-
Democracy and the Good Life: Part 2
The Democratic Marketplace “To the somber warfare of creeds and sects there succeeded the squalid but far less irrational or uncontrollable strife of parties” Winston Churchill on the aftermath of the English Civil War If free markets are the arena and engine of capitalism, democracy also involves a free (though sometimes carefully designed) marketplace in which…
-
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.
-
The Discipline We Demand, The Price We Pay
The idea that people in Western society are extraordinarily disciplined may be surprising. Yet few societies have ever asked for as much discipline as ours. It’s a burden not everyone can bear. For these people, the freedom of liberal society is a literal hell, and the help of the welfare state just another ball-and-chain.
-
The Story of a Life: The Novel and Biography
If novels are the essential artistic expression of transformative choice and decision-making, biography (auto and non) often has similar interests. Reading The Story of a Life, Russian/Ukranian Konstantin Paustovsky’s very literary autobiography is a reminder of how much biography may resemble the novel both in ethical purpose and literary form. After all, the novel is…
-
Oppenheimer and the False NON-Equivalency of Hitler and Stalin
False equivalency was a doctrine very much in fashion and not without some reason. Though mainstream journalism has long been a bastion of liberal ideology and has lately become just another armed camp in the great ideology wars, it nevertheless works within a framework and structure that encourages a show of objectivity. That show may…
-
Materialism and the Void: The Emptiness at the Heart of Modern Culture
Our culture provides such extraordinary opportunities for rich and interesting lives that it is hard to understand how we mostly end up doing so poorly. Our problem is not opportunity, it is execution. And when it comes to building a good life, not just giving us the tools for it, our culture often works against…
-
Reason to Believe & Something to Believe In
Crisis of confidence? Resilience of hope? Springsteen and Clannad (via Mr. Shuffle) offer two hauntingly laments on the seemingly illusory nature of hope, the endless disappointments of life, and the essential challenge we face in finding something to believe in. This might as well be the soundtrack to the latest TW2BR essay on materialism and…
-
The World’s End
The fitting conclusion to the Cornetto Trilogy, each of which has its special pleasures. But I’ve always loved World’s End the best, perhaps for my namesake – the “King” of Gary’s in film. One mile. Twelve pubs. Twelve pints. And a story of friendship, loss, and what the total absence of personal transformation might look…
-
Spending Quality Time with the Most Interesting Man in the World
“The young man visiting the archeological site on Skraeling Island is the same fellow who at the end of the book encounters a stranger on the road to Port Famine, but also not.” So says the end of the beginning of Horizon, Barry Lopez’s unique travelogue through a lifetime. And what a life he’s lived.…
We are not rational animals, we are animals that must work to be rational
 |  |  |  |