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Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity
By: David Sedley 2007 So how did this book end up on my reading list? In my journey to find other adults to discuss the classics and how they pertain to modern issues I discovered this book and other resources. I started my quest by asking friends and family, this then expanded to social groups, and business acquaintances. One of the librarians was wondering why anybody would want to read that old stuff for fun, it was bad enough she had to read it in college. One day I was talking to one of my customers, (I own a board game store), he is a professor at University of Cincinnati and he informed me that they have a really good classics department and often host classics presentations that are open to the public. After checking the schedule online I found when the next presentation was. I made it a point to be there. The guest speaker was Dr. Athena Kirk on “The Semantics of Showcase in Herodotus’ Histories”. In preparation to meet this presenter, I looked up the professor online to see if she had any books that I could read beforehand. I did not find any, but I found…
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The Art of Europe: The Dark Ages from Theodoric to Charlemagne
By Paolo Verzone 1968 (Translated by Pamela Waley) I recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about the art and architecture of Western Europe during the Byzantine period (425-800 A.D.). The book is visually stimulating with its fifty-three color plates and ninety-one figures. With its helpful Glossary, a detailed Index and a brief Chronological Table it becomes a very easy to use reference book. A unique aspect of this book is that the color pictures were pasted in after the book was printed. The many descriptions of ancient churches, crypts and other buildings really kept me intrigued. The many examples of frescoes, plates, stele, mosaics and sculptures brought the period to life. The metalwork, paintings and jewelry enlightened me to the passion the craftsmen put into their work. The bibliophile in me was excited by the covers and pages of the colorful illuminated manuscripts that were covered in zoomorphic forms and intricate geometric designs. The author gives quite a bit of history throughout the book. This really helped me to understand and put in perspective the various forms of art and why certain styles were employed. This history trail not only told me of the events that…
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Hesiod: Theogony and Works & Days
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by M. L. West, 1991 Hesiod was said to have lived in the 8th Century B.C., roughly around the same time as Homer. Unlike Homer, Hesiod gets personal. He talks about where he came from, what he did, who his brother was and other details. He is known for two major works that are foundational to Ancient Greek studies, Theogony and Works and Days. In the Theogony, Hesiod gives us the genealogy of the gods. In doing so, he also gives us a basic philosophy of how and why things are the way they are, what forces act in the world, and how they are related. In the Works and Days we get a cross between a book of proverbs and a guide to husbandry, sort of a farmers almanac. We hear the famous story of Pandora and her infamous box. The five ages of man: gold, silver, bronze, heroic, and lastly iron. When I first read the Theogony I was excited about the genealogy of the Greek gods. But, as I go over it again and again, I start to see a whole philosophy embedded within the story. This is the only translation…
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Patrology: The Lives and Works of the Fathers of the Church
By Otto Bardenhewer translated by Thomas J. Shahan 1908. First of all, this book was not written for the casual reader. It is a great handbook to learn about the first five centuries of the Christian Church. It is full of rich references and copious notes that is a delight to the researcher or historian. Any person with a strong interest in early Christian history would find this book informative. The writer makes the assumption that the reader has a basic understanding of Greek, Latin, and the Bible. In describing the early writers he starts with a short bio and then follows it up with what works they wrote. He mentions which writings are still extant and which ones may have been erroneously attributed. One of the things that jumped out at me was how much material has been written in the past compared to how little has been preserved. I was led to believe that the reason a lot of old writings are no longer available, is because the “church” destroyed them. Well, why wasn’t the church able to save so many important documents of their own? Then I got to thinking about how even we, the United States…
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The Defense of Poesy
Otherwise known as An Apology for Poetry by Sir Philip Sidney Edited with Introduction and Notes by Alfred S. Cook 1890 The actual Defense of Poesy was only 58 pages, however with an introduction of 40 pages and 74 pages of copious notes, I was curious enough to buy this book and read it. Who was Sir Philip Sidney and why had I never heard of him? Sidney (1554-1586) was an Englishman who died young at the age of thirty-one. In that short span of years he traveled throughout Europe, he was appointed as an Ambassador to Germany, was a member of Parliament (twice), knighted by the Queen of England, married, had a daughter who became a Countess, appointed Governor of Flushing (Netherlands), fought, and later died from a wound at the Battle of Zutphen (part of the Eighty Years’ War). He is known to have written Astrophel and Stella, The Lady of May, Arcadia, and the Defense of Poesy. He was an acquaintance of both Edmund Spenser and Sir Francis Drake. This was the Elizabethan Age. What amazed me was the breadth of sources that Sidney uses in this work. He was evidently extremely well read. Not only was he…
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Elements of Philosophy
Comprising Logic and Ontology, or General Metaphysics by Rev. Walter H. Hill, S.J. 1892 After reading Aristotle’s Logic and Metaphysics recently, this book certainly clarified and explained several key concepts. Hill introduces each core topic and then goes on to explain them in a concise, easy to understand terminology. The topics move along very quickly and the concepts are only briefly explained. The author does not try to teach a new course of philosophy, but rather explain where things are as of this date (1892). There are several Latin and Greek phrases interspersed as needed, but nothing that a rudimentary knowledge of these would not be able to overcome. Reading this book gave me the impression I had the professors notebook. In the Preface it states, “The author derived much help from notes taken in private study years ago, but which were prepared with no thought of ever employing them for any other purpose than his own instruction.” Keeping that in mind, the structure makes sense. I am sure I will refer back and reread sections of this book again. The section on syllogisms I found particularly useful. “Logic explains the laws of right reasoning; it is, when considered under…
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The Vatican: Its History – Its Treasures
Written in 1914 Being born and raised a Roman Catholic I had to buy this book when I saw it at our local Friends of the Library shop. The book is physically huge 12.5″ x 9.5″ x 2″. It is full of photographs (unfortunately black & white). Since the book was written in 1914 you get a sense of the unique political landscape at the time. The Pope (Pius X) is known as the “Prisoner of the Vatican”. The four Popes before him never set foot outside the Vatican to step on Italian soil. This was a result of political relations between Italy and the Vatican in1870. It is a little hard to imagine when we think of the modern Popes and how they travel so much. The book had four major parts. Part one covered the history and a general description of the Vatican palaces and gardens. Part two covered the state apartments and chapels. Part three the Vatican museums, collections, and mosaic factory. Part four was the administration. At times I felt like I was reading a brochure for a museum. Which by the way, the Vatican IS an excellent museum. So why did the Popes think it…
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Studies in Japanese Buddhism
By August Karl Reischauer 1917 This book was a good primer to Buddhism. Now before I get too far along, this book is not a catechism of the Buddhist faith, but rather a history of Buddhism and how it relates to Japan as of the early 20th century. Knowing very little personally of Buddhism and Japanese history and culture, this book was very informative. The author starts with a solid background of Buddha and the early religion. One cannot understand Gautama (Buddha) without having some idea of the times in which he lived. The path of Buddhism travels across the Asian continent where it is modified and changed by various other beliefs. Eventually around a thousand years later it reaches Japan as Mahayana Buddhism. There it is confronted with Shinto and adapts to rule as the state religion over a thousand years. This takes us to more modern time being the 19th century where Japan has its own Reformation and as of the writing of this book, Buddhism was in a decline and was trying to identify and adapt to a modern materialistic world. I want to finish with a few of what the author called “Buddhist Gold Nuggets”.…
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Abraham Lincoln: Helping a Friend, Not Enabling
I just finished reading Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln and I want to comment on one letter that particularly stood out to me. It was a letter that Abe Lincoln wrote to John D. Johnston on January 2, 1851. Abe is responding to a friend in need request. It appears John needs money, again. Now most of us at one time or another has been faced with this moral dilemma. What should you do? Abe really wants to help. So he tells his friend what he thinks is the root of his problem. “You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have done a good whole day’s work in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it.” He goes on to tell him to get a job, and that he will match him dollar for dollar what he would earn for the next few months. This will help him get out of debt and build a good habit that will be good for him…
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My History with The Great Conversation
The Great Conversation is the first book of the series The Great Books of the Western World. You can find it in the reference section of most libraries. To understand my relationship with this collection, a little personal history is required. I was an Electronics Vocational student in high school that graduated in the bottom third of his class. Not a great start, but I graduated. I went on to enroll in an Electronics Engineering degree program. I did great my first trimester, earning a 4.0. This boosted my confidence and I went into the second trimester thinking this is easy. Unfortunately, most of the first trimester was over what I had learned in two years of high school vocational studies. The real challenge was just beginning and I did not have the discipline and study skills to succeed. My grades quickly plummeted and I dropped out. Shortly thereafter, I attended the Ohio State Fair and they had a booth selling the Encyclopedia Britannica. Now this being 1982, Al Gore had not yet invented the internet and I did not have Wikipedia at my disposal. With a little coaxing I was convinced to purchase the complete set of the Encyclopedia…