What are you currently reading?

[Florestan]

It's Nietzsche. I regret my error. Wagner admired Schopenhauer, but the latter was not interested in him or his music.

Nietzsche, yes.

Schopenhauer penned a devastating critique of Wagner's libretti, going so far as to brand him "a deaf musician".

Details here: https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/html/1996/09/schopenhauer.html (make sure to read the next page as well.)

He vastly prefered Mozart and Rossini above any other composers.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Confessions of a philosopher. Bryan Magee.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Nietzsche, yes.

Schopenhauer penned a devastating critique of Wagner's libretti, going so far as to brand him "a deaf musician".

Details here: https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/html/1996/09/schopenhauer.html (make sure to read the next page as well.)

He vastly prefered Mozart and Rossini above any other composers.

Some authors say that W became hugely interested in, and influenced by, Buddhism because of Schopenhauer's writings.

[Artem]

Confessions of a philosopher. Bryan Magee.

Do you like it?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Do you like it?

Magee is my favorite author/philosopher. The book discusses his life as well as core issues in philosophy. To readers with some philosophical background, the book must be an engaging read. He wrote a few introductory books of philosophy for beginners as well.

[aligreto]

Gorky: The Man Who Was Afraid [Foma Gordyeeff]





This could equally have been titled The Man Who Could [or Would] Not Conform. It is the tale of a man, born with every materialistic blessing that the world has to offer yet he cannot find it in his soul to settle into the role designated for him. It is the tale of his struggle to free his soul and the cost of this to both him and those around him. It is an interesting and sometimes brutal read.

[SimonNZ]

Finished:



I remember at the time of Bourdain's suicide those who knew him saying he was the last person they would have expected to do this. Its sad to observe now that this book is regularly punctuated by the author describing his heavy mood swings and his self loathing at living the seemingly frivilous life of a celebrity chef in the face of abject poverty and suffering in the peoples who's food he is sampling before returning to comfort.


Started:

[Iota]

Finished:



I remember at the time of Bourdain's suicide those who knew him saying he was the last person they would have expected to do this. Its sad to observe now that this book is regularly punctuated by the author describing his heavy mood swings and his self loathing at living the seemingly frivilous life of a celebrity chef in the face of abject poverty and suffering in the peoples who's food he is sampling before returning to comfort.

Interesting.

I recently gave Jeremy Fox's book, 'On Vegetables' as a gift, and he went through a period using stimulants and tranquillisers that resembled something out of a Martin Amis novel. They are quite an intense lot chefs. The Bourdain example you cite above though is completely understandable and one I'm sure many would empathise with.

Started:

Visting a nephew at Trinity College, Cambridge a couple of years ago, we went in to the Wren Library (Christopher Wren was a contemporary and good friend of Newton) and seeing Newton's handwriting in his personal copy of the Principia hushed me into awe, much as seeing a Beethoven manuscript up close for the first time did in the British Library many years ago. An extraordinary character Newton.


Here I'm gently going through Bill Bryson's 'The Body'. Brilliantly written as always and crammed with interesting and surprising revelations.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Gorky: The Man Who Was Afraid [Foma Gordyeeff]





This could equally have been titled The Man Who Could [or Would] Not Conform. It is the tale of a man, born with every materialistic blessing that the world has to offer yet he cannot find it in his soul to settle into the role designated for him. It is the tale of his struggle to free his soul and the cost of this to both him and those around him. It is an interesting and sometimes brutal read.

Looks interesting. I haven't read the work. I must get a copy. My Universities, and Lower Depths are my fav.

[Brian]

Finished:

I remember at the time of Bourdain's suicide those who knew him saying he was the last person they would have expected to do this. Its sad to observe now that this book is regularly punctuated by the author describing his heavy mood swings and his self loathing at living the seemingly frivilous life of a celebrity chef in the face of abject poverty and suffering in the peoples who's food he is sampling before returning to comfort.

Rewatching his TV shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown since his death, I have noticed that maybe half of all the episodes contain some kind of suicide joke or reference. They are glaring now. The episode in Nicaragua is especially dark.

[Brian]

Magee is my favorite author/philosopher. The book discusses his life as well as core issues in philosophy. To readers with some philosophical background, the book must be an engaging read. He wrote a few introductory books of philosophy for beginners as well.

John Cleese cited Bryan Magee's Ultimate Questions as one of his favorite books, I think. I have read it once or maybe twice.

[Artem]

Liked it but felt confused while reading it most of the time. So many unknown names and it is very fast paced.

[SimonNZ]

Visting a nephew at Trinity College, Cambridge a couple of years ago, we went in to the Wren Library (Christopher Wren was a contemporary and good friend of Newton) and seeing Newton's handwriting in his personal copy of the Principia hushed me into awe, much as seeing a Beethoven manuscript up close for the first time did in the British Library many years ago. An extraordinary character Newton.


Here I'm gently going through Bill Bryson's 'The Body'. Brilliantly written as always and crammed with interesting and surprising revelations.

Speaking of both the Royal Society and Bill Bryson, I just recently picked up the volume of historical essays on the RS he edited called Seeing Further.

How would The Body read for someone who gets a bit squeamish about gross medical stuff?  I'm, um, asking for a friend.

[aligreto]

Looks interesting. I haven't read the work. I must get a copy. My Universities, and Lower Depths are my fav.

I agree on My Universities; a great read.
I have not read Lower Depths.

[SimonNZ]

What is it that makes the third volume of York's autobiography superior to the first two?

[Iota]

Speaking of both the Royal Society and Bill Bryson, I just recently picked up the volume of historical essays on the RS he edited called Seeing Further.

How would The Body read for someone who gets a bit squeamish about gross medical stuff?  I'm, um, asking for a friend.

Ha, well please inform your friend I'm barely a quarter of the way through, so not really qualified to answer the question .. though being similarly susceptible occasionally, I have found myself skipping rather swiftly through one or two passages when I felt there might be a tad more information than I want. But really nothing too shocking (as yet) .. I think kindly Mr Bryson knows his audience consists of the odd sensitive soul.

Hadn't heard of the Royal Society book, sounds interesting.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

John Cleese cited Bryan Magee's Ultimate Questions as one of his favorite books, I think. I have read it once or maybe twice.

That's a great, and his last, book. Also he wrote an excellent, and unique, book about Wagner (@Andrei, you will like the book!).

In case, the obituary article by the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jul/26/bryan-magee-obituary

[Florestan]

That's a great, and his last, book. Also he wrote an excellent, and unique, book about Wagner (@Andrei, you will like the book!).

Thanks, duly noted.

[vers la flamme]

Shit has just hit the fan in The Brothers Karamazov. No spoilers, but a certain someone has just been charged with the murder of a certain someone else, arrested while in bed at last with a girl he's been chasing for hundreds of pages. Exciting stuff. I think I'm just a bit over the halfway point of the book.

[ritter]

I've always enjoyed Ravel's wonderful Histoires Naturelles. The composer only set five of Jules Renard's 45 short texts, so I've decided to read the whole set.