The Age of Caesar: Five Roman Lives by Plutarch (translated by Pamela Mensch) Norton (5 February 2018) Publisher's page What's It About?: Plutarch's biographies of five Roman statesmen: Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, and Mark Antony. Selected from the Parallel Lives, these works address the question as to how a republic can be protected from … Continue reading The Age of Caesar
Say Everything
Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters by Scott Rosenberg Three Rivers Press (1 June 2010) Publisher's page What's it about?: This is basically a history of blogging as an overall process, and its impact on the media, politics, business, and our personal lives. My opinion: A very concise history … Continue reading Say Everything
From the Inside
"To expect a bad person not to harm others is like expecting fig trees not to secrete juice, babies not to cry, horses not to neigh -- the inevitable not to happen. What else could they do -- with that sort of character?" Marcus Aurelius Linkin Park spent all of 2003 promoting their second album, … Continue reading From the Inside
Gorbachev
Gorbachev: The Path to Power by Christian Schmidt-Hauer I.B. Taurus (11 July 1986) Where to find it What's it about?: Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, former Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union, from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991. Looking at his life and career, it was published in 1986. … Continue reading Gorbachev
Nostalgia
[Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my buddy Thanasi, since much of what went into this piece came from our conversations.] "A world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that's left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through the masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum." … Continue reading Nostalgia
Four Tragedies
Four Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by William Shakespeare Penguin (27 October 1994) Publisher's link What's it about?: Four of Shakespeare's tragedies, with notes, introductions, background and sources, and other additional materials to accompany each text. My opinion: It's Shakespeare. How can one go wrong? Let's just leave it at that. Kidding... sort of. … Continue reading Four Tragedies
Zero to One
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel (with Blake Masters) Virgin (1 June 2015) Publisher's Link What's It About?: Startups, at least as the word is currently defined in the Silicon Valley sense, and how to test ideas and get your company moving. It challenges readers to … Continue reading Zero to One
History of the Peloponnesian War
History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (translated by Rex Warner) Penguin (31 December 1963) Publisher's link What It's About?: Thucydides' historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens). The author served as an Athenian general during the war, a … Continue reading History of the Peloponnesian War
My Pilgrim’s Progress
My Pilgrim's Progress: Media Studies, 1950-1998 by George W. S. Trow Vintage (2 May 2000) Publisher's link What It's About?: A study of the media culture of the United States, how television came to dominate media consumption in the 1950s, and how things continued to evolve towards the end of the twentieth-century. George W. S. … Continue reading My Pilgrim’s Progress
Take a Look in the Mirror
"Someone asked the novelist how he was able to write so consistently and remain inspired and motivated. He replied, 'Two hundred crappy words per day, that's it.' The idea was that if he forced himself to write two hundred crappy words, more often than not the act of writing would inspire him; and before he … Continue reading Take a Look in the Mirror
Lawrence Deveney 