The Revolt Against Humanity; Imagining a Future without Us by Adam Kirsch
I have been exploring the idea that the most important part of human life is life not human. I got interested in the post humanities series which aren’t referenced here but should be. The title is pretty self-explanatory. The only furthering of this idea is…
Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah
I have two reasons for reading this novel. First, is that the author recently won a Nobel prize and I had never heard of him. Second, I want to read more fiction by non-Americans and even non-Europeans. In ‘Gravel Heart’ while significant events occur in…
Moliere, The Complete Richard Wilbur Translations by Richard Wilbur
One of the first poetry collections I read was by Wilbur and the elegance and freshness of his poetry astonished me. A couple years later I read a piece in the New York Review of Books about this Library of America collection of Moliere plays…
Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould
‘On the Origin of Species’ maybe the most impactful book I’ve ever read. Not because of what I learned about natural selection though I learned quite a bit but because it revealed a mind that worked towards insight from a place of not knowing rather…
Salvation Black People and Love by bell hooks
I had heard that bell hooks was a great social and cultural critic so when I saw this title at the bookstore, I decided to read it. At first I thought why was I reading a book about black people and love? I’m not the…
Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Stephen Mitchell
This excellent translation is particularly powerful with the Duino Elegies which as Mitchell explains in the forward sound as if these poems were channeled directly from divine beings. There is a breathless stream of consciousness with the Elegies as if the angels are whispering into…
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The original title of this book was horrible and I saw a cover that makes things even more racist. And it doesn’t seem necessary to the book but then gratuitous and casual racism was the order of the day back in 1939 when this novel…
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