(Part 3) Best literary criticism books according to redditors
We found 4,398 Reddit comments discussing the best literary criticism books. We ranked the 1,933 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
It's hard to pin down exactly and by what standard you want to judge "Nazi Ideology".
Were most German soldiers patriotic and nationalistic. Most certainly yes. In Hitler's Army, the author makes strong arguments, using everything from rank and file soldiers diaries to communications between high levels of the Wehrmacht, that the average German believed in the rightness of their cause. That being the restoration of German pride, revenge for Versailles, defense against perceived threats to their way of life (Bolshevism), and defense of their homeland. As the war dragged on, defeatism, anti-Nazi sentiment, and war exhaustion did increase exponentially to where it was openly spoken of, at least by German civilians, their disdain for the Nazi's and Adolph Hitler.
In Ordinary Men, the author zeroes in on a particular police unit in Poland that actively participated in the Ethnic Cleansing of Poland of not only Jews, but Slavs, Poles, and other undesirables. While the book paints a largely dismal picture, showing that many went with the "following orders" principle, it was mixed, but definitely was a majority who participated in the Holocaust and Racist actions.
However, there are constant stories being cited, of German regular army, the Wehrmacht not dealing well with being tasked with taking on Holocaust related actions. There were reports of absenteeism, alcoholism, suicides, and even an occasional refusal of a direct order when these actions had to take place. While clearly these units did participate, it was not a mass action, but the large majority did participate. With what thoughts on their mind we can't say for sure across the board, but we do know that Nazi German soldiers overwhelmingly participated in these acts.
So on the whole, if you want to tie Nazism to the larger ideology of German Nationalism, then yes, the average soldier gladly followed the Nazi lead in this. While ascribing to their racist ideology and activities that related to the Holocaust, the numbers were smaller, but still a significant majority.
[:)] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Trouble-Being-Born-Cioran/dp/1611457408)
David Day has a bad reputation for just making things up without any basis in Tolkien's work. I tend to not recommend them.
If you want an atlas the gold standard is The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen-Anne Fonstad
If you want to enhance his reading of LotR, Hammond and Scull's LotR Reader's Companion is the way to go.
If you want an encyclopedia style book, Forster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth is best.
According to the information in A Tolkien Bestiary, krakens were one of many various evil beings spawned by Melkor when he first ruled out of Utumno, before even the Elves awoke. When he was defeated and chained, many of these things persished, but a few survived, and this particular kraken resided in some dark underwater place under the Misty Mountains for many Ages. When Moria's Dwarves were getting their asses kicked again, the Orcs found it and dammed the river outside Moria to create the lake we see in the movie for it to infest.
> I feel like I don't stand for anything, I don't have an identity I feel confident in.
That requires a lot of self-reflection, thinking about what you value and how/if you act according to those values.
> the person I was in high school seems alien to me now.
In a few years, you're probably going to feel the same way about the you right now.
> in the age of social media it feels like everyone's eyes are on me
Most people are too concerned with what other people think about them to spend much time thinking about you.
> I can't control what they think of me
It's good that you realize that.
> but I can't help but feel like most see me as a goofy, disinterested nice guy
Maybe they do, maybe they don't. There's no way for you to know what other people think about you. Even if they say they think you're goofy, there's no way to know if they're telling the truth. If you choose to believe everyone else thinks you're goofy, you can do that, but it's a choice you've decided to make. Your time is better spent trying to be the sort of person you want to be than on worrying about what other people think of you.
> When I push away those fears I instead become an asshole and don't think before I speak.
That's another choice you make. No one forces you to speak without thinking. No one forces you to act like an asshole. If you want to be a kind, virtuous person, that's in your control.
> I've read Meditation and checked out the sidebar on the topics but I'm having trouble implementing the ideas into my daily life
We generally advise that new people do not start with Meditations, as it wasn't intended as an entry point to Stoicism. It's the working journal of an advanced student, and Marcus assumes the reader is already familiar with all of the concepts.
Here's a short list of recommended places to start:
All I do is for the glory of the Volcano.
Snapshots:
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This is slightly off-topic, but if anyone's interested in the US relations with the Hmong, there's an excellent book called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, about culture clash among Hmong immigrants living in California.
I went to one of the best schools in the country for writing and took poetry classes with well-established poets. I've won a few well established poetry awards. I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just trying to show that I'm not pulling the following out of my arse.
You are going to get lots of bad advice. There are lots of really bad poets out there.
I'm not the biggest fan of her poetry, but Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook contains pretty much everything a beginner could want to know about how to write poetry. It's easy to read and short as well.
Some pointers off the top of my head:
Be honest. Don't try to be something you're not.
Imitate your favorite poets. This sounds counterintuitive to the first point, but you're trying to learn how to write. You learn what your own personal style is through reading others'. It is absolutely not a bad idea to start writing imitations of your favorites first.
Avoid purple prose. For the love of god. Also avoid excess adverbs. They do the least for you but everyone throws them in.
Less is more. This is probably the most important point of all. Poetry is poetry and not prose. Every word counts in good writing. It counts even more in poetry. If you have a poem made of eight lines, every fucking word counts. Even the and's, the's, and it's. When you edit, make sure every word there is doing something. Cut absolutely everything out that is unnecessary. It will make your poem WORSE to keep the extras in.
I've found that most famous writers, poets or otherwise, describe writing as a two-fold process: creative outpouring, and then editing. When you want to write a piece, first write down everything you want--everything that feels right. Don't edit yourself too much as you do so. Then, put the writing away for a little while. When you get back to it, then edit. When you edit, you should be in the opposite frame of mind from when you were actively coming up with material. Instead of adding everything you can think of, you need to be cutting out everything that doesn't belong. This is very hard to do and I'm still learning how to do it. It takes humility. Editing is just as important if not more so than the initial steps of writing a poem. Most bad writers do not realize this.
If you want more recommendations for poets to read, or articles about how to write, I'd be glad to provide more.
While we have no idea what this guy in particular thought, most correspondence and diaries found on the bodies of German soldiers showed that the ordinary men of the wehrmacht tended to strongly endorse nazism, and to really believe that they were members of a master race fighting subhumans.
Hitler's ideology was very popular among the rank and file of the german army, hence why the orders to massacre so many soviet civilians were carried out.
Omer Bartov's work "Hitler's army" really does a good job laying this out.
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Army-Soldiers-Oxford-Paperbacks/dp/0195079035
Some examples:
The Norton Anthology of Poetry
The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost
The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry
You're right that this isn't really the right sub per the first rule, however, since the rule concludes by saying:
> We are here to get smarter and better each other.
I'll take a stab at this one.
Out of the gate you sound pretty fucking depressed. You should check on that. If you're doing any drugs you should probably stop. Working out can help.
Anyway... Most uni curriculum is aimed at breadth of study so that you can find what interests you and build a base of industry knowledge. As such some of your coursework may have been uninteresting, irrelevant to you, or seemingly unconnected. The CFA program is fundamentally different as it is a professional qualification exam targeted at a specific sector within a specific industry. CFA is (from my understanding) mostly targeted to investment managers/HF/M&A types. Perhaps you've found your calling?In any case, the above is really the only apprehension I can address. The questions you pose here can't really be answered by me, or anyone else, but you might be able to reconcile them for yourself.
In my opinion, you should read this book which has selections from 'existentialist' philosophers of old. I like Nietzsche, but Notes from The Underground or some of Sartre's work might suit what you're going through better. Maybe the ending of Beyond Good and Evil
Good luck.
Regardless of individual opinions of Crowley the man, when it comes to Crowley the magician you'd find it hard to find a more comprehensive work on correspondences than his '777 And Other Qabalistic Writings Of Aleister Crowley, Including Gemetria & Sepher Sephiroth' https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0877286701/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_tI-BCb9K7YCF8.
This was further researched expounded on & expanded by Dr Stephen Skinner in his excellent 2008 work 'The Complete Magician's Tables'
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0738711640/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_4K-BCbS9R4B0G
There should be plenty of info in these two volumes alone to get you where you want to be correspondence-wise. I find them both invaluable. Good luck 👍
Sure. Stop me when this gets boring!
The History of Middle-earth.
The History of the Hobbit.
The Road to Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century and Roots and Branches, all by Tom Shippey
You should read Tolkien's Letters, too.
Other books to consider:
The LOTR reader's Companion
J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances
Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth
The Keys of Middle-Earth: Discovering Medieval Literature through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien
Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism
J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
If you're feeling rich, you could try to find a copy of Songs For The Philologists, a collection of poems, mostly in Old English, written by Tolkien and E.V. Gordon (I only have a .pdf copy).
I'd also read Tolkien's Beowulf criticism.
and just for fun, read Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, which is nothing to do with philology but which was cowritten by my major professor :)
Let's see, what else? Anything by Douglas A. Anderson, Verlyn Flieger or Michael Drout (especially Drout's Beowulf and the Critics and How Tradition Works: A Meme-Based Cultural Poetics of the Anglo-Saxon Tenth Century.
That's pretty much all that leaps immediately to mind, just glancing over my bookshelves, but if you search for "Tolkien scholarship and criticism" you will find much, much more. Hope this helps!
I strongly suggest you disregard advice to buy ANY book by David Day. They are not accurate, and are full of stuff he just makes up. Day is the laughingstock of the fandom; he's even been banned by the Tolkien Society from attending their future events.
But don't worry, there's lots of good-quality stuff out there for your husband to treasure!
If he has read only The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, look for an attractive edition of The Silmarillion (there are many). This is the great backstory to Lord of the Rings, the legendary past that constantly gets referred to in LOTR. If he hasn't read it yet, that's the Next Big Step for a Tolkien fan.
If he's already read the Silmarillion, Check his shelf to see whether he already has a copy of Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth. If not, that's definitely a great gift for him or any Tolkien fan. "A book of maps" doesn't do it justice -- it's not just geography, but changes over time, populations, heroic journeys, and famous battles, all laid out in a way that keeps you turning the page in a way you wouldn't with a real-life atlas. The way the maps are presented also helps the reader visuallize the progression of the Ages of the World, even though there's not a dedicated timeline.
If he has both of these, go for a copy of Unfinished Tales, which contains extra material that didn't make it into the published LOTR and Silmarillion. He'll love the extras about the Palantiri and what Gandalf got up to while Bilbo and the Dwarves were making do without him.
If he has all that, you have choices to make. If he's graphic's oriented, he may like the John Howe decorative map set or the Alan Lee sketchbook or half a dozen options from artists who've tackled Tolkien. If he's a calendar guy, you can pick from at least that many popular options every year.
If he's a hardcore reader who has made it through the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales and still wants more, he may want to take the deep dive into the 12-volume History of Middle-earth, which is very affordable now that it's in good-quality paperback. But you probably want to check with him on that before buying them all; some volumes are, well, pretty hardcore in their density, and some are best read sequentially. One that would be fine as a standalone is Vol. 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth. Lots of good lore and interesting things in that one.
Your post reminded me of this book which examines how there is more bad-ness in life than good-ness and how life is full of pain, illness, suffering and death. While there are lovely sunsets m, kisses with cute girls and various other ‘good’ things...the list is much smaller than the list of bad things.
Here is another great book. Emil (who was a fantastic modern day philosopher) examines the issues with being born, how it’s always too late for suicide and takes a sideways look at the world.
For books on the Qabalah, the two best books to have been written on the subject are The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford by Lon Milo Duquette. I'd also pick up a copy of 777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, which is a book of qabalistic correspondences.
The best book on the Golden Dawn would be The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magick, which covers (almost) everything someone would wish to know about the original Golden Dawn and was written by one of the most famous initiates of the Golden Dawn.
There is not many books on Rosicruciaism, and many books that are out there on it are fraudulent and are not an accurate representation of the Rosicrucians. The only book that I would say is worth a read is Zanoni, which is a fictional story written by a Rosicrucian. It is based on Rosicrucian philosophies and symbolism.
As for Tarot, I myself prefer the Crowley/Thelemic system of tarot over that of the Golden Dawn, so I can only really recommend books on that system, which are The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley and Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo Duquette.
For the goetic demons, the best text would simply be The Goetia
Also, some beginner books I usually recommend are:
Circles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic by John Michael Greer, which is a beginners guide to ceremonial magick.
Book 4 by Aleister Crowley, which is the most comprehensive treatise on the practice of magick to ever be written, in my own personal opinion.
Enochian Magic in Theory by Frater Yechidah with Enochian Magic in Practice by Frater Yechidah, which are guides to the Enochian system of magick, a very popular and powerful system of magick, developed by the famous magician and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I John Dee, and used and improved upon by many occult orders, most notably the Golden Dawn.
And finally, The Corpus hermeticum by Hermes Trismegistus, which is the foundational text of all hermetic and occult philosophy.
I'm not a fan of Irvine's book, generally. It makes a major departure from the tradition of Stoicism as virtue being the telos of philosophy for tranquility. It's okay for a first look into Stoicism, but not much beyond that.
As a companion to Meditations, I like "The Inner Citadel" by Pierre Hadot.
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, is an exhaustive, scholarly, 900-page annotation of the trilogy. It includes, but is by no means limited to, cross-references to The Silmarillion.
The closest thing to that (and it's pretty close) is The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull. It's essentially the annotations in a separate volume. (An annotated version of *The Lord of the Rings would be pretty fat.)
From primary and secondary sources, lol. It's not a fallacy. We have diaries and documents from German soldiers on the eastern front.
Edit: Here, I'll link a good book on the subject.
That's Clyde Pharr's edition (usually known as the Purple Vergil). It's a great help. The old Ad Usum Delphini are great, too. They usually have a prose rewording of the text, so you can decode the poetry without going into English too much (this site has some Ovid, Horace, and Lucretius editions)
Maybe try crossposting with r/druidism. On there when this came up, there were a lot of recomendations, but this stood out. From what I can tell, it's way different than other pantheons in that most of the deities were worshipped in their local enclaves, as Celtic land wasn't united back then. This also lead to much of the info we have on their religion being lost (also because they didn't have a writing system). Then there were the Christian poets that came later who did have writing but also used oral tradition a lot too. They created the Mabinogion myths, which is definitely worth looking into, though it isn't centred on just deities.
(I prefer Druidry to Druidism, rolls off the tongue better).
Yes, you can do whatever you want. It's a belief system, a way of life, it is not Ikea plans. There is no right or wrong when it comes to someone's beliefs :)
As far as 'a certain ancestry', I assume you mean people of northern European descent claiming only they can be Asatru?
Look, here's the thing. Any neo-pagan religion is reconstructionist. Fact is there is very very little documentation of non-Abrahamic religions in Europe from the middle ages and previously. Even Greco-Roman religious practices and customs are largely speculative and taken from recorded myth and legend. For the most part 'pagan' religious weren't even very organized and beliefs could vary wildly from group to group, region to region, decade to decade.
I recommend you read the various myths and legends of all European cultures and even the Greco-Roman ones. You'll see a lot of recurring themes, the names of the heroes and deities will change but you see the same stories over and over.
Look at Thor vs Perun. Zeus vs Jupiter. Hel vs Prosperina vs Persephone. Hell look at the native tribes of North America, you'll see a dozen or more versions of Coyote.
Do what feels right to you, and don't be afraid to drift. But first, really dive into the source material for the deities we know about. I'll edit this post shortly with some things to start with.
--------------
Edit:
That's a good start.
Also wherever you live find the Audubon society book for trees and the like in your area, you should be able to find one for your region on Amazon used for 5-10$.
Are you reading an annotated text or just straight Latin? If you don't already have a copy I highly recommend [Pharr's version](Vergil's Aeneid, Books I-VI (Latin Edition) (Bks. 1-6) (English and Latin Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0865164215/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RcStDb8RST3Z9) for its grammar notes!
Definitely have a working knowledge of Psychoanalytic theory as it pertains to literary criticism. This was a pretty important influence on Joyce as well as many other writers associated with Modernism.
Poststructuralism is probably the other most important school that comes to mind that would make for an ideal lens through which to discuss the book, particularly in light of how much it subverts received forms that were "permissible" for the novel. However, both Structuralism and Post- would yield worthwhile understandings of the text. When I say "ideal" however, you should understand that even more recent schools of literary theory that were developed long after "Ulysses" can be just as interesting to retroactively examine a book. (Structuralism would have been roughly contemporary, while Post- would have been a bit after and is usually associated with Postmodernism).
I think if you aren't especially versed in a particular theoretical approach, Rivkin and Ryan's "Literary Theory: An Anthology" is a great introduction to most of the fields of literary criticism, though it probably doesn't have much on the most recent developments. It ends at Hypertext Theory, with which you could probably do some interesting things on Ulysses.
Part of the difficulty of cherry-picking some of these is that it's a little easier to follow them if you're studying them chronologically, because many schools of thought are either evolutions of or reactions to those that came before. The Anthology I posted above covers them in chronological order in a way that I found very helpful when I was studying as an undergrad.
It might be a worthwhile exercise to read a chapter in Ulysses, then read a particular literary theory in the anthology and analyze the chapter through that, then move onto the next chapter and theory, etc.
Might be Pharr's Aeneid-- I used it too.
http://www.amazon.com/Vergils-Aeneid-Books-Edition-English/dp/0865164215
Here are a few that I've collected over the last couple of years (excluding the ones that have already been mentioned, and the ones that include a discussion of suicide methods):
SUICIDE & EUTHANASIA:
ANTINATALISM:
Somewhat less serious:
The sidebar has an overview of writings of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius or Seneca or modern books on Stoicism from Donald Robertson or William B. Irvine.
For introductory reading, I'd also like to add Massimo Pigliucci's "How to be a Stoic".
For a deeper understanding of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and Stoic principles in general, Pierre Hadot's "The Inner Citadel" is a must read.
I've yet to see that title, though I'll check it out. Gonna drop these here for posterity, as the're generally regarded as wonderful books on the various forms, mechanics and techniques of writing poetry. The more resources, the better, aye?
The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry, Kim Addonizio
The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within, Stephen Fry
A Poetry Hanbook, Mary Oliver
Your best bet is to pick up something like The Norton Anthology of Poetry which is basically a collection of a thousand years worth of poetry with analysis. This volume is a little pricey ($30 used), but if you look around you might find some older editions for cheaper. Once you get an inkling of what you like then you can start getting collections of poetry from specific periods/poets. Hope this helps!
This website is rather painful to use on a modern web browser, but has clearly written and illustrative definitions of various types of critical theory, as well as descriptions of figures of interest and their work.
If you'd like an introductory overview of the primary genres of critical theory that goes into somewhat more depth and includes suggested readings, I can recommend Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Tyson makes it very accessible by repeatedly analyzing The Great Gatsby through the lens of each theory, which is extremely helpful for understanding the "big picture" of what each tends to focus on.
Welcome to the rabbit hole! :)
I think the general philosophical idea that people are hinting at so far is Idealism. The essential idea is: The external world is in some sense dependent on the mind of the perceiver.
George Berkeley was was one of the first. He said that "to be is to be perceived, or to be a perceiver". So an object exists because I am perceiving it, and if no one was perceiving it, then it wouldn't exist.
Kant had a different form of idealism called Transcendental Idealism. He thought that although there IS a world that exists independently of us, we can't know anything about it at all. Our minds are responsible for imposing many of the properties we perceive onto the world. Everything from the colour of a wall, to the fact that objects exist in time and space. These are properties that mind assigns to reality, and we have no knowledge of what the external world is like as a "thing in itself".
How does this relate to the quote in Harry Potter? It means that the line between things that are real and things that are going on "inside my head" is a lot more blurry than common sense might suggest. Just because an experience is dependent on my mind for it's existence or it's characteristics, does not necessarily mean it is not "real".
However, having said all that, I'm not sure that J.K. Rowling had any intention of bringing up idealism, even though it seems relevant. It seems more likely that this could be some sort of meeting between Dumbledore and Harry's Cartesian Souls (since the Harry Potter books are 100% committed to substance dualsim). It could even just be some sort of reassuring "it's real for you because you had a nice experience, so it doesn't matter whether this was all just a hallucination or not". Either way, not very Berkeley.
There is a good book on philosophy and harry potter: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ultimate-Harry-Potter-Philosophy/dp/0470398256/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
I bought it for my sister, but haven't had a chance to read it myself yet. It looks pretty entertaining for those who are interested!
The most rigorous in terms of speed of content presentation and complexity thereof is probably Moreland & Fleischer's Latin: An Intensive Course; it even introduced the subjunctive in chapter 2! That's not to say it's the best, but it is probably the most rigorous.
I don't know how one would learn ecclesiastical latin exactly, but I quite like [Moreland and Fleischer] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0520031830/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all) although I've heard good things about Wheelock (probably the most famous latin textbook EVER)
The good thing about learning classical latin is that in a few weeks you'll be able to do medieval latin, and if you choose to keep going you can read awesome classical latin stuff.
Apps? Duolingo is pretty famous but idk if they have a latin section. I'm a big fan of Mango languages, and I know for a fact they do latin.
Once you've started you should look into Paul Hudson's SPQR app. It has (among a vast array of other stuff) a vulgate with english translation, parser, 2-way dictionary, all the charts and tables you need, and about a billion other things.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0552143243/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1420490260&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ts-SC85pL&ref=plSrch#
There is an official map available, here's a link to it on Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0552143243
I have the map of Ankh Morpork and it's pretty interesting
!!! MAPS !!!
I have lots of maps and took pictures. I saw this post earlier but just got home and had time to dig everything up. Note that I'm not an expert and haven't looked at some of this stuff in a while, and haven't actually read much of the 12 books of The History of Middle Earth (yet...).
Here's a picture of Beleriand from The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
--> Beleriand
This is pretty much the map in the back of The Silmarillion. You can see there's basically a big desert at the top. To the north of that is the Iron Mountains behind which are Angband and Utumno. Middle Earth is to the south (or kinda south east I think) of this whole thing, and as others have said this was all destroyed long before the events in LOTR. If you look at any map of Middle Earth, eg. the one at the back of FOTR, you'll see some mountains, Ered Luin, at the top left. These are visible at the bottom right of the above map of Beleriand, so you can see where Beleriand and Middle Earth used to connect.
Here's a picture from The Shaping of Middle Earth which is the 4th volume in the 12 volume The History of Middle Earth.
--> Beleriand north showing Angband
This is a draft by Tolkien and is similar to the above map from the Silmarillion but it extends farther north, and you can see the Iron Mountains (called Mts. of Iron in red print near the top), above which is Angband.
This last one is from the same book but is poor quality but I found a better version online. It's from the Ambarkanta section. It was also by Tolkien and I think is even more preliminary than the above map.
--> Ambarkanta map IV showing Utumno
To get you oriented, Valinor is on the left over the sea (the liney/squiggly bits are water). The middle section is Middle Earth (a rough draft of it anyways). At the very top is the Iron Mountains and above that is Utunmo, though it's hard to read. This may not match perfectly what's in the text as Tolkien may have changed in his head where things are in relation to each other without redrawing maps. There is some text in the book that says Tolkien's original idea was that Melkor rebuilt his fortress of Angband on the same site as Utumno which is why the sites seem so close in the 2nd two maps above. It says that Tolkien later revised this idea so that Angband was at a separate location, which I think is why the 2nd map above (Beleriand north) which is more complete than the Ambarkanta map shows Angband near the Iron Mountains but not Utumno.
A lot of The History of Middle Earth contain a lot of this type of stuff that describes how Tolkien's ideas about Middle Earth and such changed over time.
And lastly, just because, here's the map I have on my living room wall. It's a Middle Earth foil map that I got at a campus poster sale about 7 years ago then got framed and put behind glass (which cost significantly more than the map itself, but was so worth it :) ).
There are different valid starting points, and I think which one would be best depends on your interests, desires, and knowledge level.
If you're a Hibernophile who is itching to delve into Irish history and culture, or if you wish to read some epic and fantastic tales, then jumping into the mythological cycles is a fine starting point. The pro to this would be that you would be familiarizing yourself with the biggest bulk of Gaelic polytheist source material right off the bat. The cons would be that this literature alone is probably not going to give you much of a conceptual framework for polytheism and how to practice it, and you will certainly want to purchase a hard-copy with a reputable translation (unless you are fluent enough in Irish already) and annotations in order to properly comprehend the material.
If polytheistic practice is your biggest draw, then I would recommend starting your journey outside of Irish literature by examining the actual Celtic pagan archaeological remains at our disposal. The con to this would be that the majority of the material you examine is probably not going to be Irish. The pro to this is that it represents actual pagan and polytheistic practices that can inform us how our ancestors approached the gods and how we can do so as well. For this, I would recommend the somewhat misleadingly named Celtic Mythology by Proinsias MacCana. It is a highly accessible and enjoyable introduction to Celtic archaeology and it does an admirable job of connecting the archeological material to the later written mythology. You may also want to explore www.polytheist.com and J.M. Greer's A World Full of Gods.
Unfortunately I am not very familiar with literature about Gaelic folk culture, but that is another potential starting point. The pro being that it's Gaelic and would be full of practices and worldviews you could immediately adopt. The con being that many of those practices and worldviews are not completely (or even partially) pagan. I know many CR's are quite fond of the Carmina Gadelica, though I don't know of any other recommendable books outside of that.
If you are a total neophyte and those aforementioned avenues seemed daunting, then I would recommend Peter Berresford Ellis' Celtic Myths and Legends for a more modern and digestible rendition of the Irish and Welsh legends, or Morgan Daimler's Irish Paganism for a general overview of beliefs, practices, and source materials for Gaelic polytheism.
If you want really excellent intro books then I definitely recommend Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today. This has all the really important schools that are important right now, except eco-criticism, which is kind of a bummer. But I think the latter edition hits a little bit on it under postcolonial theory. This is a good intro text that has overview of what's going on.
Norton Anthology of Critical Theory was mentioned, and while this is an excellent anthology, it's huge and can be a bit complicated to read the actual source material without knowing about it before hand, but it's pretty nice being able to read the actual texts of different theorists. Similar to this is Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan's Literary Theory: An Anthology. While Norton's goes chronologically all the way back to Plato, Rivkin's text groups all the texts under the major schools so you get a comprehensive view of each one. It's worth mentioning though that Norton does have a secondary Table of Contents where they group the readings under school as well.
You mentioned wanting to know postmodernism, and that's another thing that Tyson's text doesn't include, as it's more of a movement instead of a criticism. An intro text similar to Tyson's that does include eco-criticism and postmodernism though is Peter Barry's Beginning Theory.
If you have very little knowledge of theory and criticism, I'd really recommend picking up Tyson's book and reading that so you get an overview of the text before moving on to an anthology. Like I said, the texts can be incredibly dense and difficult to read, and if you've never been exposed to them before it'll just make it even more difficult. Tyson's text also has suggested readings under each school as well to expand what you're reading.
Anti-natalism is what you're looking for. As /u/UmamiSalami mentioned, Better Never to have Been by David Benatar is a great resource. Two of my favorite philosophers in general—who both coincidentally happened to oppose natalism—are Schopenhauer and Cioran. Check out their Studies in Pessimism and The Trouble With Being Born, respectively.
Get yourself a purple Virgil. Industry standard for students at your level.
Pharr's commentary on the first 6 books of the Aeneid is a classic go-to for intermediate students. The best part is that the comprehensive vocab notes and commentary are at the bottom of the page so there's no constant flipping back and forth. The only bad thing is that Pharr wrote this essentially as a job application and got the job so he never wrote a second edition for the rest of the Aeneid lol.
https://www.amazon.com/Vergils-Aeneid-Books-Latin-English/dp/0865164215
I've got 95 too! I'm kind of excited about that number simply because it was higher than I thought it would be. There's another dozen or so that are somewhere in my TBR pile.
It looks like the list is from an actual reference book compiled by a bunch of literary critics. This list does seem a little off. I love Jane Austen, but are all her books absolutely must reads? Probably not.
Some recommendations:
Gods and Fighting Men. This covers a lot of the Irish myths.
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi. This covers a great deal of the Welsh myths.
Celtic Gods and Heroes. This is a brief but decent overview of Gods and Goddesses of Irish, British and Gaulish origin.
The Isles of the Many Gods. I have not yet read this one, but it's on my wish list and sounds about right for you.
Celtic Myths and Legends. This covers it all, but perhaps not as directly focused on the gods as you would like. Its a decent read though.
There are some great online sources for the Welsh and Irish myths. If finances are an issue try them out. Good luck!
It's more likely a coincidence. If nothing more, an interesting example of synchronicity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/777_and_Other_Qabalistic_Writings_of_Aleister_Crowley
https://www.amazon.com/Other-Qabalistic-Writings-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0877286701/175-0593738-8247201
http://hermetic.com/crowley/777/
off the top of my head:
Meditations, with The Inner Citadel as a reader
Letters from a Stoic
A Guide to the Good Life by Irvine
Do The Work by Pressfield as well as The War of Art by Pressfield
Managing Oneself by Ducker
Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl
What Predicts Divorce by Gottman
Nicomachean Ethics
Models by Manson seems to be popular on reddit
So Good They Can't Ignore You by Newport, as well
I'm currently reading Triumphs of Experience by Vaillant and find it insightful.
There were nine ships. Seven of them had a palantír on board, and these ships also flew the banner of the Lords of Andúnië, the last of which was Elendil. They flew the banner of their house on each ship carrying a palantír. (Notable addition I had originally missed - the charge on the arms is a star.)
This information is, though, apocryphal. Possibly mentioned in Hammond & Scull "Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion" based on the index of the 1966 2nd edition of the Lord of the Rings. The trick is, Tolkien didn't finish the revision of the index in time, and I don't think it has been ever became available to the general public.
I do not have access to the companion book - instead, I noted the explanation from the Barrow Downs forums.
Gotta love E.M. Cioran. Best book title ever, The Trouble with Being Born.
I'll always recommend the far better alternatives where they exist.
Read lots of poetry, and not just old stuff.
Read criticisms and histories of poetry.
Read books about writing poetry. Some that I recommend:
In the Palm of Your Hand
Ordinary Genius
A Poetry Handbook
and if you're into Formalist poetry (rhyming) you may also like:
Rules for the Dance
The Making of a Poem
All The Fun's In How You Say A Thing
Write poetry. Keep writing it. Keep changing it. Scrap it. Start over.
Get criticism by posting to a forum. For metered poetry I recommend Able Muse.
I'd suggest starting with poems that are relatively brief, highly readable, and modern -- really get a taste for how poetry can be relevant to your everyday life. There are a ton of good books out there dedicated to poetry of this type, such as Garrison Keillor's Good Poems, with poems like Mary Oliver's Wild Geese:
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Oliver has also written a Poetry Handbook which discusses the technical aspects of poetry like rhythm and form, and illustrates the principles with poems generally considered to be modern classics, if you're looking for something more technical.
Keillor also does the The Writer's Almanac on NPR, and you can go to the Writer's Almanac site for a (usually) good poem each day. Other good starting points include Billy Collin's Poetry 180 and Hirsch's How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry.
I'm also a fan of Catherine Bowman, who's a bit obscure (she's the Poetry... um... person for NPR's All Things Considered) and so I'm going to post one of her poems (Broke Song) because I'll probably never have another chance to do so as smoothly as I am clearly working it into this post.
You move through the world broken. Navigating
by the stars encoded on your hearts axis. July
grasses. Rain. How the world breaks us.
Midnight scatters across what’s left
from an evening prayer. The broken
song of the warbler at dawn
on the last day of winter. You move
through the world gathered
together in a pulse. Running your fingers
up and down what is odd and so familiar.
How dazzling the fit. To be remade
by the glue of your oaths and kisses.
Edit: Also, Robert Bly.
I mean, you really need to be reading anthologies to get a basis of the poetic tradition and then move on to individual books. While individual books of poetry help you get a sense of each writer, getting a taste of many poets throughout many periods is the only way to really become well versed (pun-intended). Also, part of the way to learn how to read poetry more critically is learn how to write poetry, or at least what goes into writing poetry. And my personal advice is to purposefully read poetry that is hard for you to grasp or find interest in, whether that be due to understanding or content (e.g. Yeats and his faeries don’t interest me in the slightest).
Theory/Reading Critically:
American:
Other:
Source: Have a Master’s Degree in poetry and currently working on my MFA. My expertise is in 20th & 21st Century American Poetry, particularly post-War/post-45.
I specialize in the Eastern Front of WWII, but there are quite a few 'genres' of books that I can recommend.
General accounts:
When Titans Clashed
Russia at War
Thunder in the East
Absolute War
Hitler's War in the East
The Road to Stalingrad
The Road to Berlin
A Writer at War
THE ROLE OF THE SOVIET UNION IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR: A Re-examination
Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought: The Red Army's Military Effectiveness in World War II
If you're interested in memoirs I'd suggest:
Blood on the Shores
Over the Abyss
Sniper on the Eastern Front
GUNS AGAINST THE REICH: Memoirs of an Artillery Officer on the Eastern Front
PANZER DESTROYER: Memoirs of a Red Army Tank Commander
Through the Maelstrom: A Red Army Soldier's War on the Eastern Front, 1942-1945
Red Road From Stalingrad: Recollections Of A Soviet Infantryman
Red Star Against the Swastika: The Story of a Soviet Pilot over the Eastern Front
Penalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45
BUT NOT FOR THE FUEHRER
Through Hell for Hitler
A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War : Russia, 1941-1944
Barbarossa:
War Without Garlands: Barbarossa 1941/42
BARBAROSSA DERAILED: THE BATTLE FOR SMOLENSK 10 JULY-10 SEPTEMBER 1941 VOLUME 1: The German Advance, The Encirclement Battle, and the First and Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July-24 August 1941
Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East
Kiev 1941
Operation Typhoon: Hitler's March on Moscow, October 1941
THE VIAZ'MA CATASTROPHE, 1941: The Red Army's Disastrous Stand against Operation Typhoon
What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa
War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941
Germany and the Second World War: Volume IV: The Attack on the Soviet Union
For Stalingrad/Leningrad:
STALINGRAD: How the Red Army Survived the German Onslaught
Leningrad: State of Siege
Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad
To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942
Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943
The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad
Kursk:
The Battle of Kursk
Demolishing the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk, July 1943: An Operational Narrative
Air War:
Barbarossa: The Air Battle July-December 1941
Stalingrad: The Air Battle: 1942-January 1943
Kursk: The Air Battle, July 1943
Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in the East 1944-1945
Black Cross/Red Star : Vol. 1, Operation Barbarossa 1941
Black Cross / Red Star: The Air War Over The Eastern Front, Vol. 2 - Resurgence: January - June 1942
Black Cross Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front Volume 3
German Army:
War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II
Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich
The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture
The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality
The Unknown Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht and Hitler's Foreign Soldiers
Partisans:
Defiance
Stalin's Guerrillas: Soviet Partisans in World War II
Holocaust/Genocide:
Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine under Nazi Rule
Nazi Empire-Building and the Holocaust in Ukraine
Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine
The Shoah in Ukraine: History, Testimony, Memorialization
The Holocaust in the Soviet Union
Hopefully the above will do for a start.
Here is a list of his complete works. For his 124 letters i would recommend this. All of them are very good, i would probably start here.
https://www.amazon.com/Senecas-Letters-Stoic-Thrift-Editions-ebook/dp/B01N9BAEOR/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=seneca+letters+dover&qid=1556029398&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
As for other works i have ranked in order what i think you should read first. They are all expertly written so all should be checked out eventually, regardless here is my order.
This book has most of them except shortness of life, which you should buy separately as it is his best dialogue, or read it online on wikisouce which has all of his works for free.
https://www.amazon.com/Dialogues-Essays-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-dp-0199552401/dp/0199552401/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1556029795
My ubiquitous recommendation for medical anthropology is The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, about a Hmong family in California whose newborn daughter has epilepsy. It's well-written and engaging.
If you're interested in the Hmong, read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Fantastic book and discusses the plight of the Hmongs in detail.
A good popular anthropology book for summer reading is 1491: New Revelations About the Americas before Columbus.
A good medical anthropology-like book is The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down about epilepsy in recent Hmong immigrants to the U.S.
I'm a little tired and that is all I've got right now.
I like Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today. Also, if you're interested in online resources, this professor's website for a critical theory class has tons and tons of links to interesting stuff - even though the website is hard to navigate sometimes. Check out the syllabus and online resources (linked at the bottom.)
I'm in a similar boat as you; interested in continental, but surrounded by a lot of analytics.
Hegel is notorious for being dense and difficult to read, and while he was incredibly influential on many later continental thinkers, I don't think anyone who really wanted to help you get into continental philosophy would have you start on Hegel, unless they were committed to reading through it with you.
Heidegger's maybe a bit less obtuse at times, but he can also be confusing if you don't have a professor or more experienced student guiding you along. I asked a professor where I should start, and he recommended his published lecture notes from The History of the Concept of Time, which I admittedly haven't finished yet, but he spends a lot of time in it explaining Husserl's philosophy of phenomenology, which is crucial for understanding Heidegger, as well as a number of other continental thinkers.
As for some easier continental-esque thinkers, there are some that I think are a bit more accessible. Bear in mind that there isn't exactly a group of thinkers who all signed a document saying they were continental philosophers, but there are a number who seem to run in the tradition, and many others who were at the very least related to them.
To begin, I'd recommend some Kierkegaard. He was a Christian philosopher, and is often considered to be one of the earliest existentialist philosopher's. He did a number of works on concepts of faith, anxiety, dread and other elements of the human condition, adding his own angles on them to apply them to Christian philosophy. He wrote under a number of pseudonyms in order to create a number of different perspectives, although underlying all the chaos was a desire to get you to start thinking for yourself. A good place to start with him would be Fear and Trembling. Many of his ideas were influential on continental thinkers such as Heidegger, Jaspers and Sartre.
To go in a very different direction, Nietzsche is another thinker who was very influential on many continental philosophers. The self-declared Anti-Christ, he basically believed that we are about to enter a post-God world, with his writings often either trying to burn our bridges back to the Church or trying to point us in a new direction. Like Kierkegaard, he doesn't always say what he means directly, but much of his philosophy is ultimately aimed at getting you to start thinking for yourself. I'd recommend this anthology, as it contains a number of pretty crucial writings of his.
If after this you're still interested in Heidegger, I don't have as much background there, although I've read a few of his Basic Writings, which is a collection of essays of his. In one of my classes, we also read an essay from his Pathmarks which wasn't terribly dense, so that might be a nice place to start as well. Being and Time is generally considered to be his most important work, but it's renowned for being dense and difficult, although there are a number of commentaries on that book alone that may prove useful.
For one final recommendation, I'll throw in Kaufmann's anothology of existential writings, which has a number of essays on existentialism, which was heavily tied to many core continental thinkers.
And I wouldn't worry about your roommate.
I suggested it in another thread as well: Moreland & Fleischer.
I find Allen and Greenough useful as a reference book, but I wouldn't recommend that someone sit down and just read through it as grammar review. I'd suggest Moreland and Fleischer for that instead.
You can't get more official than this one.. http://www.amazon.com/Discworld-Mapp-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0552143243
Here's one possibility: https://www.amazon.com/Maps-Tolkiens-Middle-earth-Brian-Sibley/dp/061839110X
It sounds like each of the four poster maps included is 28"x28", and is folded in the box; you'd need to get your own frame. I'm not aware of any other options, for better or worse.
It came in a little set called "The Maps of Tolkien's Middle Earth" by Brian Sibley and John Howe. The one I have has the famous green door artwork on the slipcase. There's also this edition though.
https://www.amazon.com/Maps-Tolkiens-Middle-earth-Brian-Sibley/dp/061839110X
no problem! let me know what you think of these poems! (I also recommend A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver- https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006. Some great advice for the aspiring poet.)
[A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver] (http://www.amazon.com/A-Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1KW7NXQKV7AS70CM419V)
I'm not a big fan of Mary Oliver's work but this book is growing on me. There are things I agree with like studying poetry more than writing poetry, and hearing the words of a poem being important.
But I don't agree with the whole "poets are born but need training" idea. I do think anyone could be a good poet with enough willpower and practice. At least that's what I'm hoping for in my case.
Basso is phenomenal. I also always recommend The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Both superb ethnographies.
The Norton Anthology of Poetry is an investment, but will have lots of older, modern, and contemporary poetry.
Ditto!
I also am very interested in some of those books. I will edit my comment tomorrow after I look through my books to see if I have anything that you might like.
E: I have The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Edition, which is over 2100 pages and has only light writing in the back and some shelf wear. I can send you a list of the poets if you are interested.
The Norton Anthology World Masterpieces, Expanded Edition is in rough shape but contains lots of poetry.
I also have The Complete Works of Shakespeare, The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe, Plato's The Republic, biographies, and boatloads of literature and other books. Anything trip your trigger?
I would really, really like:
C++ Without Fear - Overland
Hacking, The Art of Exploitation- Jon Erickson
HTML 4 for Dummies
MySQL Visual Quickstart Guide - Ullman
Thank you!
First off, good on you for taking the initiative.
For introductory books, I'd recommend Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled. Now, I haven't read it myself, but it's been mentioned on this sub often enough for me to feel comfortable mentioning it. It might also be a good idea to pick up a miscellaneous collection of poems in order to get an understanding of the variety and depth of the subject matter. A more informal volume might be something edited by Garrison Keiler, like Good Poems. While that specific book is more bent towards Modern American poets, there's still a lot to draw from. A more academic book would be The Norton Anthology of Poetry ot The Norton Introduction to Poetry, which has a lot more to choose from. These two also give you a bit of structure – my copy of the Introduction has clear headings, like "Symbol" or "The Sonnet," with neat little introductory essays and poems chosen to help you understand how these concepts work. That being said, Norton tends to be a little expensive, though if you live in a college town you can probably find a cheaper copy. The benefit of these kinds of collections lies in helping you to find a poet whose style or subject matter you particularly like.
Regarding online sources, there's The Poetry Foundation, which has archives of poems and articles on the poets themselves. Their monthly articles can vary from the interesting to the banal, however, so keep your bullshit detector on. You can probably also find podcasts that deal with the subject. A personal favorite of mine is called "Entitled Opinions," and is run by a professor of Italian Studies over at Stanford by the name of Robert Harrison. Mind you, this particular podcast deals with philosophy and literature as well, so while I'd recommend listening to all their episodes you would have to do a little bit of searching in order to find a particular episode on poetry – though I would reccomend the one on "Dante and Prufrock." I imagine these kind of examinatioms would be useful because they can give you a sense of what poetry 'does' or 'how it means' beyond a surface play with words.
As for the writing of poetry, the first thing I'd recommend is that you read and meditate on a lot of poetry, good and bad, in order to get a sense of how its all done. Learn certain conventions – like, say, that of the sonnet – in order to see how poets follow through with them, or how they play with them. Learn prosody so you can understand how the precise meter, or 'beat,' of each line can affect the reader. I can't really give concrete advice with regards to this, save for a metaphorical "go west, young man!"
I would look into purchasing or borrowing a poetry anthology. They usually include biographical information about the poet as well as an analysis. I've enjoyed reading Norton's poetry anthologies. I've purchased them from used bookstores, and sales at libraries. You can find used paperback copies for cheap (around $5) on Amazon. For example, here's one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0393979202/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
I also liked reading Harold Blooms collection of poems: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0060540419/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=
I like these collections and anthologies because of the commentary, and they include several poets. So you get exposure to several famous poets. If you like a particular poet you can choose to read more of their work.
If you're wanting more specific recs, you may like Walt Whitman, he uses vivid imagery. Also Robert Frost, Edwin John Pratt, Edgar Allan Poe, William Wordsworth. Pablo Neruda is good too.
English major here- I have found Lois Tyson's textbook Critical Theory Today very clear and helpful!
http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Theory-Today-User-Friendly-Guide/dp/0415974100
John Berger's Ways of Seeing (absolutely brilliant)
Ron Carlson Writes a Story
Critical Theory Today
Wilhelm Reich-The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Amy Bloom-Normal
Tom Stoppard-Arcadia
Sara Marcus-Girls to the Front
For one of my literary theory classes in undergrad, we used this book. The author analyzes 'The Great Gatsby' through the lens of 10 or 12 critical frameworks. It was really illuminating, clear, and enjoyable to read. Lit theory is the focus, but it also provided a lot of insight into the fundamental ideas of the various critical perspectives that were highlighted. Definitely recommended.
Critical theory does tend to be cryptic, deliberately so in a lot of cases. You might enjoy Baudrillard's America. It's fairly accessible as far as his stuff goes, if you have a rudimentary understanding of his Hyperreal idea.
If you want a more general introduction into philosophy there's a Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn and the older What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy by Thomas Nagel. A more academic introduction (the last two books are more aimed at a general audience) is Fundamentals of Philosophy edited by John Shand. If you're willing to sit through it there also Russel's classic A History of Western Philosophy, which is a sort of introduction to philosophy through the history of the field (the audiobook is on youtube btw), and there also his Problems of Philosophy
I'm not that familiar with eastern philosophy, but a classic introduction to Existentialism is Walter Kaufmann's Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre and it should go nicely with Existentialism is a Humanism.
Hope this helps :)
Hmm, the last new thing I read? Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre
If I include rereads, I'm currently rereading Lev Grossman's The Magician King
he is saying both sort of. life has no meaning, but meaning isn't found within the struggle exactly, rather we exist in between the struggle and we create our own meaning. we are free, we have only to realize that the rules don't apply.
I can give you some advice for reading existentialism and also some places to start.
just curious, tho, how old are you?
there's several ways to approach reading philosophy.
method 1:
when reading philosophy of any kind you can get bogged down in the references and footnotes. when I was just starting out I would get so overwhelmed by things I didn't understand I would give up. don't give up. and don't worry about what you don't understand, just keep reading and see what you get out of it.
method 2:
BEFORE you read a book, read the Wikipedia page on it. back in the day I had to collect Coppleston's history of philosophy volumes to read commentary, but now it's online. so before you read, do some quick background reading so you know a) where the author is coming from/their general point of view/any important details about their life that pertain to understanding the book B) the author's main argument in the book - this will help you pick out his argument and understand it better.
3) some tips: a) read for pleasure. don't feel bad if you hate a book and just can't read it or make sense of it. sometimes later it makes more sense, but it's ok to hate a writer even if everyone else says they're amazing b) read with a pen or pencil in hand - underline things you like, write "I disagree" if you do, sometimes I even write "LOL" if it made me laugh and related to that B) take some notes as you go along whatever you think is important.. a sentence, a point, I use notes to restate in my own words the argument I just read... it helps me get it better and I have a reference in my own lingo that makes sense to me
where to start I would start with two books:
Amazon price ~2$
get this book if you get no others!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0073535753/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1462783700&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=does+the+center+hold&dpPl=1&dpID=51hxbBbmgzL&ref=plSrch
2.Walter Kaufmann "existentialism: from Dostoyevsky to Sartre"
Amazon price 11$
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0452009308/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1462783302&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=walter+kaufmann&dpPl=1&dpID=41lkh1kWkeL&ref=plSrch
after that, depends on what you want to learn, but after the above I would read "Notes from Underground" by Dostoyevsky
then maybe: JD Salinger "Catcher in the Rye"
this was how I learned... after those two I went back chronologically and read Plato(he's foundational and easy enough to grasp), Kierkegaard, Dostoyesky, Camus and Sartre, then I started skipping around once I had a foundation.
with existentialism the important thing to remember is that it isn't an exact philosophy. it was at first a reaction against exact philosophies with prescriptive definitions to how we should live. existentialism, rather, is a shared angst (Wikipedia Kierkegaard Angst) about life, an anxiety in the face of the meaninglessness of life. life has no meaning. now what? if life has no meaning, then all the rules are arbitrary, and you are truly free. free to do and be whatever you want.
good luck on your quest, it's a worthy one.
and my last piece of advice is this: there's no hurry... if a book takes you a year to digest, that's fine! if another takes you a week, ok! another might require 2 months. don't rush, digest the argument and internalize it.
and I'm around on Reddit all the time if you have questions. and don't let philosophy snobs tells you you have to blah blah blah... philosophy should be accessible to all, otherwise it's a stupid endeavor.
again.. good luck.
And THAT right there is pretty much the only reason that I want tWoT to get made into a televised series where it is certainly guaranteed to butcher the bloody hell out of Jordan's great story.
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We will most likely get flooded with tWoT merchandise. Specially companion and artwork books.
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And that was one of the joys for me when I got hooked onto Tolkien's world almost 40 years ago. Whenever I went into my local bookstore every six months or so, their would be a new Tolkien related book out with fantastic artwork in it.
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This was one of my favorites- Tolkien Bestiary Hardcover
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Jordan's series deserves this so much. (sigh)
Perhaps if you could give us some idea of what the intermediate level is? Maybe you could give us some idea of the problems you will be asked to do, or literature you will be asked to read?
Depending on your level of practice and dedication, I think in general that this is possible. I enjoy this book and would recommend it: Latin: An Intensive Course. Of course, you should also look at whatever books your college is using for its curriculum.
Bradley's Arnold Latin Composition: https://www.amazon.com/Bradleys-Arnold-Composition-College-Classical/dp/0892411198
Fleischer & Moreland (intensive grammar study): https://www.amazon.com/Latin-Intensive-Floyd-L-Moreland/dp/0520031830
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Work your way through 1001 books to read before you die
The link to the actual book
I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed studying Latin so much. Where I live (Canada), classical studies are not valued at all; people honestly don't understand why it would be important to retain some cultural continuity with all of Europe's past, where until just two or three hundred years ago, going to university in Europe meant doing scholarship in Latin. It therefore warms my heart to hear you speaking so fondly of it, and to know that there's a place in the world where even engineers have heard of Vergil.
I do hope you're able to keep reading Latin in your free time. If you like poetry digestible in small chunks, you might enjoy the very user-friendly Catullus. There are other excellent small-scale poets like Propertius, but I find his language rather more difficult. If you can find a book with bite-size excerpts of Ovid, that would be a wonderful way to go as well; Ovid is just stellar.
If you're up for a larger-scale work at any point, there's a fabulous student edition of the first six books of the Aeneid in English where there's an index of the very most common words at the back, then all the other vocabulary is given, with grammatical notes as well, on the same page as the Latin; it saves very, very much time with a dictionary. The book was prepared by an early 20th-century schoolteacher named Clyde Pharr and is available both in paperback and hardback editions.
If you're into postmodernism then Baudrillard's 'Simulacra and Simulation' which questions reality and its representation.
Also, Shklovsky's 'Art as a Technique', which focuses on how art / literature 'defamiliarises' the habitual nature of life, it is really interesting.
You can get course books on literary theory, I used this one for my undergrad:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Literary-Theory-Anthology-Blackwell-Anthologies/dp/1405106964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368545296&sr=8-1&keywords=julie+rivkin+and+michael+ryan
They use excerpts from useful theory to make it easier to read, might be worth a look into.
A few more come to mind, less literature but more about stylistic and analytic skills you'll require in your advanced years in the Humanities.
People say to read a good style guide like Strunk & White, which is just okay. But I'd highly recommend Pinker's A Sense of Style--he also unpacks some of the problems with Strunk & White's core edicts.
Stanley Fish is just a great person to read in general. From his op-ed stuff in the NY Times to his class How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One. I'd also highly recommend reading the full introduction of the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism or the introduction to Rifkin & Ryan's Literary Theory: An Anthology. When it comes to the lit theory stuff there are some good torrents with a lot of anthologies and canonical texts lumped together as PDFs. I also find a lot of good stuff with my Scribd membership.
93 - I would look in Book of Thoth for a lot of symbolism as well as, of course, 777. I can tell you that the Vesica Piscis is understood to be a feminine symbol, composed of two intersecting circles, forming the Yoni. It is usually 'balanced' by various 'masculine' symbols, often those of the cross or some form thereof, in or around it. That one is fairly obvious.
The justification is in a book form. http://www.amazon.com/1001-Books-Must-Read-Before/dp/0789313707/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292706196&sr=8-1
Also, this book, Man's Search for Meaning, is great and really goes well with Stoicism.
http://streetschool.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Viktor-Emil-Frankl-Mans-Search-for-Meaning.pdf
If any of the stuff I linked to interests you, definitely check out Marcus Aurelius's book Meditations and Inner Citadel. You can probably get the latter book through interlibrary loan.
I've just always been interested in how people psychologically overcome horrible tramas, like surviving concentration camps or prison or stuff. IMHO, the philosophy of Stoicism is a great tool for this and it has helped me in some aspects of my own life. So just throwing it out there.
Sure thing. See The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot which is a scholarly work on that idea.
I got this book a while ago, it's full of Norse mythology. Some might be familiar (the real story of Cinderella, where the prince murders a village to find her), others are less so. The book is light on analysis though, just a series of stories.
https://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Myths-Legends-Peter-Berresford/dp/0786711078
To read along with the Discourses.
To read along with the Meditations.
I've been in a mode for a while of reading only classics--which, of course, everyone already knows of. It's been a long time since I picked up a completely random book without knowing the author or something about the title.
With a few exceptions. Two weeks ago I was at B&N and wandered into the "Essay" section (which has some surprisingly good stuff) and there found, and immediately loved, a volume of Celtic Myths. This one as a matter of fact. I think it was the cover that drew me in, as well as a general love of myths (largely thanks to Tolkien.)
Marcus Aurelius, is not something you read and go "FUCK YEAH, I CONQUERED THAT BOOK. I'M A BADASS!!!!"
It's an investment that will pay dividends years to come. It's not the simplest stoic text to read. However if you want the feeling of reading the words of a Roman Emperor from 1,000 years ago, and also actually use his words to change and live your life by, here are a few ideas:
(I'm trying to emphasise this and I might not get this point across, but honestly you can read a translation written by someone who knows the english language and the worldview context in 2002, or by someone from the 19th century. Your choice.)
Honestly it's not the greatest introduction to Stoicism. Personally I prefer Seneca (I've gifted a short version of his On The Shortness of Life to 4 different friends), because he was writing for a wider audience as opposed to just himself. But if you want to go down the rabbit hole. If you want to take the red pill, read it like I've just suggested.
One of my degrees is in English. One of my favorite things to do is read. I'm also old, so I've had many, many, many years to read books. I'm constantly on the lookout for lists such as the one Austin-G was kind enough to compile for us. I've diligently attempted to plow through books found in The Lifetime Reading Plan and 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I also love listening to Nancy Pearl on NPR and checking out her book suggestions.
Somehow people found this so very offensive that they thought I deserved downvotes for not contributing to the conversation.
TL;DR: Some people are sad, pathetic and petty.
Because of all this, it's not surprising that I've read most of the books that are in the top 200 books that fellow redditors have read too.
You might want to try 1001 Books to read before you die...
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Starter texts! Here's several in a book. An overview of the Critical Theory game.
Oooh, I've never seen the 2nd UK version! Those are beautiful.
And I totally get it, I have a Tolkien problem. I have the green book version of the Hobbit, along with the paperback set of the Hobbit and LotR together, then I've been searching for the red book of Westmarch LotR to go along with my green bound version, but that one is infinitely harder to find. I've got two versions of the Silmarillion and countless other Tolkien writings, but my latest big acquisition is the Reader's Companion, a line-by-line guide to LotR that explains plot, trivia, and linguistics behind everything in the book. Even I realize that's a bit excessive at that point...
E M Cioran's "The Trouble with Being Born" Sympathy can do wonders for the soul
This thread is going to pile up with people trying to convince you that their projection of meaning is somehow profound, or people reaching for some kind of loophole/argument to preserve the Sacred Meaning of Life. I am not one of them, OP.
Welcome to the 1st world desert, friend. Comfortable life, good friends, torrid romance, hobbies, pets, music. We're hanging out at the Sizzler at the edge of the universe. Any trivial thing we want to distract ourselves from the Terror is ours to devour. All of the disposable income that life as STEMfuck Sperglords grants, all for nothing. All we can do is ride the snake. I would recommend The Trouble with Being Born by E. M. Cioran, a delightful collection of nihilistic psalms and meditations.
<3 u bb, enjoy this unwinding into the void.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Trouble-Being-Born-Cioran/dp/1611457408
Thank you (-:
But Again about a guide, do you know anything about this one? https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Readers-Companion/dp/0618642676
There's some interesting reading in Literary Theory: An Anthology.
I found Sibley's The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth to be quite helpful. Poster sized maps of Beleriand, the Hobbit area, and the LOTR area.
The Norton Anthology isn't something I'd rush to get my hands on--it's about 2000p. of size 4font...
Maybe try this one? Used it at undergrad level in an intro course and it's pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/Literary-Theory-Anthology-Julie-Rivkin/dp/1405106964
http://www.amazon.com/Other-Qabalistic-Writings-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0877286701/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1368850921&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=777
I don't think that's a 177 either, it looks more like a 777, with the first 7 being slightly written over by "google". If that is the case, it may be related to Aleister Crowley's book: "777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley: Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth". The book can be found on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Qabalistic-Writings-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0877286701.
Edit: Looking more into this book, it appears to be a collection of various occult writings and various religious holy books, along with studies on numerology and cabalistic magic. I wonder why this would be in a UFOlogy book, of all things. Is there any writing like this anywhere else in the book that you've seen?
Edit: In particular it may be related to his portion of the book named "Liber 777".
I came across this event happening in DC next month which is raising some red flags for me:
Together 2016
Other than being a large outdoor (soft target) event aiming for attendance of one million people (holy shit), bringing them under the banner of Jesus (besides gays, the fictitious ISIS cult purports to exist to destroy this ideology), with the Pope in attendance, some things are bothering me as I look at this:
Now the predictions:
The economist 2016 cover shows a cartoon guy with a backwards strapback hat (depicting his youth? we see here that the event is clearly targeted at millennials) and a unicorn (unicorn is the symbol for Jesus) on his head. This backwards hat man with a unicorn/Jesus has a gun pointed at his head, connecting him to the image of Osama Bin Laden (the face of Islamic false flag terror). Remember that “Together 2016” is all about bringing members of the “millennial generation” from different creeds to “come together around Jesus” (not Christianity per se). Further adding to the intrigue of this image, the man’s head is in closest proximity to two numbers in the “world population spiral”: 8.1 and 8.6. If we add the 8s we get 16, add the 1 and the 6 and we get 7… 7/16. Similar numerology predicted the 11/13/15 date of the Paris attack in the 2015 cover. Ignoring everything else I mentioned this economist cover alone is very concerning. We've already seen the backwards rainbow flag play out in the Orlando false flag combat situation.
More from the economist cover…we see that the sun face appears to be staring down at Pope Francis almost lustfully. We see that a dark colored butterfly is fluttering right next to the sun face (the sun may be looking at the butterfly, but not sure that matters given the next point). And we see that a religious cartoon figure, who is clearly Patriarch Kirill, is looking up nervously/suspiciously at the sun face. What is interesting is that Francis and Kirill met for the first time ever in February, which was the first such meeting between the Roman/Russian faith leadership in almost a thousand years.. There are theories out there regarding what they met to discuss (or physically exchange), but at the very least I do not buy the official story that they met to simply hug it out. Especially where Kirill left the meeting and immediately went to Antarctica for some kind of ritual. With the all of the occult sun worship out there and ancient history of human sacrifice to the “sun god”, could this be hinting that something will happen to the Pope? If we also take into account the butterfly symbolism, meaning death and metamorphosis, I think it should be considered (butterflies were actually sacrificed to Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered serpent” or black sun, in ancient culture). Further, we see that the Pope is the highest person in the image, parallel to a statue of the deceased Karl Marx. Will the Pope be “ascending” to join Marx in the afterlife? See here where the Pope is given a hammer and sickle as a “gift”, or here where “Pope Francis channels Marx in manifesto”.
One last point on the economist cover, tying it back to the super bowl commercial I linked to earlier. The first thing Liam Neeson says is “There is a revolution coming. The future is staring back at us.”…Take another look at the economist cover. There is someone holding a giant book called THE FUTURE, and this book has glasses with eyes staring back at us. This image is positioned just below the unicorn hat man and numerology population stuff. Neeson again says “the future is staring back at you” as the last line of the commercial. We see the ouroboros tattooed on his hand and he flicks the ouroboros playing card at the glass. The fact that both “clues” were given twice probably relates to the duality concept where things of masonic importance are done in pairs.
Jesus shown on a ceremonial Egyptian funeral boat only a few seconds after what may have been a reference to the Orlando Pulse shooting in the short film I Pet Goat II. After he is shown, Osama Bin Laden (with a CIA patch, indicating his role as a puppet) appears to be "orchestrating" in front of an army of black and white clad soldiers (note that this video was made before ISIS even existed, and note the Bin Laden/Jesus parallel with the economist cover).
I've found Peter Berresford Ellis is a good author to seek out for an introduction at least. He breaks the Celtic world down in very informative way that's easy to digest. He has a book called The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends but it is not available in an audio format as far as I know. For me it has the best compilation of Celtic folklore, drawn from some of the most popular stories. There are sections where he addresses the history and culture of the various Celtic peoples, but the stories are largely all told via narrative. But again, no audiobook.
Another of his books, A Brief History of the Celts, does have an audio version. However, it's much more focused on history, culture and society. There's some mention of Celtic folklore but not presented in a narrative fashion.
I did a [quick search] (https://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=celtic%20mythology&amp;filterby=field-keywords) on Audible and it gave me quite a few audiobooks on Celtic mythology and folklore, but I haven't listened to any of them so I can't speak to their quality.
For fairy tales, I recommend the following:
For mythology and classical studies, there are a couple that are basically required reading for any Mythology or Classics class. Since several people have already recommended anthologies of Greek myths, I'm going to err more on the "Classics" side of the conversation:
Whichever you choose just try and find a "reader" style book that includes vocab and notes on the same page. It's a huge quality of life boost. E.g. for Vergil ( https://www.amazon.com/Vergils-Aeneid-Books-Latin-English/dp/0865164215 ) and the Vulgate (a quick search gave me this: https://www.amazon.com/Vulgate-Old-Testament-Reader/dp/1593332157 ). Vergil is going to be more complicated though, so if you go for Classical Latin, as others have suggested, go with Caesar's Gallic Wars.
Then, of course, there's this list, and now it's like we have homework and the due date is our dying day. Doesn't get much more definitive than that.
If you believe your words are gospel, then just accept the feedback and move on with your life. If you want to start down the road of legitimately writing poetry that someone who actually reads poetry can appreciate, it's time to get to fucking work.
Of course, you think your "words" are special, but they aren't. This is the same thing every beginner churns out. It's cliché abstraction and it's not worth sharing with anyone. You can call it "poetry" and say it's your "art" and that poetry can't be "defined" -- whatever.
But anyone who actually reads poetry will recognize your "words" immediately for what they are and turn the page.
Read some poetry, man. Read some books about writing poetry and the tools poets use to craft their poems. If you need recommendations, I can give you some, but you'll have to do some fucking work. You might have missed the memo, but writing poetry is hard work.
***
Edit: Here some recommendations to get you started.
And if you insist on trying to use end rhymes:
And please, please pick up a good book of poems from multiple authors so you can get some exposure, such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry or the compilation Good Poems by Garrison Keillor. One of my favorites is A Book of Luminous Things by Czeslaw Milosz.
The best poetry (the arts, really) resource on the web, courtesy of Dan Schneider - no, not of Nickelodeon infamy, another one. Here's the link, and just dive in. Got some very strong perspectives regarding poetry and the arts, that many find off-putting, but he's invaluable, to my estimation.
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If you find a poem that you like, but can't immediately access intellectually, see if you can find an entry of it on Shmoop. I love Plath and Stevens and Crane, but couldn't tackle them full on as a poetry novice. Shmoop (and others) helped me gain some insight on some of their poems. Stevens's "The Idea of Order at Key West" is a doozy, but Shmoop's analysis helped clarify some difficult passages.
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And like everyone else has said, keep reading - anything and everything by anyone. The more you passionately pursue the subject, the more you'll find things beginning to make sense. Also, an excellent book for poetry lovers who want to delve into the craft: Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook.
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Hope this helps!
Here, required reading in Modern Military History.
Have you read Hitler's Army? I assume if you haven't already then you would really like it. It's an in-depth analysis of the Ostheer and reasons why it devolved into such a brutal and barbaric army. But yes, I understand your point. I've learned enough to know that the Ostfront was a huge mess and is probably pretty exceptional in any case.
I'm very happy that I was able to help :)
And yes, a lot of people will blame everything around them for the misery of themselves. This seems to be the easy way out, but you must ask yourself what good it does in the end. There are things which are outside of your control. What people might do to you, say to you, and so on. However no matter what harsh things you go through in life it is ultimately you that decide how to respond to them. You decide what to do with it. It is as Epictetus once said:
> "Man is affected not by events, but by the view he takes of them."
Usually I do not actually like to talk openly about the philosophy I follow, for the simple reason that I just try to live by it. Use actions, not words. Also for many people it might seem that you try to push something on to them. However I felt in this case I was justified to give an explanation of what exactly helped me :-)
Anyways, if you are interested in the principles I explained, then what you seek is reading on Stoicism. The book that has especially helped me is this one:
Stoicism and the art of happiness
It has eye-opening/life-changing wisdoms and perspectives on everything that has to do with you. How to deal with emotions, what they are, and what is essential to life a good life. Another interesting fact is that many of the mental exercises and perspectives the stoics used is now today amongst some of the most scientifically well-documented practices used by cognitive behavioural therapy (also with a quick google search, you will find that even the founder of CBT was inspired by the stoic teachings), which deals with practically all kinds of mental sufferings you can imagine.
It's a practical book on the life philosophy of Stoicism, and it is written by a credible psychotherapist who also takes interest in the study of Stoicism (hence the book!). It's not academic in any way, it's meant to be easily approachable and easy to implement into your life. Here's a quick breakdown of it all:
Stoicism is a life philosophy that was founded by the ancient greeks around 301 BCE. It's not a religion, or any kind of weird cult. It is a collection of principles that is meant to guide you towards happiness (in greek context meaning something more along the lines of inner well-being and tranquility).
I would suggest you read the book :-) Maybe you will come to pick up on everything stoicism has to offer, maybe you will only pick up whatever principles and wisdoms that you think are right, or maybe you won't find much agreement with it at all, all which is fine. However I think you will find some wisdoms you will definitely find to your liking, as you sound intrigued by the principles. The important thing is that no matter what, it will most certainly set you out on your way to think more about yourself and how to control your life and achieve your own understanding of well-being.
If Stoicism comes to your liking (start with the above book first, though), I could recommend books by some of the most famous ancient Stoics through time. I will leave some here for future reference for you:
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius - This is one of the most famous stoic texts.
Enchiridion - Epictetus
Dialogues and Essays - Seneca
These books read as manuals, not to be read in one sitting. They are huge collections of letters, essays and short passages from these excellent people about everything that has to do with achieving inner well-being, and how to view the world around you. They are remarkable ancient works, and it is truly inspiring and motivating to open them and just read a few of the lines from time to time.
As with anything, it's a learning process to change mindset. But it slowly comes when you study it. You learn the wisdoms and principles they had, you think about them and if they make sense, you apply them and live them, revisit them and so on, until they really become a part of you. It is truly worth the time though, and I think you see that too from what I could understand in your reply.
Best of luck to you! If you have any questions feel free to PM me as well, I'd be happy to help.
This is a very good video introduction to Stoicism.
The main ancient Stoic books that have survived are Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, Epictetus's Discourses and Enchiridion, which is basically a summary of the Discourses, and Seneca's Letters to Lucilius and Essays. All these editions are relatively new translations and, in Seneca's case, abridged, but they will give you an idea of what Stoicism is about. I suggest you first read the Enchiridion (it is no longer than 40 pages) and then the Meditations (around 150-200 pages), and then dig deeper if you get interested.
There are other ancient sources, and quite a lot of modern work is being done currently, but those are the ones I suggest you begin with.
Then there are very active modern Stoic communities, like /r/Stoicism, the Facebook group, and NewStoa, with its College of Stoic Philosophers, that lets you take a very good four month long course by email.
The great thing about Stoicism as a way of life is that it has neither the blind dogmatism of organized religion nor the ardent skepticism of atheism. It puts the soul back in the universe, in a way, and, on the personal level, empowers you to take responsibility for your actions and to take it easy with what you cannot control.
Thank you for the recommendations! How does this one look?
Dialogues and Essays
If i may suggest something.
Elderly people need to make peace with their ageing process (both physical and mental) and a study of philosophy is the only way. This gives you the big picture in the "grand scheme" of things and you realize that everything is just natural and as they should be. Thus one learns to adapt themselves to the situation instead of being miserable over it. Obviously, this is easier said then done and hence the need for life lessons from a teacher via philosophical study. I have found the following books helpful in this regard;
http://www.amazon.com/The-Spirit-Catches-Fall-Down/dp/0374525641
I read that book. It is a biography/history of one family of Hmong, and the Hmong in general. One of the stories is that since they are so used to farming, they tend to plant crops in their house in the US or whatever country they are moved too.
mhmm. u cn buy a copy of this for $26 USD, it's got all kinds of poems in there. otherwise just torrent a copy and read through it, real easy. gl
I actually just started by reading a textbook that covered most major critical theories http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Theory-Today-User-Friendly-Guide/dp/0415974100
I am by no means an expert, I admittedly know little on this subject.
When I was interested in this in high school, I read the following book:
http://www.amazon.com/Existentialism-Dostoevsky-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0452009308/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I thought the selections were quite good, but I would probably skip Kaufmann's commentary. I'm told his interpretations of these thinkers are controversial, to say the least.
If you read something you like from this book, I would read the texts the selections are from.
There are so many ways into the western tradition that it kind of depends on your interests - do you like to think about ethics, politics, art, technology, questions of reality? Not knowing, here are some very general suggestions: Try Plato (anything), Descartes' Medititations (very readable), Jorge Luis Borges (fictional philosophy, speculative), Hannah Arendt (great writer, more recent). Or find a philosophy college intro textbook with a collection of authors and texts, and see what catches your fancy, then follow those interests further. A secondary source that is a good entre is Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy series amazon link - he's a clear writer and rather entertaining too.
P.S. I was thinking back to my HS days and I think I was really into Dostoyevsky and existentialism... and I think I began with a book called Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre by Walter Kaufmann, a classic intro with excerpts from each philosopher's works, amazon here. Kaufmann's intro to the book is a good read.
P.P.S. I just remembered that I wrote this blog post about your question a long time ago:
Our Top 5 Philosophy Classics for High School and College Students. Enjoy!
Thanks!
The topic has been a little "done to death." There are actually two books out, Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts and The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles. Of the two, the second is much better, in my opinion (the first was published before the series was finished and contains a fair handful of out-and-out errors-- Winky is Dobby's sister, for instance-- and some theories are proven misguided by the subsequent publications), mostly because the latter is really "Harry Potter and Philosophy, while the former is "Harry Potter and Philosophy." However, both books are collections of essays, not in-depth reviews, and no one has really done what struck me most: so I think there's room for me.
My topic is very broad right now: The distinction between the Soul, the Mind, and the Body in Harry Potter. As you can imagine, there is a ton of evidence to go through. I can't even be sure each exist: a Horcrux is just a soul, and the recipient of the Dementor's Kiss is just a body, but there's no clear-cut case of "just a mind" (the closest, I think, is a portrait: because clearly the soul has "gone on." But then why does Dumbledore cry? An Inferi clearly has no soul; yet it has a body and is able to act autonomously/make decisions. Should the mind then be classified as a function of the body? Yet the Horcrux in the diary certainly has the capacity for rational thought-- and even if you argue that's a result of the spell Riddle placed on the diary, the necklace was still cognizant enough to attack Harry. And so on.).
Some of the main categories: the soul as a distinct object (Horcruxes, the Dementor's Kiss, possession), consciousness without body (portraits, photographs, ghosts), trans-spatial identification (Animagi, Metamorphmagi, Polyjuice potion, werewolves, transfiguration), immortality/resurrection (the Philosopher's Stone, unicorn blood, Horcruxes, the Resurrection stone, priori incantatum), life after death (King's Cross station, "death is but the next great adventure," Harry's mother saying he's "been so brave", e.g.), and right now, a bogus category I'm calling "sensing" (I have a vaguely formed postulate that in the magical world, a distinct entity, be it the soul, the mind, the "identity," what have you, must exist, because so many things appear to interact with that entity: patronuses, for instance, seem to personify that entity and cannot be disguised; the sorting hat looks into your "mind" but seems to identify your "soul"; wands choose the wizard; boggarts, amortentia, thestrals, the Mirror of Erised, etc.).
So yeah, that's HP&P, as I have affectionately named it. I'll stop rambling now and go take my medication in the corner.
Oh yeah; I suggest you take a look at The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy - Hogwarts for Muggles
It has a chapter on souls and horcruxes.
Have you seen these three books (1, 2, 3)? I haven't read them, so I can't tell you which is best, but even just looking at the table of contents might give you some ideas.
1. I know I could just use reparo, but I'd rather my wine glasses not break in the first place. Plus, there's no putting wine back in a broken glass, and we can't have that! If I drop it, I'll just use wingardium leviosa, and the wine will be saved!
2. Whenever I put my dog on the back of my broomstick, he's always trying to chew off the handle. Maybe this item will fool him.
3. I'm not sure I can afford my own, but I have three friends who might let me borrow theirs. I might have to dust them off a bit.
4. This would help me understand the magic of the mind, and the mind magic behind the magic!
5. I have a feeling my school trunk would just be full of dirty clothes.
6. Cape! I'd really like to find a cape like this guy has. Practical AND fashionable. I think he really epitomizes those two qualities.
Are you by any chance a student? If so, you may have access to library databases and academic journals. There are a good amount of academic papers on Harry Potter but a lot of them are behind a paywall, but as I said, students often get access.
That said: this book has a bunch of different papers compiled: The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles.
Morthy demands:
Akeleie demands:
:D :D :D I would love a USED copy of this book--there's a "like new" copy for $7.28 including shipping! Thanks for the contest!!
Dressed All Over and Zesty Mordant :D
This is the one I have by David Bay. I really like it
For the book version the Tolkien Bestiary is great!
I used to have an older one http://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Bestiary-David-Day/dp/0517120771
I think it's probably the same one. I lost it a few years ago :(. I loved it.
If your understanding of grammar needs work, I highly recommend at a minimum picking up a used Latin grammar (like this one or this one) and reading through the grammar explanation bits. That should give you more solid ground, especially with declensions.
edit: Oh, or maybe this.
I have a poster of a book cover, but I got it at a museum.
There are Discworld Mapps, too!
The Discworld Mapp
The Streets of Ankh Morpork
A Tourist Guide to Lancre
My Mapp from Tourist Guide to Lancre
discworld mapp
although 15 dollars? WTF
John Howe's maps of Middle-earth (available in a big box set) are pretty good, and his map of Middle-earth is definitive as far as I'm concerned.
Jonathan Roberts created a set of maps for A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones called The Lands of Ice and Fire which are excellent. I have the big map of the entire world on my wall.
Terry Pratchett has a whole set of maps for his Discworld books, including the entire Discworld itself and the city of Ankh-Morpork (both twice, in fact, in The Streets of Ankh-Morpork, The Compleat Ankh-Morpork, The Discworld Mapp and The Compleat Discworld Atlas).
You can buy a map of Roshar from Brandon Sanderson's website and one of Temerant from the Worldbuilders Store.
Nice, I have
this one.