What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I like porn, philosophy, and dark chocolate.

BR was born in a prominent aristocratic family, and his grandfather was a prime minister. In spite of the wealth, love, and respect surrounding him, young Russell seriously thought about committing suicide several times.
He was jailed for his protest against WWI when he was 44 years old, and again jailed for his protest against the nuclear armament when he was 89 (!) years old.
Personally, I do not agree with his philosophy much. He thinks that the world as it appears to us is the real world.

[SonicMan46]

Bertrand Russell: Autobiography.

My father was a Bertrand Russell fan and had many of his books, so I read a number as a teenager, including the autobiography, Why I Am Not a Christian, and parts of A History of Western Philosophy - I was brought up Catholic but after exposure to Russell, stopped going to church at about 16 years of age and got more into Darwin and other evolutionary writers of the era.  Dave

[SonicMan46]

My current readings w/ two on my iPad and the Circus book hardcover:

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America (2009) - born in my state of North Carolina (Pineville near Charlotte), resided in Tennessee, and an Andrew Jackson protégé - won the presidency in 1844 as a Democrat - many accomplishments in his single term (1845-1849), including seeing Texas annexed to the USA, settling the Oregon Territory boundaries w/ Great Britain, and the acquisition of much of the American southwest/California following the Mexican-American War - he increased the size of the United States more than any other president.

Battle for the Big Top: P.T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling, and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus (2021) - a short but concise look at the rise of the American circus in the 19th century, the main and minor entrepreneurs, and the subsequent demise in the next century - just half done - highly recommended to those who (or have not) experience the excitement of the circus many years ago.

The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women: An Inside Look at Women & Sex in Medieval Times (2020) - I've been a medieval history fan for decades, having read numerous books and owning several video courses - about two-thirds through this book which is a fun read - thoroughly researched and ALL you want to know about the sexual relationships between men (and the clergy) and women from Medieval times.  Dave

   

[aligreto]

Eliot: Silas Marner





This book is known to a few people here, I remember. It has been many years since I last read it and I had forgotten many of its details.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

My father was a Bertrand Russell fan and had many of his books, so I read a number as a teenager, including the autobiography, Why I Am Not a Christian, and parts of A History of Western Philosophy - I was brought up Catholic but after exposure to Russell, stopped going to church at about 16 years of age and got more into Darwin and other evolutionary writers of the era.  Dave

Cool father, Dave!

[LKB]

...To this day, I'd rather have porn than philosophy...

+1 ( Though it would be preferable to have access to both [ heavily weighted towards porn ] .)

,

LKB

[SonicMan46]

Cool father, Dave!

Hi Brett - I was thinking of getting Russell's A History of Western Philosophy as a Kindle edition but stated to be 930 printed pages - at my age, I rarely read books over 400 or so pages (just don't have the attention span of my younger years); so looked at the Five Best Books on Western Philosophy and Anthony Kenny's name is mentioned multiple times, but his 'best book' below is 1000 pages - YIKES!  He has less daunting other books (e.g. 'brief history').  Finally, in my consideration is the Columbia History of Western Philosophy stated to be 800+ pages, a book edited by Richard Popkin w/ 63 contributors.  I may explore Kenny's shorter books?  Dave

   

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hi Brett - I was thinking of getting Russell's A History of Western Philosophy as a Kindle edition but stated to be 930 printed pages - at my age, I rarely read books over 400 or so pages (just don't have the attention span of my younger years); so looked at the Five Best Books on Western Philosophy and Anthony Kenny's name is mentioned multiple times, but his 'best book' below is 1000 pages - YIKES!  He has less daunting other books (e.g. 'brief history').  Finally, in my consideration is the Columbia History of Western Philosophy stated to be 800+ pages, a book edited by Richard Popkin w/ 63 contributors.  I may explore Kenny's shorter books?  Dave

   

I have the book by Kenny, as well as the book by Russell. While the both are excellent, the former is very enjoyable. You don't have to read all the pages, just pick the sections/issues you would like. The book is a compilation of separate volumes originally issued. You could buy separate volumes of the original books as well.

P.s. Bryan Magee's Great Philosophers is a fun, small book.

[Artem]

Russel's is very readable. Conveniently separated into chapters it is manageable, although my paperback is pretty heavy.

[Brian]

I'm also considering Russell's great big book so appreciate the comments and conversation. I have Bryan Magee's book "Ultimate Questions" summing up his personal life of learning and views and it too is very fun and small. So I'm quite tempted to read more of his work as well.

[SimonNZ]

Half way through: "Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany"

Which is a much more serious work than the cover and title might suggest.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I'm also considering Russell's great big book so appreciate the comments and conversation. I have Bryan Magee's book "Ultimate Questions" summing up his personal life of learning and views and it too is very fun and small. So I'm quite tempted to read more of his work as well.

All of Magee's books are great (though I haven't read his novels). The book below maybe relevant to this forum.

[Spotted Horses]

Hi Brett - I was thinking of getting Russell's A History of Western Philosophy as a Kindle edition but stated to be 930 printed pages - at my age, I rarely read books over 400 or so pages (just don't have the attention span of my younger years); so looked at the Five Best Books on Western Philosophy and Anthony Kenny's name is mentioned multiple times, but his 'best book' below is 1000 pages - YIKES!  He has less daunting other books (e.g. 'brief history').  Finally, in my consideration is the Columbia History of Western Philosophy stated to be 800+ pages, a book edited by Richard Popkin w/ 63 contributors.  I may explore Kenny's shorter books?  Dave

   

Russel's History of Western Philosophy is very readable and I recall it taking a bemused or irreverent attitude towards many of the philosophical movements it describes. It is a personal account, rather than a textbook.

[Jo498]

Read Russell if you want a smugly biased perspective from an early 20th century analytic philosopher that has not aged that well. If you want to read a good history of philosophy look elsewhere.

If you want to read a good accessible book by Russell read "The Problems of Philosophy". It's much shorter, too, and while it is of course also biased, it has some quite interesting bits, among other things a decent brief argument for universals and a rather odd but interesting theory of states of affairs (such as "Romeo loves Juliet")

[Artem]

Russels' biased perspective is always brought up when his big book is mentioned. What was his bias?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Russels' biased perspective is always brought up when his big book is mentioned. What was his bias?

Lord Russell was a mathematician and what he did in philosophy was called analytical philosophy. He is good at logics, but he is not strong or particularly knowledgeable in some areas, including metaphysics and aesthetics. The idealism by Kant, Schopenhauer, Hume, and also existentialist philosophers are not discussed well in the book.

[Mandryka]

The real Miz.

I think this will keep me occupied for a few weeks.

[Mandryka]

The real Miz.

I think this will keep me occupied for a few weeks.

Does anyone know if there's a set of notes on this book? For example, I've just spent some time investigating via internet this

Pour moi, le frère de Cartouche, enfant innocent, pendu sous les aisselles en place de Grève jusqu'à ce que mort s'ensuive, pour le seul crime d'avoir été le frère de Cartouche, n'est pas moins douloureux que le petit-fils de Louis XV, enfant innocent, martyrisé dans la tour du Temple pour le seul crime d'avoir été le petit-fils de Louis XV.

And this

Que pensez-vous de Bossuet chantant le Te Deum sur les dragonnades ?

Maybe people who have been to school in France know all about Cartouche and his brother, and Bossuet and the dragonnades -- but I don't. It would be nice to have a book which explained this sort of thing.

[Spotted Horses]

Lord Russell was a mathematician and what he did in philosophy was called analytical philosophy. He is good at logics, but he is not strong or particularly knowledgeable in some areas, including metaphysics and aesthetics. The idealism by Kant, Schopenhauer, Hume, and also existentialist philosophers are not discussed well in the book.

A History of Western Philosophy is not an impartial overview, so you would have to look elsewhere for something along those line. I read the book many years ago and found his exposition and critique of the various schools of philosophy very interesting. Perhaps a better book for understanding Russell would be his volume "The Problems of Philosophy," which is available in a nice, free Kindle edition, for those who do ebooks.

[Mandryka]

Hi Brett - I was thinking of getting Russell's A History of Western Philosophy as a Kindle edition but stated to be 930 printed pages - at my age, I rarely read books over 400 or so pages (just don't have the attention span of my younger years); so looked at the Five Best Books on Western Philosophy and Anthony Kenny's name is mentioned multiple times, but his 'best book' below is 1000 pages - YIKES!  He has less daunting other books (e.g. 'brief history').  Finally, in my consideration is the Columbia History of Western Philosophy stated to be 800+ pages, a book edited by Richard Popkin w/ 63 contributors.  I may explore Kenny's shorter books?  Dave

   

Russell's book is too old to be recommendable, it stops with John Dewy!

If you want the history, possibly start by picking a philosopher and reading Wikipedia. Descartes is a good author to kick off with, his Meditations are accessible, you can go to the source.

Anthony Kenny is likely to be quite a difficult read, and risks being a bit biased towards Catholicism. I haven't read it but I have read some other things by him.

If you want an intro to Anglo American philosophical method, then maybe think about Simon Blackburn's book called Think!

If you want an introduction to philosophy post 1968  as practised in France and Germany, so do I and hopefully someone can recommend one.