Category: Art
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The better metric for tracking how much I have read, in my opinion, is the number of pages. The number of books is okay, but the reality is reading a 50-page novella is not nearly the same commitment as a 1,500-page tome. (I might prefer a statistic for words when looking at my daughter’s reading…
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C.S. Lewis: It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones…Â People were no cleverer then than they are…
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The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius by Marcus Aurelius My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was Aurelius’ diary. He introspected on Stoic philosophy and especially the behaviors of a good person: integrity, willpower, quietude, and self-focus. I strongly identified with many of his thoughts and feel the content of the book was worth reading it.…
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(Original ; First Quarter ; Half ; Three-Quarters ; Final) For the first half, I should have progressed about 50%. So, let’s see where I am. Read 52 books. First half goal: 26 books. I have actually finished 28. Hit 20,000 pages. First quarter goal: 10,000 pages. I have actually finished 8,867. Read politically. Total 10. First half goal:…
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The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Back in 2012, I took the Moral Foundations Questionnaire test. So almost five years later, I finally got around to reading the book that explains it. Since it is now Facebook integrated, I kind…
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Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works by Rick Santorum My rating: 4 of 5 stars Santorum believes the family is the core unit of society not the individual. That has interesting implications such as what does that mean where there are so many divorces, single parents, and “failures to launch”? Making policy…
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In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick My rating: 3 of 5 stars I have not read Moby Dick. My guess is if I had read it first or been a fan of stories about ship life, then I would care more about the sailors, the details,…
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I sent my Recommendations post as a response to something on Facebook. In the aftermath, it made me realize some things. The false consensus effect which is why we are tempted to think others agree with us about political stances is what also causes us to expect others we like like the same books, TV shows, etc. The post…
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But reading what you hate helps you refine what it is you value, whether it’s a style, a story line or an argument. Because books are long-form, they require more of the writer and the reader than a talk show or Facebook link. You can finish watching a movie in two hours and forget about…