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ryanpendell

@[email protected]

I write a substack about #philosophy #history #literature #books: https://letstalkbooks.substack.com/

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ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon "In a way, both sides of the debate were directly and indirectly responding to World War II. The absurdity of wartime led many to the view that all this talk of principles, ideals, and values was bullshit. At the same time, the horrors of Nazism stirred many toward an even stronger moral sense. Evil was real. And any attempt to turn it into mere personal preference couldn’t last a minute outside the walls of academia."
https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/where-our-values-come-from

ryanpendell OP ,
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@gwcoffey @bookstodon

Thank you. I haven't read it. Is it good?

ryanpendell OP ,
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@Stone1glo @gwcoffey @bookstodon

This looks amazing! Thanks!

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon "We look back at wars and revolutions of the past, times that must have felt evil, in which evil was done under the banner of righteousness, and we see what good came out of them, good for us. We pick over the remains, the detritus the past has left for us, collecting what gold we can find, forgetting the cost for others, as the wind picks up again."

Read "The hurricane of history": https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/the-hurricane-of-history

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon "Most people are aware that Halloween has pagan roots. But what I found most fascinating about Rogers’ book is that between the druidic era and today there was a really long stretch—about 500 years or more—when Halloween was mostly known as a night when adolescent boys roamed around in packs and terrorized everybody."

Read "When boys ruled Halloween":

https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/when-boys-ruled-halloween

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon "In his introduction to the Tao Te Ching, translator Stephen Mitchell calls it “among other things, a treatise on the art of government.” It is a book for leaders about how to wield authentic authority and power, power which is always flowing and changing... And read with this mindset, it’s a book that ought to unsettle us more than it does."

Read "The Tao Te Ching is a political document":

https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/the-tao-te-ching-is-a-political-document

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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“If your biggest fear as a parent is that your kids will be exposed to sexual material at school that doesn’t fit your Christian values, it seems strange that your solution is to introduce them to the Great Books of Western Civilization.” @bookstodon

https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/the-classics-arent-safe

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon "I want to find the hidden connections. I want to find the differences in the familiar and the familiar in the differences. Whenever I hear a little voice inside me go 'Oh, that’s not really my thing,' I know I’m destined for it eventually. Because I want to go on an adventure—and books are how I go. Because I want to become a different person—and books are how I change."

Read "This time for Africa":

https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/this-time-for-africa

Africa book recs?

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon On Deck:

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon

"One of the most interesting parts of the book was the section on Emerson, in which West places Emerson in the larger historical context of thinkers like Marx and Nietzsche. I had not realized before how similar Emerson’s outlook is to Nietzsche, and it made me wonder how many Nietzscheans are unwitting Emersonians."

Read "Whatever happened to American pragmatism?":

https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/what-happened-to-american-pragmatism

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon

I finished Ovid's Metamorphoses last night. (McCarter translation)

I expected mythology but I was surprised by the amount of magic. Like, woman with wild hair in the woods at night with a wand and cauldron, mixing herbs and casting spells.

I guess I had associated that with more Germanic (Grimm fairy tales) literature. Apparently a lot of that imagery comes from Rome.

ryanpendell OP , (edited )
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@KBroquard @bookstodon

Yes I would recommend it. Definitely. (Note, there are many stories of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. This is dealt with in the introduction. But definitely something to be aware of going into reading Ovid.)

ryanpendell OP ,
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@Optional @bookstodon

That's a hard decision.

I liked when Pythagoras randomly shows up at the end for a rant on vegetarianism. (After reading stories about people turning into animals it kind of makes sense)

I agree the Icarus story was very vivid and emotional. It does sound kind of cliché, but it really was one of the best stories in the book.

I really loved The House of Sleep and the House of Rumor.

And the king who had a single lock of purple hair that made him invincible.

ryanpendell , to bookstodon
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@bookstodon

"The goal is not perfection but a little bit better than before. Tarnished but not rotten. And that little bit had to be protected and nurtured and watched. The title Night Watch suggests this duty: The work of preserving the good of humanity during evil times is the night watch."

Read "My first Terry Pratchett novel":

https://www.letustalkbooks.com/p/my-first-terry-pratchett-novel

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