,” Patrick Wallis shows how apprenticeship helped reshape the English economy.
Some historians see apprenticeship as a key ingredient in the industrial revolution; others agree with Adam Smith in seeing it as wasteful and conservative. Wallis shows that neither of these perspectives is entirely accurate. He offers a new account of apprenticeship and the market for skill in England, analyzing the records of hundreds of thousands of individual apprentices to tell the story of how apprentices.