Review: Surprised by Joy May 31, 2008

I already posted quotes from this book by C.S. Lewis. As to the content: Lewis is a keen observer of human life, and there are many gems of wisdom in this short volume (I excerpted what were in my opinion the choicest of them). I confess, however, that I am troubled by the book, in [...]

Review: Chariots of Fire May 31, 2008

I expected something in the vein of Miracle on Ice — a feel-good movie with the usual plot twists and happy conclusion. Instead what I saw was a nuanced and realistic portrait of the trials and triumphs of two British runners as they made their way to victory at the 1924 Olympics. They come across [...]

Review: Saving Private Ryan May 31, 2008

Saw it once when I was a kid. Saw it again a few days ago, and understood it much better this time around. A rousing movie, gut-wrenching and heart-wrenching both, with a feel-good ending that does actually make you think a bit. Recommended.

Review: A Brief History of Time May 31, 2008

Two things from this book stuck with me:

Stephen Hawking is absurdly smart. His brain makes just about everyone else’s look like a pea.
If I want to actually learn anything about the state of contemporary physics, I should look elsewhere.

It’s an enjoyable book. But it consists mainly of a series of assertions: general relativity predicts x; [...]

Surprised by Joy quotes May 30, 2008

Quotes now while I still have access to the book. A review coming soon.
I do not know what they mean when they call dead bodies beautiful. The ugliest man alive is an angel of beauty compared with the loveliest of the dead. (20)
[H]e would never have been guided by his first thoughts (which would probably [...]

Review: The Abolition of Man May 24, 2008

This terse and eloquent little volume by C.S. Lewis constitutes one of the most elegant and deep defenses of the Natural Law position that I have yet read. In a mere 81 pages (and in large, wide-spaced type at that), Lewis articulates in brilliantly compressed form the value of the Natural Law/the Tao, its trans-cultural/civilizational [...]

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast May 23, 2008

The most impressive thing about Douglas Brinkley’s book on Katrina is the fact that he got it to press in 2006, only a year after the hurricane hit. The sheer volume of material incorporated — as attested to by the copious footnotes — is quite impressive. Brinkley deserves great credit for this gargantuan contribution to [...]

Review: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man May 19, 2008

I’m on the fence about this book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. On one hand, John Perkins, the author, appears far too self-satisfied and convinced of his own importance, intimating that he played a key role in multiple major events in recent world history and elisively comparing himself to Paul Revere in the closing [...]

Benkler on structure/agency May 6, 2008

I am concerned with actual human beings in actual historical settings, not with representations of human beings abstracted from their settings. These commitments mean that freedom and justice for historically situated individuals are measured from a first-person, practical perspective. No constraints on individual freedom and no sources of inequality are cat- egorically exempt from review, [...]