The Cultural Tutor: A Modern Guide to History, Art and Philosophy in 49 Short Chapters

by Sheehan Quirke

'The Cultural Tutor is dedicated to a cosmopolitan view of culture. It writes about every continent, every religion, every tradition of art and poetry' TOMIWA OWOLADE, THE TIMES

'For anyone who has enjoyed The Cultural Tutor on X, this book will be more of the same delight. Expect nuggets of insight and wisdom, wrapped in the author's trademark warmth and wit' ALAIN DE BOTTON

'A remarkable book. The Cultural Tutor is a witty, wide-ranging, and engaging exploration of humanity's shared heritage, from ancient history to modern art.' DONALD ROBERTSON

Who does the Mona Lisa actually depict?
Why do we still look to the Greeks and Romans to inform our politics?
Where do we find meaning in a world dominated by technology?

*

Culture is like a language. Art, architecture, history and philosophy are its grammar. And, like a language, anyone can learn it.

In 2022, Sheehan Quirke took to Twitter (now X) as The Cultural Tutor with the aim of making culture accessible for everyone. He wrote about poetry, paintings, building design, and counter-intuitive but fascinating facts about history and geography. It wasn’t the sort of content you usually find on a newsfeed – and yet it has flourished, gaining over 1.7 million followers.

Taught in forty-nine short lessons – from Babylon to Brutalism, Ronaldo to Ragnarök – Sheehan takes readers on a delightful and fascinating journey through culture. He explores provocative questions (is mythology any different to science?) and uncovers illuminating stories (did you know that the highest paid athlete in history was a Roman charioteer?).

This is a witty and thought-provoking exploration of everything you need to know to begin your own adventures in the world of culture and see the everyday wonders around you.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Philosophy, Art, Audiobook, Cultural, Anthropology

457 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 4, 2025

Reviews

[Henri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed this book as much as I enjoy author's previous work on twitter, posting about culture and history.

It's a wide ranging work talking through architecture and history and philosophy, art or music and a whole lot of everything. It also pleasantly jumps between ages - you get a bit of Modern History, and some Ancient too. It mainly targets what we consider as 'Western Civilisation' but does a good job of finding influences to bits all around.

I'd give it five stars but for me it was a little too conversational unlike the books I'm used to reading. This is understandable though considering the author's background and inspiration coming from posting about this content on the social media.

I'd certainly describe it as a positive and inspiring book and that's really what we all need right now. Good stuff

[Tabish Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a subscriber to the author's newsletter, and this book is very much in a similar style. His passion for all things culture is infectious, and I love how it makes everything accessible without talking down to his readership.

[Edin Kapić · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whirlwind of fresh air in the stagnated cultural life of today.

[Sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book aims to introduce the world of Western culture without the complex contemporary vocabulary that academics are accustomed to using.

I enjoyed some chapters more than others. The ones about architecture, for example, were wonderful and inspired me to delve further into the topic. Others failed to capture my imagination in the same way. Unfortunately, music was omitted as a subject, even though it is such a ubiquitous pillar of Western culture.

The writing style leans heavily on quotations. I didn’t mind too much and found some of the original voices of historical figures enriching, despite the way they interrupted the narrative flow.

In sum, it is a book with a unique lens, an unusual writing style, but also some unfortunate omissions.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the cultural tutor instagram page, which is entirely why I bought this book. An interesting "jaunt?" through art, literature, architecture, and philosophy. Quite light, great bedtime read. Quirke is always at his best lampooning lazy consumerist modern architecture. I really enjoyed seeing the discussion about William Morris advocating for a return to "traditional" architecture from a socialist perspective, that this was the purest way of putting the human experience ahead of profit by creating beautiful architecture to be enjoyed by all. And also as much as it's easy to say Le Corbusier belongs in the Hague, it is always good to remember that modern "mass-manufactured" architecture actually raised so many out of destitution. Quirke's chapters on art, the role of patronage in art, and faith are also highlights. The chapters on philosophy and literature I found were much weaker.

I also don't know why it is titled like a self-help book, "49 lessons..."; it really is not. In fact, Quirke spends at least 20 pages complaining about self-help as the fastest way to remove meaning and enjoyment from your life when you're constantly focused on optimising.

This book also falls firmly into one of my favourite categories of books, for lack of a snappier title: "The human experience is universal. Life is the same as it was 50 years ago, 200 years ago, 2000 years ago.." It's reassuring to know that people thought the Houses of Parliament as ghastly modern Gothic architecture or that Lucretius in 50 b.c. bemoaned the ever-changing nature of fashion.

[Whataname · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stopped reading after reading a fifth of the book. The book quickly reveals its fundamental problem: it mistakes verbosity for insight and surface-level observations for philosophical depth.

The best example is when Quirke compares our trust in science to ancient people believing in mythology. He acts like this is some profound observation, but the comparison doesn’t even make sense—science is verifiable and provable in ways mythology isn’t. This kind of false equivalence is Philosophy 101 stuff, not the deep insight he presents it as.

The Messi/Argentina blue example shows the same issue: yes, cultural symbols have historical connections. That’s mildly interesting as a tweet, but when stretched across multiple pages with overly philosophical language, it becomes exhausting and pretentious. He writes like someone who just discovered “everything is connected” and thinks this is a revolutionary insight.

The writing feels like a teenager who read their first philosophy book and now generalizes endlessly without saying anything substantial. Quirke can clearly write well technically, but he uses way too many words to express the simplest ideas.

For a 500-page book called “The Cultural Tutor,” there’s surprisingly little actual substance.

[David Matthews · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

Many years ago, when X was still on Twitter and still relatively polite, I found a feed that I enjoyed immensely: The Cultural Tutor, anonymously authored by Sheehan Quirke. I signed up to follow Quirke through his regular (at that time) weekly emailed newsletter titled Areopagus.

I left Twitter for Threads which, despite also being ultimately owned by a Tech Oligarch, is a more pleasant town hall than the Musk version. The Cultural Tutor duly appeared here, albeit often just rehashes of previous Twitter or Areopagus posts - but still hugely enjoyable, educational and thought provoking.

Imagine my disappointment, as a fan, at this yet another rehashing of various cultural and philosophical tropes by the same author. Broken into seven sections, each with seven chapters, the book feels disappointing and scattered.

Sheehan shares his views on the importance of cultural growth in the improvement of the human condition accompanied by liberally (too liberally?) interspersed quotes from a variety of philosophers, scholars, artists and critics through the ages from pre-Roman to almost present day. The style is polemical, railing against the uniformity of modern architecture, with Le Corbusier coming in for particular criticism. Contemporary art also gets criticised for not measuring up to those who went before. I don't necessarily disagree with some of this critique, but the argument is not really developed satisfactorily in this odd short/long format.

The photos (at least in my Kindle edition) were difficult to see clearly; I hope that in the paper version they are at least in full colour.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. Sadly, I was happier when I reached the end and can move on to something more satisfying.

[Heather H · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what I imagined to be a “bite sized” approach to culture, this had a lot of depth. Slightly repetitive towards the end, but nevertheless an intriguing and thought provoking introduction or reminder to many important aspects of every day life, from art and literature to architecture and history, modern and ancient.
A good chunked up book for anyone who feels tbey don’t have time for long complex chapters, too. No excuse!

[Hannah Wang · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought the book thinking it was an exploratary experience into a diverse cultural and historical learning. Instead it was a incoherent monologue full of seemingly unrelated examples and the author's marvel at the obvious. No substance nor insights. I personally stopped reading at the line referring to "Mao's revolution of 1949" on page 88. I can see why Alain de Botton thought highly of it and recommended it though.

[AZGD · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed that this book chooses to ignore science, maths and engineering as apparently not culture.

In general, the book is not very well written, there is a massive over-reliance in quotes and I also had a few Gell-Mann amnesia moments, the gracchi brothers come to mind among a few others that I neglected to write down.

[Remco de Kok · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

This was an interesting collections of essays, about culture in the broadest sense of the word, from history to poetry, rethoric, sports, or painting. The chapters on architecture were especially good. With a book with such a broad scope, the power is inevitably in its whidth rather than depth, but an admirable read nonethess.

[Roland Glotzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually a compilation of 49 essays covering 7 areas of culture (art,architecture,history, philosophy, etc..).
Some parts are more interesting to read than others (hence 4 instead of 5) but the biggest benefit of reading this book is that it makes you think.

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. A catalogue of the bleedin' obvious.

[Eleonora Gili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarebbe da mettere nei programmi di scuola

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book mate!

[Alexander Doré · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of essays

[Jon Popowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An admirable attempt to cover the vast subject of culture. A very enjoyable and informative read.