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The Three Senses of “What Now?”
We may contemplate our future with dread and uncertainty or with joy and anticipation. But sometimes we see no future. I came to Ann Patchett’s “What Now?” in the meandering vein of “Things I learned Enroute to Looking Up Other Things” columns. I read Dutch House, which convinced me that Patchett was a good writer. So…
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Our Dying Breath: Exhalation and ALS
Ted Chiang’s Exhalation is a classic Sci-Fi short story. Brilliant, evocative, thought-provoking, deeply humanistic and inspirational. It tells of the end of days for race of mechanical men undone by the remorseless laws of the universe. It’s the title story of his 2019 collection, and while that collection is chock-full of great stories (especially the remarkable opening story), Exhalation stands…
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Whatever Our Beliefs, We Suffer Together
C.S. Lewis’ short book on grief covers the slow curve from the abyss to recovery. I read C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed because…well, when you’re a reader and you’re struggling with losing someone, you naturally read about…grief. Lewis lost a wife of not so many years. A wife he found late enough in life to know how precious their affection…
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Too Old (or Too Comfortable) for Romantic Love
About two months ago I picked up J.M. Coetzee’s The Pole — a compact story of late life romantic love. I enjoyed it so much I immediately went on to Waiting for the Barbarians and then Disgrace. You know you’ve enjoyed a story when, after finishing, you immediately find another by the same author. But that second book can be…
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Is Love a Virtue?
Virtue theories are the only strand of modern ethical thinking that makes much sense in light of cognitive science. Utilitarian calculus becomes a funhouse of infinite regress in a world where experience changes both who we are and what we value. It didn’t take cognitive science to cast doubt on Kant’s strange metaphysics of freedom…
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Thinking About Utopia
We are all trapped in time and place to certain kinds of life. We spend most of our big-picture energy thinking about the kind of life that’s best for us, given the world we live in. And so we should. But every now and then, a group of people decide to wipe the slate clean…
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Comfort Books
When you’re depressed or feeling stressed, there’s no better cure than friends. But when you’re sick, there isn’t much friends can do for you. You’re at home, feeling bad. If you’re too sick to work but not quite at the vegetative stage (like I was for a good chunk of February), you tend to go looking…
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A Year in Books – Readings From the Last Year
A year covers a lot of books when you’re an avid reader. Old favorites, too much sci-fi, a few Great Courses on audio, and some truly great books. Here’s everything I read with quick notes, highlights and links to the ones that got written about in detail.
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A Tale of Two Doctorow’s
Without planning or malice aforethought, I found myself reading books by two Doctorow’s – E.L. and Cory – at the same moment. This felt rather like a literary Mr. Shuffle (where two songs randomly played off my Apple Playlist happen to have some odd relationship). There is, after all, nothing to tie their work together.…
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Before the Coffee Gets Cold
A few years back we somehow got signed up for a Boksu subscription – a monthly box of seasonal Japanese snacks – that just kept going month after month for years. The boxes are lovely and crafted in way that seems utterly unique to the Japanese as are many of the snacks, and everyone in…
We are not rational animals, we are animals that must work to be rational
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