Rick Steves Prague

From Goodreads

Rick Steves Prague & The Czech Republic

I'm giving this book three stars at the moment. As it is a travel book I reserve the right to amend my decision up or down when I make the trip. It's a good book, written well and informative. Steves makes it accessible and enjoyable to read. How do you rank a travel book without the travel though?

FMAG Rewrite Idea

When dealing with the liquefied souls and the atoms use the terms, "condensed" and "rarefied" to allude to ancient philosophical texts.

Prague: A Cultural and Literary History

From Goodreads

Prague: A Cultural and Literary History

As far as a history book goes this one is your fairly typical, textbook like work. It's informative, covers a lot of ground quickly, but deep enough to give you more than some pop history or a travel guide. This was probably the biggest problem with the book for me. That sentence would be more accurately rendered as, I was the biggest problem for the book.

I'm going to Prague soon (hopefully) and am trying to get as much history of it as I can. I had a basic understanding of the history of Rome and London before traveling there. I didn't know much of the history of Barcelona. My trips to the former two cities were made so much richer by having a deeper understanding of their history. I made the mistake of studying the cultural history of Prague before studying the more general history. I felt, at times, that the author assumed I knew more than I did - which, was my problem more than the author's.

My deficiencies aside, the book was fascinating and if, as is a big strain of this book's thesis, that the arts truly preceded the revolution, then perhaps I have embraced learning about Prague in the way it ought to be done. I have another three history books on Prague (plus a number of Kafka novels) to read before in the next two months. Maybe then I'll have a richer understanding of this book.

Puddn'head Wilson

From Goodreads

Mark Twain is probably my second favorite American author. (My favorite is Vonnegut, but only slightly). Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fearless lampooning of Twain's culture that is so thorough it takes a moment to unpack it all. As social commentary it is biting, pithy and unfazed by the uproar it might cause. As a story it builds well to the conclusion you know is coming; yet, there are enough elements of surprise that keep you interested. It sprawls a bit more than I expected for such a short novel, which I like. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone

Laches & Charmides

From Goodreads

Laches & Charmides
Plato

Plato's dialogues are incredibly well written and tend to circle round and round the stated objective of the dialogue without ever quite hitting the bullseye. His linkage of knowledge and virtue seems to always play a central theme. At times he critiques his characters for having definitions that are too narrow to serve as the definition. At others he gets on to them for having definitions that are so vague they barely distinguish one thing from the other.

Plato is harsher with those who seem too cocksure. He blasts rigid dogmatics whenever he encounters it. With those who seem more flexible he still corrects, but generally not as harshly as with others.

I still think a of his game is to play with play with language. He often lampoons Prodicus for his sophistry in definitions while using language in a way that would make Prodicus proud. Of the two, Charmides is more complex in its philsophy. But, I find the characters of Laches more compelling. The two Generals, Nicias and Laches are much more of an interesting pair than Critias and Charmides.

The Island of Doctor Moreau

From Goodreads

The Island of Doctor Moreau
H.G. Wells

I really enjoy this book. I thought I had read it when I was a kid, but now I'm not so sure. It's pretty dark in places and it paints a bleak portrait of humanity. Maybe I read an abridged version or one aimed at children. The idea of reverting to nature takes on an intriguing twist in this book.

The ethical considerations of science have evolved and grown past the crude vivisectionist ideas of Moreau since Wells wrote but the increasing complexity of it all only drives the question to become more difficult to answer. At what point does science become crueler than its outcome? Is this question, in its utilitarianism even a valid way of ethical judgment?

The other way of looking at this book, and more interesting to me, is the ideas of humanity and what it means to be a man that the book grapples with. At what point does something gain ontological equality with oneself? Moreau is undoubtedly the villain, but are Montgomery's acts of kindness, or his inner struggle enough to redeem him? Is Prendick's revulsion a good or a bad trait? Were any of the creatures decidedly evil, or simply fated to their natures?

Goodreads: Theaetetus

From Goodreads

Theaetetus
Plato

Well, that took a bit, didn't it? Honestly, I finished Plato's book months ago and it was Robin A. H. Waterfield's essay that took me some time to slog through.

The dialogue itself is good, foundational, and important. The research essay was very, very thorough. Honestly, I think I might have to reread this one and my notes because the essay is fresher in my mind than the work the essay was on.

Monday or Tuesday

From Goodreads

Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories

I'm still not a huge fan of modernist literature; but, I prefer Woolf to Joyce immensely. Now, I've only hitherto read a very short collection of stories by her, so I may find her longer works as equally uninspiring as Ulysses or Portrait. But Woolf makes the mundane minutia less boring than Joyce.

Of the eight stories I found, "A Society" and, "The Mark on the Wall" the most compelling. Her darker humor in lambasting a chauvinist culture in "A Society" is reminiscent of A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift (without the messiness of cannibalism). The interesting epistemic notions in "The Mark on the Wall" are intriguing and the comic irony in the ending is good. Honestly, that might be my favorite stream of consciousness work that I've read so fa.

The Burial At Thebes - Seamus Heaney

From the Goodreads...

The Burial at Thebes
(A version of Sophocle's Antigone)
Seamus Heaney

This version of Antigone also gets four stars because even though the language is modern, it isn't dumbed down or watery. The story is just as rich as reading it in a more King James-y tune. I'm assuming that there was some loss in translating it to English from the Ancient Greek; but, it is fine.

So I got this book thinking it was going to be a modern interpretation of the Antigone story. Turns out, it's just a modern language version of it. The translation is clear and being clearer allows the reader to see the tragic arc of Creon. Creon is stubborn and proud, but he doesn't come from a ridiculously misguided position. He is working for the genuine benefit for Thebes. He errs by not correcting the mistake once he has been counseled. Antigone seems much more the sympathetic character in the older version. This modern one makes Creon a bit more sympathetic.

Way More Ancienter

From the Goodreads

Antigone
Sophocles

I think that my favorite review of this book was the one that went, "it's like Romeo and Juliet, but way more ancienter."

Antigone is a classic. It has stood the test of nearly 2.5 millennia. Negative reviews on it are just silly. Sure, the language might be a little archaic; but, not everything needs to be written like you're texting your bff, Jill. Antigone shows the age old tension between the law and moral obligation. It shows the tension between trusting your feelings vs. wise counsel. It also shows the common folly of tyranny in any capacity, something that we continue to deal with as humans 2500 years after it was written. This ancienter book still rings relevant today.

Thank God for Brevity

From the Goodreads

Woman Much Missed
Thomas Hardy

Poetry is neither my strong suit nor favorite. When I read poetry I often feel like a young boy in his father's suit, unable to fill it up. It just seems to swallow me and I only get a hint of what's going on. It was the same with this. I only got a hint, but even as dense as I am and as unlearned in poetry, the sadness and loss in this collection was palpable. Nothing in it particularly stood out in it other than the melancholy nature of the book. It might be the epitome of the sum being greater than the parts. No particular poem, not even a single line just grabbed me and stood out, but by the end I felt Hardy's pain. He transferred his sorrow onto me. I guess that's the point; but, I'm glad this was a short book. Otherwise, I would have ugly cried.

We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From my Goodreads account

This short essay is an insightful and well thought out piece on a serious issue that we are currently struggling with in every corner of the globe: inequality. Adiche's call to action is spot on. We should all be feminists (one who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes). There is a gender problem today. We, all of us, must do better. The issue that I have with this book is the segmentation of the equality issue.

Adichie argues that the label of feminism is important because it acknowledges the specificity of inequality between genders. But, if we as people, individuals regardless of gender, strive toward her stated goal of doing better in treating each other with equal dignity, honor and humanity then this would eliminate the gender issue in the process. I'm not Utopian and have no illusions that this is easy, or even achievable. But, the outcome of doing better has no bearing on whether or not we put forth the effort to do better. By doing better we create better individual interactions between people; done often enough, we change the culture.

What I like about Adichie's striving for gender equality is that it acknowledges a uniqueness to each gender and to each person specifically. She notes that the ones who ought to lead are the more intelligent, more knowledgeable, more creative and more innovative. These qualities know no gender, but they are cultivated individually. Of course, there are advantages in cultures for certain groups. Race, gender and socioeconomic factors all play a part in this. She addresses it somewhat when she notes that the poor man doesn't have all the advantages that the wealthy one does and that the black man faces challenges that are unique to his experience. But then she puts her foot down and claims a uniqueness to the inequality of the genders. Herein lies where I disagree with her.

Inequality exists in the world and we have a moral obligation as human beings to struggle against inequality and to promote equal treatment of all human beings in a merit based way in economic situations and, more importantly, an equal amount of dignity should be afforded on a personal level. I have had and continue to have more opportunity, recognition and privilege than others in society have. But, I have had and continue to have less of these than others in society have. Every person in my society is similar in that regard. It isn't right and we must continue to do better and work towards a more equitable society, even if this is ultimately tilting at windmills. We ought to do better because each individual deserves the same, limitless amount of dignity in treatment. Focusing your drive for equality based on a single, specific and limiting factor ignores your own privilege in relation to those with less and is a quick path to bitterness, an us vs. them mentality and ultimately an unhappy state of being.

I agree with a lot of what Adichie writes in this essay. I think she is a brilliant speaker and writer. My overly wordy rebuttal to this book has more to do with the notion of over-identity and its narrowing effects on our experience as humans (which are more common than dissimilar) and how it creates segmentation within humanity that is an unnecessary barrier placed between us. To illustrate our commonness rather than our dissimilarities I'll mention Adichie's anecdote about the business meeting. She notes that, "A man going to a business meeting doesn't wonder about being taken seriously based on what he is wearing- but a woman does". She has created an otherness here that is unnecessary. Dressing for success is preached to men from an early age. Men and women alike are going to afford the properly dressed person more attention than the overly casual dresser. Lastly, confidence and the struggles with it and how one looks are not specific to a gender.

To end this unnecessarily long-winded review that will either remain unread or be dismissed as someone speaking from privilege (or worse, be condemned as mansplaining) I want to stress the importance of this book. It is spot on when it calls on us to do better. It is a captivating read because she is such a good writer. And, like her Louis, I need reminders from time to time that the drive for improvement is not a completed task.

Goodreads: The Aeneid

The Aeneid
Virgil

From Goodreads

Rating and reviewing a classic, even to some nonexistent audience, seems a bit beyond my capabilities. The Aeneid is one of the pillars of Western Literature. My Goodreads review of it is like a faux leaf on a bunch of wax grapes attached to that pillar with knock-off brand scotch tape. It's tacky, unnecessary and detracts from the beauty of that pillar, which are of the Ionic variety in this crunchy and tortured metaphoric word picture. (Doric columns are a bit boring. Corinthians are bit cliche and garish. The Ionic says, "I'm functional, elegant and still have a bit of panache").

Seriously though, if you like classics, read this. If you like epics, read this. If you like poetry, read this. If you like action and adventure, read this. Blood and gore? Read it. Spurned love? Read it. Fables, myths or history? You get the point.

The Vinland Sagas

The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America
by Unknown

(From Goodreads)

I love this type of story/history. When the past and the future meet, the tension of the old and new creates an interesting dynamic. The Christianization of peoples always creates an intriguing folk version of the religion. For instance, Leif is tasked with the mission to bring Christianity to Greenland by the king because he is lucky. Or, when the man rises from the dead to foretell the future of his widow.

As far as the Sagas go this one is famous because they discover some part of America. This compilation probably wouldn't be as widely read if Vinland was located in Greenland. That said, the stories really revolve around discovery, settlement and colonization and is less about famous battles and feuding. The feuding merely serves as a backdrop for the main characters to get started in their parts. Some of the best parts are the Icelandic poetry that the translation often goes into with a funny way of segueing... and then Thorstein said this little diddy and cut off the woman's head. I guess his poetry really killed...