Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson Penguin (5 December 2003) Amazon If you enjoy reading the essays of Seneca and Montaigne, then Ralph Waldo Emerson works nicely as a next step. He complements them while setting his works apart in a uniquely American way. I am referring to an emphasis on drive and … Continue reading Nature and Selected Essays
Category: Book summaries
The Fun of It
The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation by Amelia Earhart Academy Chicago Publishers (1 April 2006) Amazon Amelia Earhart, the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight. Her first memoir, 20 Hrs. 40 Min., focused mainly on her flying across the Atlantic as a passenger. … Continue reading The Fun of It
The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs
The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro Yale University Press (18 May 2012) Amazon A great book for those who like language, folksy wisdom, or the way ideas are spread. The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs is a collection of sayings that emerged or became more common during … Continue reading The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs
The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus
The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus by Cassius Dio (translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert) Penguin (1 June 1987) Amazon Another one for those who like to think about the Roman Empire. The Roman History by Cassius Dio is an excellent intersection of history and philosophy, and one of the most important surviving accounts of how … Continue reading The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus
The Book of Dead Philosophers
The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley Knopf Doubleday (10 February 2009) Amazon I wish we had this book when I studied philosophy during my VCE and undergrad years. The ones assigned -- aside from all the photocopied extracts of Plato and Nietzsche -- I'd honestly forgotten until I was drafting this post. Sophie's … Continue reading The Book of Dead Philosophers
You Can Negotiate Anything
You Can Negotiate Anything: The World's Best Negotiator Tells You How to Get What You Want by Herb Cohen Bantam Dell (1 January 1984) Amazon A bestselling text on negotiation, You Can Negotiate Anything was first published in the 1980s. It became an instant classic, credited as bringing negotiation out of the boardrooms of the … Continue reading You Can Negotiate Anything
On the Good Life
On the Good Life by Cicero Penguin (1 April 1980) Amazon On the Good Life is a Penguin collection of Cicero's ethical writings, translated for a modern audience by Michael Grant. Themes in these works include friendship, duty, virtue, happiness, and public service. The questions presented in the text tend to be practical. How should … Continue reading On the Good Life
On Grief and Reason
On Grief and Reason: Essays by Joseph Brodsky Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. (10 April 1997) Amazon A posthumously published collection of Joseph Brodsky's essays, On Grief and Reason is a series of meditations on literature as a moral and civilising force. For Brodsky, poetry is something that sharpens perception, preserves individual freedom, and is … Continue reading On Grief and Reason
The Philosophy of Epictetus
The Philosophy of Epictetus by John Bonforte (ed.) Literary Licensing (15 October 2011) Amazon The Philosophy of Epictetus is a short, mid-twentieth century compilation of the teachings of Epictetus. Edited by John Bonforte, it makes for a nice curated intro to the philosopher, sourced mostly from the Discourses. Based on earlier translations, it's lightly edited … Continue reading The Philosophy of Epictetus
Toussaint Louverture
Toussaint Louverture: A Biography by Madison Smartt Bell Vintage (1 February 2008) Amazon Biography of a former slave who challenged an emperor and led the Haitian Revolution. Relatively short, but dense, which might be due to Madison Smartt Bell's background as a novelist. If you were being kind, you would say Louverture was a divisive … Continue reading Toussaint Louverture
Lawrence Deveney 