What are you currently reading?

[Brian]

Chapter 2 of a charming work-in-progress by our own Cato.

Are the bad guys named Kevin and Brian? 

[Florestan]

Tao Te Ching is written as advice to a ruler who would be wise; it is largely a treatise on the art of governance.

In this context, those three lines as translated by Mitchell don't make much sense. No wise ruler would stay passive when his enemies begin arming themselves.

[DavidRoss]

In this context, those three lines as translated by Mitchell don't make much sense. No wise ruler would stay passive when his enemies begin arming themselves.

Again, Mitchell's lines are not even an attempt at translation.  His book is not a translation, but a adaptation based on other translations, not on the Chinese text.  Passages like the one under discussion should make the liability clear, as well as the presumptuousness of Mitchell's claim to be "translating the mind of Lao Tzu."

[Florestan]

Again, Mitchell's lines are not even an attempt at translation.  His book is not a translation, but a adaptation based on other translations, not on the Chinese text.  Passages like the one under discussion should make the liability clear, as well as the presumptuousness of Mitchell's claim to be "translating the mind of Lao Tzu."

To me the passage under discussion looks like sentimentaloid flower power hogwash which bear no relationship whatsoever to the real world.

[Solitary Wanderer]

The Bronte Yearbook by Juliet Barker.

Each day of the year is represented by a piece of writing from one of the Bronte's. They used to date everything they wrote so this concept is possible. Quite a neat and rewarding idea 

[bhodges]

The Bronte Yearbook by Juliet Barker.

Each day of the year is represented by a piece of writing from one of the Bronte's. They used to date everything they wrote so this concept is possible. Quite a neat and rewarding idea 

Thanks for mentioning this!  I have a friend who is a huge fan of their work, and she will love knowing this exists.

--Bruce

[Solitary Wanderer]

Thanks for mentioning this!  I have a friend who is a huge fan of their work, and she will love knowing this exists.

--Bruce

You're welcome Bruce. Juliet Barker is an established Bronte expert whose written several much respected books about them. This is a delightful book to browse 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Beautiful photo book covering the life and times of Grace Kelly 

[Solitary Wanderer]

I'd love to visit Easter Island one day. This book provides some fascinating background on the life of the island and its inhabitants.

[DavidRoss]

Beautiful photo book covering the life and times of Grace Kelly 

Gosh, she looks like an ordinary pretty girl in that photo, and not the luminous Helen of Troy depicted in so many closeups on the silver screen.  My heart didn't even skip a beat.

[hildegard]

Such scenarios transpired constantly during the period in which the Tao Te Ching was written.  The Warring States period in what came to be a unified China was a time much like that the entire world is experiencing now, with constant warfare and strife among competing states striving for domination.  Tao Te Ching is written as advice to a ruler who would be wise; it is largely a treatise on the art of governance.

Tao is the natural "way," which men have lost.  And there's no "may be" about it: Mitchell's interpolation has nothing to do with the text, which here reads the same in both Han era scrolls and in the later "received" texts.  The passage has nothing to do with fear, enemies, or defense;  it is about the grievous consequences of desire, discontent, and covetousness, consistent with the wisdom teachings of the world's great religions--lessons which humankind is no closer to learning today than 2500 years ago.

DavidRoss -- thanks very much for this information. I have yet another version of the Tao somewhere, but cannot seem to put my hands on it. Now, I'm more curious to compare the differences.

[Bogey]

Gosh, she looks like an ordinary pretty girl in that photo, and not the luminous Helen of Troy depicted in so many closeups on the silver screen.  My heart didn't even skip a beat.

My GK radar is usually pretty sharp, but I had to do a double take as well.

[Brian]

Gosh, she looks like an ordinary pretty girl in that photo, and not the luminous Helen of Troy depicted in so many closeups on the silver screen.  My heart didn't even skip a beat.

I don't know ... I didn't mind that photo at all!  0:)

[Bogey]

I don't know ... I didn't mind that photo at all!  0:)

Not a bad photo Brian, unless you are Grace Kelly:

     

That should do. 

[Diletante]

Beautiful.

[DavidRoss]

I don't know ... I didn't mind that photo at all!  0:)

See Rear Window.  Ms Kelly is not that movie's only attraction, but....

[Brian]

They don't make 'em like they used to. 

[CD]

Well, no hot chicks here, but I nonetheless enjoyed The Glass Bead Game so much I decided to take a trip through the parts of Hesse's oeuvre which I have hitherto neglected.

Starting today:

[Opus106]

Currently: The Clicking of Cuthbert - a selection of short stories centred around golf - Pelham Grenville W. I've had enough of golf for now, (and I can well imagine how a protagonist from one of those stories would react to such a statement ) so after the current story, I will be picking up Piccadilly Jim.

Two books borrowed from the library, today:

The Genius of Science, by Abraham Pais. Pais was a very respected science historian and author, particularly in the field of physics. His other, more famous book Subtle is the Lord, is considered by many to be the definitive biography of Einstein's scientific life. The present book deals with the lives and works of the pioneers of the physics of the early twentieth century.

Also, Roger Kamien's Music - An Appreciation, 7th Ed.

[Florestan]

Barry Unsworth - The Stone Virgin

So far, so good. I like the plot (reminded me a bit of J. L. Carr's "A Month In The Country") and the style.