Great list. A book I would recommend to you is How To Live: A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell and I would love your thoughts on that. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on William Irvine’s trilogy of Stoicism books.
A Guide to the Good Life is powerful intro to Stoicism. That said, it's not how I frame things now. It's too focused on reducing negative feelings, but such criticism verges on the narcissism of small differences.
"The Soul of the World: reread. This is Roger Scruton’s best book, in my opinion. It presents a compelling non-scientific account of religion."
I'm personally a big fan of "The Case For God," by Karen Armstrong. In particular, her emphasis on the practice of many spiritual systems historically preceding the expectation of belief made a difference for the way I operate. Religions mostly ask you to sign on to a belief in seemingly absurd ideas as a prerequisite, and I could never get behind that. I've found putting aside belief and utilizing the practices works as an approachable entry point.
I'd love to hear how you're incorporating whatever you got from Scruton's work into an actual religious practice, as opposed to just something you find intellectually acceptable.
Fukuyama was a young colleague of my father's. It was quite exciting when my father handed me a copy of the pamphlet staple-bound version of The End of History essay. The world was changing. What was happening? What does it mean? I happened to be familiar with the Battle of Jena, the exact point when history died... in theory... Now I feel a sense of alienation when people treat Fukuyama's argument like a naive cartoon. PS I live in a city where mobs and midnight conspirators recently pulled down quite a number of statues.
I very much enjoy your book reviews. I bring my greatest interest to the novels, but find myself interested in the others as well.
Great list. A book I would recommend to you is How To Live: A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell and I would love your thoughts on that. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on William Irvine’s trilogy of Stoicism books.
Good rec, thanks.
A Guide to the Good Life is powerful intro to Stoicism. That said, it's not how I frame things now. It's too focused on reducing negative feelings, but such criticism verges on the narcissism of small differences.
I wasn't taken by the The Stoic Challenge.
"The Soul of the World: reread. This is Roger Scruton’s best book, in my opinion. It presents a compelling non-scientific account of religion."
I'm personally a big fan of "The Case For God," by Karen Armstrong. In particular, her emphasis on the practice of many spiritual systems historically preceding the expectation of belief made a difference for the way I operate. Religions mostly ask you to sign on to a belief in seemingly absurd ideas as a prerequisite, and I could never get behind that. I've found putting aside belief and utilizing the practices works as an approachable entry point.
I'd love to hear how you're incorporating whatever you got from Scruton's work into an actual religious practice, as opposed to just something you find intellectually acceptable.
Fukuyama was a young colleague of my father's. It was quite exciting when my father handed me a copy of the pamphlet staple-bound version of The End of History essay. The world was changing. What was happening? What does it mean? I happened to be familiar with the Battle of Jena, the exact point when history died... in theory... Now I feel a sense of alienation when people treat Fukuyama's argument like a naive cartoon. PS I live in a city where mobs and midnight conspirators recently pulled down quite a number of statues.
based on ur reading, would recommend Cactus Chu's blog / podcast if u haven't already heard of it https://cactus.substack.com/archive?sort=top
I'm familiar with Chu. His podcast was actually my most listened of 2022 according to Spotify. So good inference.
Have you read Yuval Harari's books?
I've read Sapiens, which I enjoyed. It's a fine and electrifying big history book.
I didn't like "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" and I don't think I'd like "Homo Deus."