101 Books to Read Before You Die … Well, Some of them at least August 22, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Art, Literature, books.comments closed
Using the Tagsurfer feature this morning I ran across a post that listed the “101 books to read before you die” from a UK bookstore called Ottakar’s. There are lots of these kind of lists out there, and I always find them fun. A reviewer’s “best of” list says a lot about the reviewer, and I enjoy trying to figure out what kind of things the reviewers value in their lists.
As bookstore employees put this list together, I find it particularly interesting – more fun than serious reviews from academic journals and other “professionals”, typically because the whole advancement of Civilized Culture is not at stake in amateur conversations.
Here are my humble comments (please don’t take them too seriously):
- What, no James Joyce?
- Homer, but no Dante?
- Phillip K. Dick, but no William Gibson?
- Dostoyevsky, but no Tolstoy?
- Richard Dawkins? This is just fiction right? If not, where is Charles Darwin?
- It’s nice to see P.G. Wodehouse and Douglas Adams on the list.
- Life of Pi is a great book
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a good book, but not great.
So what made the reviewers choose the books they did? Is it books they had read (collectively)? Books that sold well, or that they imagined would sell well? What is their criterion for good literature?
What are your thoughts?
While we are discussing artistic merit, it may be appropriate to mention the Museum of Bad Art in Massachusetts. Instead of fighting over the nature of really good art, they attempt to decide what is really bad art.
It is much easier and commonplace to create a work of mediocre art, but the creation of really bad art is exceptional.
“All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic.” –Oscar Wilde
Nietzsche Says… August 22, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Philosophy, Technology.comments closed
Nietzsche has gained certain popularity among my friends in Information Architecture over the past couple of weeks. I surely don’t want to miss the bandwagon, so I found another insightful quote:
Nobility of Mind – Nobility of mind consists to a great degree in good-naturedness and absence of distrust, and thus contains precisely that which successful and money-hungry people are so fond of looking down on and laughing at. (from Human, All Too Human, maxim 493 )
Privacy and Existential Freedom August 4, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Security, Technology.comments closed
Bruce Schneier has a new article on Wired about the importance of privacy as a basic human need. I completely agree with him. The common response from the watchers of “if you are not doing anything wrong, what are you afraid of?” fails on several levels – I’ll let you read the article to find out how.
I do have one more dimension to privacy that I would like to add – marketing also diminishes my freedom. Even if data was collected on me by completely benign corporate entities who really would offer me the best product, and there was no fear of malicious entent by those in power, I would still be reticent to give up that information. I want my own ideas. I want to make my own mistakes. Like a rebellious teenager, I want to live my own life.
Perhaps I don’t feel like that in every situation, but as Bruce points out in his article, I definitely need my private space – discrete, distinct, and mine.
A Definition of Sophism August 2, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Humor, Philosophy.comments closed
Wikipedia defines Sophism as follows:
Sophism (gr. sophistes meaning “wise-ist,” or one who ‘does’ wisdom, i.e. who makes a business out of wisdom; cf. sophós, “wise man”, cf. also wizard) was originally a term for the techniques taught by a highly respected group of philosophy and rhetoric teachers in ancient Greece.
Today, a sophism generally refers to a particularly confusing, illogical and/or insincere argument used by someone to make a point (for example, the “Chewbacca defense“). Sophistry refers to the practice of using such arguments, and is used as derogative for rhetoric that is designed to appeal to the listener on grounds other than the strict logical cogency of the statements being made.
The Sophists are known today only through the writings of their opponents (specifically Plato and Aristotle), which makes it difficult to formulate a complete view of the Sophists’ beliefs. However, modern research has shown that their views were much more complex than Plato’s depiction.
Also, be sure to check out the article on the Chewbacca Defense.
“Hello, I’m Chewbacca and I approve this message.”
(Nothing But) Flowers August 1, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Philosophy, Technology, music.comments closed
I have mentioned the song “(Nothing But) Flowers” by The Talking Heads to a couple of my friends in reference to the artificial and unnecessary role of technological culture to the human condition. You can find the lyrics to the song here, but hearing it is better.
The song is told from the point of view of a person pining away for the old days of Seven-Elevens and chocolate chip cookies in a post-apocalyptic world.
Once there were parking lots
Now it’s a peaceful oasis
you got it, you got itThis was a Pizza Hut
Now it’s all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it
Until recently, I always thought that this song was humorous, but a bit unrealistic – after all, nobody can stop the wheels of progress, nor would they want to.
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we’d start over
But I guess I was wrong
No one could be happy in this condition, right? As I have gotten older, I have realized how much of a trap “progress” is. It feeds on itself. We are slaves to it. Can you imagine life without electricity, modern transportation, or plumbing? We answer this by saying that these things have made our lives better. But I just want to ask this question: our lives are better relative to what? Technology has made us frantic, lonely, sick, and massively destructive. What if we started on a false premise to begin with, and are just chasing our tails in search of something else?
And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
This post is dedicated to Pete Gaeta. Dude, where’s your blog?
