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Book Review: The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing
Title: The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft Author: George Robert Gissing Published: London: Phoenix House Ltd., 1953 (First published 1903). Forward by Cecil Chisholm. Pages-220. Preamble There are books that help me understand who I am, this book is one of those. Now I cannot identify exactly with the character of Henry Ryecroft, but, there are moments of truth that encapsulate certain aspects of myself that Gissing clarified. Gissing portrays Ryecroft as a humble, contemplative, and very mature Englishman of fifty-three. He himself was only forty-three when he wrote this story and he never lived to be the age of his character, Ryecroft. I am convinced that Gissing did not just happen to stumble on the portrayal of Ryecroft, he has a very well-defined sense of human character. This must have come from many hours of contemplative thought and self-reflection. The character is very humble, knows what he enjoys, recognizes his age, and has on overall very mature look on life. Here is a man who can stop and smell the roses, one who can appreciate what he has done in his youth, and yet knows those days are gone, and accepts it. He does not pine away on the…
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Book Review: Essays and Essay Writing by William M. Tanner
Title: Essays and Essay Writing: Based on Atlantic Monthly Models Editor: William M. Tanner Published: Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1918. Pages-307. This is embarrassing. I just recently bought this book at a used book store. I put it in my stack to read, my current stack to read that is. There have been many stacks that went unread and then eventually became assimilated into the ever-growing collection that is my home library. I had just finished reading one of the books in my “new” stack when I looked at this book and the spine. It seemed very familiar to me. Had I purchased this book before? Did another copy lurk on my shelves somewhere? I went exploring. Not only did I find another copy, I found two. I now have three copies of this book and I have never read it. Well, time to fix that! I will have to read it, see if it is any good, and then give a couple copies away to someone whom I think will enjoy it. That, my friends, is how this book came to be next in my review list. What is an essay? Tanner explains it is difficult to understand…
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Book Review: Thirty More Famous Stories Retold
Title: Thirty More Famous Stories Retold Author: James Baldwin (1841-1925) American editor and author Published: New York: American Book Company, 1905; Hardcover 235-pages. “Nearly all the stories are true, and there are not more than three or four that might not have happened. In every one there is something worth learning and remembering.” Preface by James Baldwin I enjoyed reading this book. It was refreshing and nostalgic. Didactic stories written for young readers with a moralistic bent. Baldwin covers the breadth of history with memorable stories that will instill in the reader a sense of virtue and a passion for history. I wish I had instilled upon my children to read more books like this and less of Goosebumps and what not. It makes me wonder if “as long as they’re reading it’s a good thing” is not really a true statement. What are they reading and how is it shaping them into the future man or woman they will become. Don’t get me wrong, I think my children have turned out great, despite my lack of good judgement as a parent. Baldwin tells us stories of Columbus, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, and Sir Francis Drake. Little anecdotes that make you…
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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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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…
