Skip to main content

Books and glitches

I was waylaid last night by upgrading Firefox from 1.04 to 1.05. Firefox lost all of my bookmarks (most of which can be replaced) and forgot my toolbar customizations (easy enough to redo). It also started to do some other annoying things. It took a bit of time to get it all sorted and so, no post last night. The lost bookmarks also means that some of the things I had intended to write about might be lost if I can't find them again (or remember what they were). I may be busy for the next day or two as well, but you never know. I might sneak in here and put something together. While I'm here telling you stuff, I might as well tell you I got my latest package of books last week, including:
  • Augustine's Confessions
  • The Viking Portable Plato
  • You Can Understand the Bible, Peter Kreeft's latest.
  • and, finally, Volume One of Federick Copleston's A History of Philosophy
I picked up Augustine because I've never read anything he wrote and figured it was time to put that little bugbear to bed. I got the Viking Plato because although I've read the Republic through (it's excellent, esp. for anyone interested in politics), there's more to Plato than that. I'll start with the selections here for the time being. Viking offers a lot of these 'portables' and they're a great way to get a quick overview of a subject. Love'em. I got the Kreeft book because I have a long term goal of reading through the Bible and his overview - aimed at interested amateurs and not theologians - seemed just the thing. I have a heavy 'study' Bible that, despite it's weight, does not always have the answers to my questions, even though it has a lot of footnotes. Often the question is really broad, like 'what are the issues that this book is known for raising?' Finally, I've already eagerly jumped into the Copleston book. Copleston was a Jesuit Preist who wrote his nine volumes on philosophy as a guide for seminary students in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Yeah, philosophic study is encouraged in seminary. His series interests me because I think it will be in a little more depth than some of the things I've read (although Scruton can really get into it at times), and because I want to hear the story told from his point of view, which, I'm certain, will not be the same as that of the average academic.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hiatus will be blogged

This hiatus thing isn't going to plan. As I'm reading (books and blogs) I find things I think are interesting, or things I would like an opinion on, and bingo, my hiatus is in a shambles. So, *coughs*, until further notice, I'm blogging again. The main editorial difference that I can see coming from my few weeks away is that I do not expect to resume posting six out of seven days a week. There could be, at any time and without warning, a break of a week or two between posts. Really, I think that is the only way I can start to get some books behind me, and is also inevitable in the summer season when one wants to get out and enjoy it all. Here's a few things that got my attention this past week. Chris Taylor is blogging once again and has recruited an air force for the Red Ensign Brigade. Heh. Dennis Prager asks, Are you a liberal? Anglicans and Catholics are getting closer to reconciling -over the role of Mary in the Christian faith. Quote: A working group c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost in the machine

In writing up this post I have to mention that I am very impressed with the quality of discussion that one finds on blogs. This truly is a remarkable medium. Thanks go to all three of the bloggers mentioned here for providing such good reading and thinking for the rest of us to try and learn from. I have not had a chance to read all of the entries linked to here, but I do intend to. ***** George Will compares two views of man in his latest column . One is novelist Ian McEwan, who places the following words into the mouth of the leading character in his latest novel, Saturday : Endless and beautiful forms of life, such as you see in a common hedgerow, including exulted beings like ourselves, arose from physical laws, from war or nature, famine and death. This is the grandeur. And a bracing kind of consolation in the brief privilege of consciousness. This character is a neurosurgeon. The quote reminds me that there may be some truth to the observation that those in the biological and...
Post a Comment
Read more