One part racist sexist misguided grandpa waxing philosophical about the meaninglessness of life, one part letters responding to Durant’s inflamattory prompt on the meaninglessness of life, one part toothless conclusion. Meh.
Some of the letters were interesting to read but most of the rest of this was not.
A cat goes on a journey of self-discovery, teaching and being taught the philosophy of Zen Buddhism.
The art is great, the text is well written. It’s a philosophical picture book for all ages. What’s not to like?
The most well put together rendition of the Tao Te Ching I’ve read with commentary and thoughts throughout from my lord and savior Ursula K. Le Guin.
You can’t go wrong with this one.
Conserve your semen.
Achieve immortality.
Rejoice.
Not my cup of tea. Philosophy should be understandable, this text is incomprehensible.
Maybe if was downing absinthe with Sartre and his crew back in the forties when this was written, I would “get” it. As-is though, this is pretty hard to get through.
Joshua Halberstam is the king of strawmanning. Every chapter involves him describing these absurd caricatures of human beings and then using them to try to say to something interesting (keyword: try).
I’m deathly allergic to cats (especially unneutered cats) so despite liking them in theory, I can’t spend much time with them.
I’m not allergic to philosophy though. This book talks about cats, talks about philosophy and uses the promise of cats to ease you into thinking about philosophy.
At least, that’s what I think it’s trying to do?
A short semi-biographical discussion and guide on meditation.
TBH I sped through this, I need to read it again.
I remember it having some pretty funny moment where the author puts Jesus on blast.
I much preferred Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English’s translation of the Tao Te Ching. I’m not an ancient Chinese scholar so I can’t speak to how faithful this translation is compared to the original manuscript.
But I can say that the poetry doesn’t flow well and some translation choices left me scratching my head — wondering if Thomas Cleary understands how the English language works.
We all enjoy (and love to comment on) our experiences with media, cuisine, design, games and more. Clearly, aesthetic pursuits are an integral part of the human experience, this book tries to tell us why from three different points of view.
Games are a unique art form. They do not just tell stories, nor are they simply conceptual art. They are the art form that works in the medium of agency. C. Thi Nguyen’s Games: Agency as Art dives deep into these ideas and expands on them.
A philosophical exploration of what it means to be awesome and not suck, and a plea for more awesomeness in our personal, social, and public lives.
Think is a book about the big questions in life: knowledge, consciousness, fate, God, truth, goodness, justice. It is for anyone who believes there are big questions out there, but does not know how to approach them. Think sets out to explain what they are and why they are important. If you’re like me, and you knew barely anything about philosophy before reading this, you’re in for a wild ride.
The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten offers one hundred philosophical thought-experiments. To get the most out of it, you might want to pull it out and discuss a thought-experiment with some friends because the book doesn’t do much more than present the thought-experiments one after the other.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (a.d. 121–180) succeeded his adoptive father as emperor of Rome in a.d. 161—and in his Meditations he provides insights, wisdom, and practical guidance on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity to interacting with others. It’s surprising how much of his advice has aged well but given his position of supreme power and the changing times (eg. slavery is bad), some of his meditations have not aged so well.