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List: themes:philosophy

Cover of Tao Te Ching.

Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu · published -600 · read 2020-03-26

★★★★★

This review is for Ursula K. le Guin's rendition of the Tao Te Ching. It's not exactly a translation (she didn't know Chinese) – she compared a bunch of translations and consulted experts, but also wrote poetry and what seemed right to her.

Cover of Leisure: The Basis of Culture.

Leisure: The Basis of Culture

by Josef Pieper · published 1948 · read 2020-05-24

★★★★★

This book is A Lot. It's a Christian philosopher arguing for the value of Tao, that is, work-transcending leisure.

Cover of Twilight of the Idols.

Twilight of the Idols

by Friedrich Nietzsche · published 1888 · read 2020-05-25

★★★★☆

Nietzsche – in this book, he is equally malevolent spirit, joyfully brilliant shitposter, and asshole. The full title is Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer (*Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philo

Cover of The Manual: A Philosopher's Guide to Life.

The Manual: A Philosopher’s Guide to Life

by Epictetus · published 2017 · read 2019-09-24

★★★★☆

I had a couple of stressful weeks, with both positive and negative experiences with wonderful people. When I start losing my equilibrium (ok, no, when I have irrevocably lost my equilibrium), I sometimes go back and read The Manual, a v

Cover of Über das christliche Menschenbild.

Über das christliche Menschenbild

by Josef Pieper · published 1964 · read 2020-11-20

★★★☆☆

A short book by Pieper, which I read mostly because it was there (and I like Pieper). Not as impressive as some of his work, it struck me more like one of the notebook blogs – a bit unfinished, a bit WIP, scoring points against other phil

Cover of Traktat über die Klugheit.

Traktat über die Klugheit

by Josef Pieper · published 1960 · read 2020-11-23

★★★☆☆

Josef Pieper on prudence as the most important of the cardinal virtues, following (as always) Thomas of Aquin.

Cover of Sophie's World.

Sophie’s World

by Jostein Gaarder, Anne Born · published 1991 · read 2003-11-01

★★☆☆☆

Meh. Meh, I say. Books that preach at me have to be outstanding to convince me, not tedious and annoying and boring. They have to have characters and good reasons for their preaching, not two-dimensional cardboard cutouts who get a bit of a

Cover of The Just City.

The Just City

by Jo Walton · published 2015 · read 2020-03-10

★★☆☆☆

A very cerebral, nearly clinical book, and I wanted to like it more than I actually liked it. I'm very here for the character of Socrates, and … not much else, to be quite honest. It's a fun concept, but I felt that even where it tried to g

Cover of God's Philosophers.

God’s Philosophers

by James Hannam · published 2009 · read 2021-10-14

★★☆☆☆

This book came recommended by Seb Falk in the bibliography of The Light Ages, and it's also on the reading list of /r/askHistorians, which I trust a lot. I found this book harder to like – who writes sentences like “when the barbarian tribe

Cover of On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious.

On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious

by Douglas E. Harding · published 1961 · read 2020-05-09

★☆☆☆☆

DNF. Not right for me, not right for now. It talks about Zen and Buddhism, but not in a way that's accessible to me.