David's Reading Log

Churchill by Paul Johnson

2012-01-29T06:25:00.000-08:00

Short biography of Churchill from Johnson, who is a fan, and who could blame him? As usual, Johnson gives a different perspective on events that you thought were settled history, like the Gallipoli misadventure in WW1.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

2012-01-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Outstanding novel about a teenage killer, told from the point of view of his mother. Shriver is a perceptive psychologist.

Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley

2011-11-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

Outstanding work of narrative history concerning the contest for control of the Mediterranean Sea in the 16th century. From the conquest of Rhodes, to the Siege of Malta, to the Battle of Lepanto, it's all here, told in thrilling style. One of the most enthralling history books I've ever read.

Socrates by Paul Johnson

2011-11-22T18:48:00.001-08:00

Johnson is an historian (maybe the greatest living historian), and he takes an historians approach to an introduction to Socrates. Excellent. (audiobook)

1984 by George Orwell

2011-10-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

A classic I've always meant to read but never got around to. Finally listened to it in the car; one of the greatest novels I've ever read.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

2011-09-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

Aaron is reading this in his Brave New Worlds class at UMass, so I reread it to follow along. You can never read this one too many times.

The City of Man by Pierre Manent

2011-07-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

This was a re-read of a book that is among the most profound philosophical reflections I have read. I was impressed the first time I read it, and found myself regularly returning to it. Some books almost take on a living presence in your life; you don't just read them, but you have a dialogue with them over years as you explore their depths. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript, and Plato's Dialogs are in this category for me. The City of Man, I am discovering, is entering it as well.

The Social Animal by David Brooks

2011-07-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

David Brooks explains that human behavior is driven by emotion more than reason. Duh. An irritating feature of the book is Brooks commitment to appear politically even-handed; when he criticizes the left for something, he must follow it immediately by a criticism of the right, with himself positioned as some sort of Aristotelian mean between the two. Is it never the case that either the left or right is simply correct on some policy position? Is the wise position always a splitting of the difference between the two?

Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas

2011-06-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Since reading Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson, I've been looking forward to reading more about Hernan Cortes. Ruthless, ambitious, pious, charismatic, brave, perceptive and clever, Cortes is an altogether fascinating man. Hugh Thomas's account of the conquest of Tenochtitlan does him justice.

Philosophy in the Mass Age by George Grant

2011-05-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Series of essays by Canadian philosopher George Grant on the possibilities of philosophy in our technocratic world.

The Omen by David Seltzer

2011-05-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

The novel on which the movie was based. The film follows it very closely.

Valhalla Rising by Clive Cussler

2011-05-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

I used to read Cussler in high school; pure bubblegum.

Crazy U by Andrew Ferguson

2011-03-14T16:31:00.001-07:00

This is Ferguson's recounting of his travails in getting his son admitted to college. Very funny.

The New Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas Madden

2011-02-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

I've been recalcitrant at keeping my reading log up to date. This book is an excellent short history of the Crusades, fair without the usual Enlightenment prejudices.

The Paper Chase by John Jay Osborn

2010-09-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

The movie is better than the book... although much of the movie dialog is drawn directly from the book.

Kant's Theory of Knowledge by Justus Hartnack

2010-08-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent, succinct introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason. Hartnack is outstanding at getting across the meaning of Kant's technical terms.

Blitzkrieg by Len Deighton

2010-08-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Excellent account of the Battle of France, 1940, from the rise of Hitler to Dunkirk.

The Cold Kiss by John Rector

2010-07-31T06:45:00.001-07:00

Decent thriller novel about a young couple stranded at a motel in a snowstorm, with a dead body, and a suitcase full of money.

Kant's Life and Thought by Ernst Cassirer

2010-07-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

Good take on Kant.

Atheist Delusions - The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart

2010-07-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Excellent response to the New Atheism, made in terms of showing just what it is that Christianity has added to the world and what it might lose when (if) Christianity disappears.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

2010-07-05T19:50:00.001-07:00

My wife has been bugging me for twenty years to read this, so I finally did.

Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman

2010-06-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

The second in Hillerman's Navaho tribal police series. Listened to it while running; being a Hillerman veteran, I was able to identify the killer fairly quickly, but the mystery isn't the best part of Hillerman. It's his development of Joe Leaphorn and his insights into Navaho culture.

The Deep by Peter Benchley

2010-06-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

A good, short adventure story by the author of Jaws.

Ghost and Horror Stories by Ambrose Bierce

2010-05-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

Don't expect the horrifying ghosts of M.R. James in Bierce's writing; Bierce is more about moral horror.

The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman

2010-05-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Another Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navaho Tribal Police novel. The best part of these novels is the author's evocation of Navaho culture, his plain, direct style of writing, and the understated but genuine way he develops his characters. Sometimes it's not too difficult to guess the identity of the murderer, as it was in this case, but then, the mystery is only of secondary importance for me. I've read a number of the Leaphorn/Chee novels by now, and Leaphorn and Chee have come to seem like old friends who I look forward to meeting again; this is what I really want in a series and Hillerman delivers.

The Last Superstition by Edward Feser

2010-05-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Feser takes on the "New Atheists" in this work. To do so, he introduces his Aristotelian worldview and shows why modern philosophy in general is inadequate. Probably the best takedown of the New Atheists that I have read. Also includes Feser's take on the Intelligent Design movement, of which Feser is not a fan.

Aquinas by Edward Feser

2010-05-02T09:46:00.001-07:00

Good introduction to the philosophy of the master.

The Right Darwin by Carson Holloway

2010-03-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Demolition of the position that Darwinism can be a sufficient basis for morality.

A Soul in a Bottle by Tim Powers

2010-03-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Modern ghost story that is more "disturbing" than scary.

Skeptics and True Believers by Chet Raymo

2010-02-15T18:09:00.001-08:00

Picked this up for a few $$$ at the used book store. Usual stuff about folks who accept science (yea!) rather than remain dogmatically ignorant in religion (boo!). You should be able to find it on the shelf at your local Strawmen'R'Us.

God's Battalions by Rodney Stark

2010-02-06T04:30:00.000-08:00

Subtitled the Case for the Crusades.

We Are Doomed by John Derbyshire

2009-10-10T16:58:00.001-07:00

I'll be writing some posts about this book on my main blog.

Radical Hope by Jonathan Lear

2009-08-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Subtitled "Ethics in the face of cultural devastation."

This book is focused on the Crow chief Plenty Coups, and his response to the destruction of the traditional Crow way of life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Excellent.

The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman

2009-08-10T16:58:00.001-07:00

Not one of Hillerman's better efforts.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

2009-08-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Read this as a matter of duty.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

2009-08-08T13:54:00.001-07:00

Read this as a matter of duty, so no one can say I haven't read it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

2009-07-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

Read as a matter of duty.

The Third Revelation by Ralph McInerney

2009-07-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

A theological thriller about alleged secret passages of the Third Secret of Fatima that the Church has failed to reveal. It's a good read, and a more reasonable take on the "theological conspiracy" genre than Da Vinci Code, if you like that sort of thing.

The Tyranny of Liberalism by James Kalb

2009-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

Subtitled "Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command."

The title sounds like it will be a screed, but this book is a really outstanding, measured criticism of liberal thought (in the original meaning of the term) and how it inevitably developed into an assault on the freedom it was supposed to defend.

The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger

2009-07-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is subtitled "The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self."

Another in the series of books that basically tell the same story: Science has proven that the mind is nothing but the brain making models, and the self is an illusion.

The Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read

2009-06-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Pretty good theological thriller about the death of JPII and a conspiracy to determine the next Pope.

Driving Like Crazy by P.J. O'Rourke

2009-06-11T11:12:00.001-07:00

Essays automotive.

On The Third Day by Piers Paul Read

2009-05-26T08:22:00.001-07:00

Novel about the discovery of what appears to be the bones of Christ in Israel.

The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism - Essays and Lectures by Leo Strauss

2009-03-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

Wonderful set of essays by Strauss on a variety of topics.

If I Die in a Combat Zone by TIm O'Brien

2009-03-05T03:24:00.000-08:00

Another Vietnam diary. I can't seem to get enough of these.

Dialogs Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume

2009-03-05T03:23:00.000-08:00

I re-read these every few years. If you are serious about philosophy of religion, you have to be able to answer Hume.

The Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman

2009-03-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

I enjoy the Hillernman Navajo Tribal Police novels for their exploration of the intersection between ancient faith and modern empiricism. This one is a decent effort, not his best but a good read nonetheless.

Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp

2009-03-05T03:19:00.001-08:00

This is the book on which the film "Die Hard" was based. It's actually a very sophisticated thriller, with meditations on the meaning of violence for the "good guys".

The Next 100 Years by George Friedman

2009-02-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

This is a fascinating book by a man I had never heard of but is apparently famous. Like most great non-fiction books, Friedman does not rely on little known or possibly dubious information, but simply takes what is generally known and draws conclusions from it. His main point is that the United States will dominate the next century even more than it did the last 50 years, and that the U.S. is still a "young" power coming into its prime. A fast and good read.

Belief and Nonbelief by Eco and Martini

2009-02-03T14:53:00.001-08:00

This book is a series of letters between Umberto Eco (author of The Name of the Rose) and Cardinal Martini. It's pretty short, and both Eco and Martini spend a lot of time talking about talking rather than just talking. Just as I thought they started to engage, the book ended.

Soccer Tour New Years 08

2009-01-04T14:32:00.001-08:00

Here are pictures from our trip with XL Travel to the U.K. to watch English Premier football (soccer) games. The pictures, in order, are from the bottom up. I don't know how to get blogger to add them top to bottom.

Ethan and I with Martha, a real soccer fan who has taken 10 of the XL tours

over the last two years!

Aaron and Ethan at New Year's Eve celebration at the hotel.

Our view of the game during Hull City - Aston Villa fixture. That's Brad Friedel, an American, in the goal for Aston Villa on the right. I wish I had the Stars and Stripes with me!

Aston Villa supporters singing to Hull City supporters at KC Stadium in Hull City. Many of the songs are not, ahem, "family friendly."

In the stands at KC Stadium in Hull City. We had great seats about five rows back from the goal. Again, we sat with the away fans (Aston Villa), who were very friendly to us.

Strolling around Manchester city. The downtown area is not all that big and is walkable, a lot like Boston.

Ethan in dressing room at City of Manchester stadium.

Aaron in the dressing room at City of Manchester stadium.

Sitting in the pressroom at City of Manchester Stadium.

Wayne Rooney taking a corner kick at Old Trafford.

Pregame festivities at Old Trafford.

Inside Old Trafford prior to the Manchester United - Middlesbrough game. We sat with the Middlesbrough supporters. The railing draped in green is the marker that separates the home (Man United) and away (Middlesbrough) supporters. At game time, there are a lot of police and stewards patrolling the border to keep everyone in line.

Outside Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United (not to be confused with

the Manchester City team.) This is a giant stadium that holds about 70,000 spectators.

Outside of City of Manchester Stadium, home of Manchester City football club.

We didn't get to see a Man City game, but we did tour the stadium.

Bolton supporters passing banner across the stands. It reads "We are the one and only Wanderers."

In the stands prior to the Bolton Wanderers - Wigan Athletic game. We sat with the Bolton supporters right next to the Wigan section.

The boys outside the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.

The Miracle Detective by Randall Sullivan

2008-10-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

I was checking out Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth from the library and happened to see this book in the same section of shelving.

Sullivan is a reporter for Rolling Stone who became interested in the investigation of miracles, specifically Marian apparitions. Much of the book is about the time he spent in Medjugorje, where he became acquainted with most of the principal players. The book also contains some interesting interviews with Fr. Benedict Groeshel and Fr. Gabriel O'Donnell.

The City and Man by Leo Strauss

2008-09-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Three essays by Strauss on Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic, and Thucydides's Peloponnesian War.

Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey

2008-08-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Read this at my wife's urging. Olympic level gymnastics is as crazy as you thought.

France: Summer 1940 by John Williams

2008-08-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

An account of the fall of France in 1940, part of the Ballantine series.

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat by John Lukacs

2008-08-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

A history of the famous speech Winston Churchill gave on May 13, 1940, when he became Prime Minister of Great Britain.

He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.

2008-08-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is a companion book to Ciszek's With God In Russia, an account of his years as a priest in the Soviet Union (much of it spent as a prisoner in the Gulag.) He Leadeth Me is a discussion of the spiritual lessons Fr. Ciszek learned during his years in Russia. It is a wonderful read, simply and humbly written, with the wisdom that can only come from great suffering enlightened by deep faith.

Liberation's Children by Kay Hymowitz

2008-08-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

A collection of her essays.

The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman

2008-07-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Listened to this on CD while driving the family on vacation.

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

2008-07-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

This book is out of the ordinary for a Christie work, and one of her better efforts. Christie is not great literature, but there is more depth to her better books than she is usually given credit for, and this book is a case in particular.

Besides being a decent mystery, the book is also a meditation on the nature of evil. Is evil flashy and flamboyant, or small and mean, or perhaps both? Does supernatural evil really exist in the universe? Is the occult genuinely evil and is it effective? These and other similar questions are theme of the work.

Sickness Unto Death Notes, First Part I.

2008-07-20T17:27:00.001-07:00

That Despair is the sickness unto death.

"Man is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity, in short it is a synthesis."

Man has an eternal aspect, his intellect, through which he knows the eternal aspect of being. He has a temporal aspect, including his senses, through which he knows the temporal aspect of being in its changing, material nature. Man is a union, a "synthesis", of these two elements, of body and soul. But this is not the deepest account of man, for man is not merely the union of body and soul, for he knows of that union and has the freedom to take a stand with respect to it. Man has the freedom to submit or rebel against the truth of his own nature. Yet this possibility of rebellion is itself a reflection of the nature of man. Man's nature is such that he has the capacity to accept or reject himself. "The self is a relation which relates itself to itself." It is a relation of body and soul (among others) that takes a stand (relates itself) to that very relation.

Now did man create himself or was he created by another? This means more than we generally think it does. For the creation of man not only involves creating body and soul, for animals also have body and soul. It means creating the specific difference of man, which is the peculiar ability to relate himself to himself, to take a stand with respect to himself. A bear does not grow anxious about the fact of being a bear, and sometimes wish he were some other bear or another animal altogether. Even less does the bear wonder if it would be better if he were never born. The bearness of the bear is something about which he is altogether unconcerned. But man is very concerned about his own humanity; he may sometimes wish he were another man or another sort of being altogether. It is this peculiar fact, that he relates himself to himself, that is the specific difference of man.

Kierkegaard acknowledges but two possibilities: The relation that constitutes man was constituted by man himself, or the relation was constituted by another, who Kierkegaard takes to be God. What about the possibility that man was constituted not by himself or by God, but by nature? Such a possibility is, well, not possible. For the relation that relates itself to itself transcends nature altogether. Nature may provide the elements of a relation, as she grounds essences, but she is powerless to provide the relation itself; for a relation is not another essence but transcends the order of essences; just as the relation force equals mass times acceleration transcends force, mass, and acceleration, the elements of the relation. This, by the way, is the short answer why science will never fully explain man. For man is constituted in part by the relation he takes to the science he conducts, and in that relation he necessarily transcends science. (For to any science that attempted to account for the relation man takes to science, man will further relate himself to that "last science," in a way not possibly accounted for by that science.)

So man either constituted the relation that is himself by himself, or that relation was constituted by God. If man created himself ("constituted itself"), then the problem of life for man is merely to fulfill the meaning that he has created for himself. The problem of life becomes the problem of being "authentic" or of being "true to yourself", whatever one takes that truth to be. It finally doesn't matter what you think the truth about yourself to be, for you have constituted yourself in your own truth. The truth about yourself is what you think that truth to be. This seems to be the prevailing opinion in elite American culture.

But suppose that man is not the creator of his own truth, that he is a relation constituted, not by himself, but by another Power? Then the problem of life for man becomes relating himself to the power that constituted him. No longer is life about being "authentic" for whatever truth or authenticity a man has cannot be found in himself, but only in the power that constituted him.

The vulgar version of the opinion that man constitutes his own self is found in the exhortation to "follow your dreams." Dreams are of subjective origin and bear no necessary relation to objective reality; "following your dreams" means imposing your own self-created meaning on reality. The vulgar version of the opinion that man's self is constituted by a higher Power is the counsel that "God has a plan for you." (By the way, vulgar does not mean false. It only means common opinion as opposed to sophisticated opinion.) What your dreams are doesn't matter; what matters are the "dreams" of the Power that holds the secret of your being.

On my main blog, the post about Lee and McClellan is relevant. McClellan was a man who "followed his dreams" and thought that his own self constituted its own meaning; in his case, the meaning of "savior of the Union." Lee was a man who knew himself to be constituted by a higher power, and the meaning of his life was to be found in dedicating himself in service to that higher power.

Kierkegaard finishes by showing that despair (the sickness unto death) is not just a "problem" like any other. It is a disruption of the very self; the self has no uncontaminated resources from which it can fix itself. The self cannot "stand outside itself" and repair itself. The hardier it tries to do this, the worse it makes the situation. In fact, this is the pattern for the deepening of despair.

Marriage and Caste in America by Kay S. Hymowitz

2008-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

The subtitle says it all: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age.

This is a collection of Hymowitz's essays over the last 10-15 years, describing the destruction of the family in our culture.

Sickness Unto Death Notes, Introduction

2008-07-15T04:14:00.000-07:00

Kierkegaard uses the raising of Lazarus to explain the difference Christianity makes in the life of man. In the raising of Lazarus, Christ showed that death is not the ultimate evil it appears to be, "the last thing of all." But Christianity not only takes the sting out of death; it introduces a new evil even more fearful than death, and in light of which death is relativized. This evil is the "sickness unto death."

The general concept of evil is that evil is the deprivation of the good. Death is the evil of the deprivation of the good of life. By revealing a new good - eternal life in Christ that transcends mortality - Christianity necessarily reveals a new evil, the deprivation of the good of eternal life or, in other words, eternal death. The Christian must work out his salvation in fear and trembling because the stakes have gotten higher for him than they are for the "natural man" (i.e. the man for whom mortal death is the ultimate evil and an end.) The natural man can opt out of the game of existence through death; if he has suffered too much or been shamed or dishonored, he can destroy himself through suicide like a Roman consul or Japanese samurai. There is no opting out of existence in Christianity; the question of whether he will exist is no longer one asked of man. The only question he is asked is the nature of his existence. In this respect, Kierkegaard tells us, the relationship of the Christian to the natural man is like that of an adult to a child.

Christianity introduces a peculiar mode of existence, the possibility of which was previously unknown: The state of eternal death. In Christianity, just as a man can be eternally alive yet mortally dead, so can he be eternally dead yet mortally alive. This latter state is the "sickness unto death", in which death is not the result of the sickness, but is the sickness. The horror figures of vampires and zombies are vulgar interpretations of the state of living death, and are therefore at bottom Christian figures (which is why the horror genre always has a latent relationship to Christianity, and loses its potency when the Christian element is expunged.) The sophisticated understanding of the state of living death is the sickness unto death, to be explored by Kierkegaard in this book.

Sickness Unto Death Notes, Preface

2008-07-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Kierkegaard spent his career trying to communicate one main point: Christianity is not primarily a theory or an idea or even a way of life; it is an existential communication between the God-man Christ and the individual man. This means you.

The man who approaches Christianity as a matter of merely academic interest may be correct according to the canons of the academy, but he is involved necessarily in what Kierkegaard would call "subjective falsehood." He has mistaken himself for someone to whom the challenge of Christ has not been directed, or at least as someone to whom the challenge of Christ may be subordinated to the abstract, intellectual pursuit of truth. The academic calling is taken as a higher calling than the call of Christ, as though the intellectual demands of the academic are self-evidently the highest demand that can possibly be.

But Christ has directed his call to discipleship to intellectuals as well as common men. This is the source of the "anxious concern" that characterizes the true Christian intellectual, or even an intellectual who , though not a Christian, recognizes that Christianity is a possibility for him. Whether Christianity is immediately taken to be objectively true is beside the point. Kierkegaard's point relates to our existence as individuals with respect to the possibility that Christ is indeed the Son of God. If He is not, then Christ has no meaning and places no demands on me now or in the future; if He is, then He has infinite meaning for me and places demands on me now, not at some far off time in the future when my intellectual investigation of Christianity reaches a satisfactory completion. The intellectual who understands his subjective relationship to the possible truth of Christianity will naturally feel anxiety with respect to the predicament in which it puts him.

This predicament is not an artificial creation of Kierkegaard or radically out of character with the rest of existence. For example, the man who is told the building he is in is on fire is in a mundane, less significant form of the predicament. He will leave the building because of the subjective truth of his relationship to the possible objective truth that the building is on fire. Were he not in this particular building, he could take the proposal that it is on fire as one for leisurely academic study. He could take as long as he likes, let the evidence accumulate, and render a judgment only when he finds a scientifically defensible conclusion can be made. The man in the building has no such luxury; more significant to him than the actual objective state of the building is his subjective relationship to the possibility that it is on fire. The dire consequences that would follow were the building to actually be on fire and he inside it dictate his course of action. He leaves off idle speculation about the building and gets up and leaves it.

Kierkegaard's point is that, with respect to Christianity, we are all like the man in the (possibly) burning building. There is no place in existence "outside the building" from which a man may investigate Christianity with academic indifference, as though its flames could not possibly touch him. The man who takes this approach to Christianity, whatever his merits as an objective scholar, has already made a far more serious subjective mistake with respect to Christianity.

Kierkegaard is not saying that this "subjective logic" should compel all reasonable men to become Christians. He viewed his career as merely a corrective to the notion that Christianity can legitimately be approaches in an attitude of academic detachment. Any consideration of Christianity that grasps its essential nature, whatever the ultimate objective truth of Christianity, will involve some anxiety and "fear and trembling" on the part of the investigator.

When Kierkegaard writes in an "edifying" mode, he writes for the "man in the burning building," not for the disinterested, leisurely academic. Thus the Sickness Unto Death is not written in the abstract, subjectively indifferent form we expect of academic discourse, but in a form that reflects the existential predicament in which Christianity places all men. Since with respect to Christ, we are all in the possibly burning building, "From the Christian point of view everything, absolutely everything, should serve for edification." Therefore, with respect to the opinion that the Sickness Unto Death is "too edifying" to be strictly scientific, Kierkegaard "has no opinion," for such an opinion can only be made from the place of academic disinterest, just the place Kierkegaard denies is available for the investigator aware of subjective truth. By refusing himself to have such a "scientific opinion", Kierkegaard signals to the reader that he has taken his own writing subjectively and to heart.

Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson

2008-07-08T19:28:00.001-07:00

Best Ghost Stories of J.S. LeFanu

2008-06-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

LaFanu was M.R. James' favorite writer of ghost stories.

The Faithful Departed by Philip F. Lawler

2008-04-29T15:38:00.001-07:00

An insightful analysis of the collapse of Catholic culture, with particular attention to the Boston archdiocese

The Devil's Delusion by David Berlinski

2008-04-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is Berlinski's answer to the "new atheists" (Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc.) Berlinski is something of an acquired taste (which I acquired long ago with his A Tour of the Calculus) and sometimes writes in an overly florid style, but in this book, his prose is disciplined and a joy to read.

Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James

2008-04-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

P.D. James has an excellent reputation, but I only made it halfway through this book before dropping it in boredom. I'm still an Agatha Christie fan when it comes to mysteries.

The Nature of the Universe by Lucretius

2008-04-04T19:11:00.001-07:00

Lucretius was an ancient Roman who lived in the century before the birth of Christ, an atheist and an Epicurean

De Cive (Citizen) by Thomas Hobbes

2008-04-03T14:41:00.001-07:00

Hobbes's development of civil society out of the state of nature.

The Survival of Culture: Permanent Values in a Virtual Age. Edited by Hilton Kramer and Roger Kimball

2008-03-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

A series of essays on the crisis of Western Culture.

De Homine (Man) by Thomas Hobbes

2008-03-22T13:12:00.001-07:00

A direct statement of his views on the nature of man, including the famous "state of nature."

The Politics by Aristotle

2008-03-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Re-read of a classic, inspired to do so by reading Strauss.

The Killing Zone, My Life in the Vietnam War by Frederick Downs

2008-03-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

A relatively short, hard-hitting account of Lt. Downs's time as a platoon commander in Delta Company, Third Brigade, Fourth Division, U.S. Army in Vietnam in 1967. The book is written in a diary form and Downs does not go into his political views or his views on the war as a whole; just what it was like to battle the VC hand-to-hand in the jungles of I Corps. After reading this book, there will be no doubt in your mind that Downs earned his four Purple Hearts, Bronze Star with Valor, and Silver Star. I could barely put this book down once I opened it.

Plato's Modern Enemies and the Theory of Natural Law by John Wild

2008-03-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

While reading Natural Right and History by Strauss, I re-read this book as a refresher on natural law. It is my favorite introduction to classical thinking on natural law. Wild has a straightforward, systematic, and plain style of writing that gets to the point and makes him a pleasure to readl.

Natural Right and History by Leo Strauss

2008-03-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Adrian Walker recommended Strauss to me as someone I would find congenial. I was vaguely familiar with Strauss from references to him, and I fortunately took Adrian's advice. This book masterfully draws the distinctions between classical and modern thinking on natural law, identifies the true implications of the "fact-value" distinction, gives a brief but wonderful account of the origin of philosophy, probes the meaning of modern natural right and its crisis, and along the way provides insight on philosophers from Socrates to Lucretius to Hobbes, Rousseau and Edmund Burke among many others. A real treasure.

The End of Faith by Sam Harris

2008-03-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

A standard atheist tract. Harris is unusual for an atheist insofar as he is favorable to Eastern meditative techniques.