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b'I love many of the classic myths and poems of ancient Greece. My favorite, though, is The\\xa0Odyssey. While on the surface it seems to just be another epic adventure story, if you dig deeper,\\xa0The\\xa0Odyssey\\xa0can give you insights on fatherhood, marriage, and surviving in a world that\\u2019s in constant flux.\\xa0\\nMy guest today recently published a book exploring these themes in The\\xa0Odyssey, particularly the theme of fathers and sons searching for each other. His name is Daniel Mendelsohn, and he\'s a classicist, essayist, and book critic. In his latest book,\\xa0"An\\xa0Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic,"\\xa0Daniel\\xa0shares the experience of having his 81-year-old father enroll as a student in the undergrad seminar he taught on\\xa0The\\xa0Odyssey\\xa0and the insights he gleaned about his relationship with his dad by looking at the father-son relationships explored in the epic poem. We begin our conversation with a big picture overview of The\\xa0Odyssey\\xa0and why Daniel\\u2019s dad decided to take\\xa0his\\xa0seminar on it. Daniel and I then discuss what we can learn about the relationship between sons and fathers from Odysseus\' relationships both with his son Telemachus, and with his father Laertes. We then shift to what we can learn from Odysseus and his wife Penelope on forming a strong marriage, how travel can change us, and why\\xa0The\\xa0Odyssey\\xa0becomes more relevant to men when they have families of their own.\\xa0\\nThis is a fun podcast filled with amazing insights about one of the greatest stories ever told. After you listen to it, you\\u2019ll want to\\xa0dust off your copy of The\\xa0Odyssey\\xa0itself so you can read it with fresh eyes.'