Daily Thoughts 11/12/2010 (Libraries, philosophy)

Woman with a Child in a Boat, Berthe Morisot, Oil On Canvas,
Between 1880 and 1890

Daily Thoughts 11/12/2010

This morning, I started reading The Master Switch by Tim Wu.

The book, Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson came in for me to read.  Hopefully it will be insightful.

I spent some time checking the displays and started reading a few book reviews to get ready for my order meeting next week on November 17, 2010.

I also did some more weeding in the oversize books.  I also spent some time talking about philosophy and religion books for the library.  We are probably going to get Conversations of Socrates by Xenophon and The Enchiridion by Epictetus. 

Web Bits
Less Ink, More Words-- American Libraries is going to be publishing fewer print issues and more online issues.  This is a trend I am seeing with many magazines and periodicals. http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/editors-letter/less-ink-more-words

Libraries reinvent themselves as they struggle to remain relevant in the digital age
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-fi-libraries-20101112,0,5930158.story?track=rss

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar is an overview of philosophy described through a series of gags, jokes, quotes, and short vignettes. It is more amusing than funny. The book was enjoyable and relaxing to read.

The reader learns about metaphysics, logic, epistemology, ethics, and other subjects as they may have been taught by Woody Allen or Groucho Marx. On the books cover, there is a quote by Groucho Marx, "These are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein use a lot of counterpoint and one liners. A good example of this from Pp. 64 is:

Secretary: Doctor, there's an invisible man in the waiting room.

Doctor: Tell him I can't see him.

There are a lot of philosophers covered. Almost all of them are western philosophers; Plato, Leibniz, Kant, Sigmund Freud, Pascal, Heidegger, and others. The authors briefly mention Confucius and Mary Wollstonecraft.

Each chapter has several single panel cartoons, snippets of dialogue, quotes from famous people, and brief philosophical definitions. There is a timeline of philosophers at the end of the book, a glossary of philosophical terms, and an index.

This is a pleasant way to spend some evenings reading. I liked the book enough to read the followup, Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through The Pearly Gates Using Philosophy (And Jokes) to Explore, Life, Death, The Afterlife, and Everything In Between.

The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley

The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley

Simon Critchley taught a course at the New School For Social Research called "To Philosophize is to Learn to Die" in 2007. The summarizes of the philosophy and deaths of some 200 different philosophers speaks to this theme. The book begins with the Greeks and ends in the modern day

Each summary runs from a paragraph to a couple of pages depending on the importance of the philosophical figures. The book covers from the period of the early Greeks to modern day philosophers. It includes some Chinese, medieval arabic, medieval jewish, and women philosophers. The main divisions that are obvious are the pagan Greeks and Romans, the christians, and modern philosophers.

This book is not written for an academic audience. It is written to be enjoyed by the lay reader. There are no footnotes. There is a bibliography at the end. The writing is of ironic and funny. Some of the endings of important philosophers are quite perplexing. For example, according to legend, Pythagoras was killed because he refused to cross a bean field while being chased by his enemies.

We also learn that many were regarded more highly when they were dead than when they were alive. Nietzsche was one of these people. This is also true of many writers of what we call classic fiction.

Also, many philosophers choose to die for their beliefs, both christian and pagan. Plato died by drinking hemlock, and the Roman Emperor Nero killed three of the philosophers in the book. Maimonides was constantly on the run for his life.

Also, some refuse to give up their vices because they enjoyed them too much. Hannah Arendt would not stop drinking, nor would Freud stop smoking. There was a sense that many tried to live their life in the fullest possible way.

This is an enjoyable survey of what it means to live and die as a philosopher. It shows that death is not such a fearful thing. It also shows how unpredictable, capricious, funny, and ironic life can be.