kenny

What have I read, watched, listened to, and considered this week? Here's a selection:

Books:

• Tolstoy's War and Peace. Two quotes from my reading over the last two weeks. The first on Pierre's state of mind after the abandonment of Moscow:

  It was the feeling that induces a volunteer-recruit to spend his last penny on drink, and a drunken man to smash mirrors or glasses for no apparent reason and knowing that it will cost him all the money he possesses; the feeling which causes a man to perform actions which from an ordinary point of view are insanse, to test, as it were, his personal power and strength, affirming the existence of a higher, non-human criterion of life (p.966).

  The second on Nikolai Rostov's choice between Sonya and Princess Marya:

  As at Tilsit Rostov had not allowed himself to doubt that what everybody considered right was right, so now, after a short but sincere struggle between his efforts to arrange his life by his own sense of justice, and in obedient submission to the circumstances, he chose the latter and yielded to the power he felt irresistibly carrying him he knew not where (p.1024).

• Stephen King's 11/22/63.

• Annie Ernaux's A Man's Place. A quick but worthwhile read. You could easily tackle this one in an afternoon. Best enjoyed if you have a bit of background on 20th century France, but enjoyable as a character portrait even without the historical context. Like I mentioned in my last post, the straightforward style and very short length made this one a refreshing break from Tolstoy.

Podcasts

• Elijah Millgram on Tyler Cowen's podcast. I enjoyed Millgram's idea of three roles for philosophy: an applied science (a discipline for making intellectual tools and frameworks), a response to the Delphic oracle's "know thyself," and a tool for answering recurring questions (what should we do, what can we know, what does it mean to be human, etc.). I have had a soft spot for philosophy ever since I TA'ed for a logic course in college. See Millgram's site for more on his work (and syllabi!).