Re-read of The City of Man by Pierre Manent

This is one of my favorite "companion" books and is the most thorough and penetrating analysis of modern thought that I have read. It's always worth re-reading every year or two.

Why Grow Up? Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age by Susan Neiman

Susan Neiman was a philosophy professor at Yale and now lives in Berlin. This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be and turned out to be a vigorous defense of the Enlightenment, invoking Kant, Rousseau and their pals. Neiman tells us that there are forces conspiring to keep us infantile - principally government and corporations - because an infantile population is easier to manipulate and control. The answer is to embrace the Enlightenment challenge to think for yourself.

While I don't agree with Neiman's assessment of the Enlightenment, I always appreciate a sincere, principle, and straightforward defense of a philosophical position. And Neiman is a clear and excellent writer.

The Martian by Andy Weir

An outstanding science fiction thriller about an astronaut stranded on Mars. It's "near real" sci-fi, in the sense that Weir stays as close to known science and a realistic mission to Mars as possible. One of the best works of fiction I've read in years. Looking forward to the movie.

Faith vs Fact by Jerry Coyne

I've written some posts about this book on my main blog. A great look into the modern scientistic mind.