"Science is the human adventure of accepting uncertainty, eploring ways of thinking about the world, and being ready to overturn any and all certainti"Science is the human adventure of accepting uncertainty, eploring ways of thinking about the world, and being ready to overturn any and all certainties we have possessed to this point.. This is among the most beautiful of human adventures." - Carlo Rovelli, Anaximander
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I adore Carlo Rovelli. I've read most of his books. This one was great. It is a great book arguing that Anaximander was the Father of science. The first genius that attempted (often close, sometime wrong) to explain the natural world (the world, wind, earthquakes, etc) NOT through some god or gods act, but using natural explanations. I lived as a kid near Miletus in Turkey. The irony of traveling quite a bit as a kid was only fully appreciating places I've been fully years and years afterwards. Miletus was also, just a few years later, the home of Pythagorus. The 6th Century BCE was an intellectual banger in Western Turkey. Anyway, I adored the book. Not as poetic as some of his other books specifically on Physics, but the prose was fantastic (thanks also to the translator M. Rosenberg)....more
"Civilization does not die, it migrates; it changes its habitat and its dress, but it lives on. The decay of one civilization, as of one individual, m"Civilization does not die, it migrates; it changes its habitat and its dress, but it lives on. The decay of one civilization, as of one individual, makes room for the growth of another; life sheds the old skin, and surprises death with fresh youth." - Will Durant, The Life of Greece
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Will Durant, during his strongest moments in book 2, transfers his love of Greek history, philosophy, art, and civilization elegantly to the reader. He captures the history of Greece, but also places Greece firmly within the greater context Western Civilization, history, and our current philosophy, science, and art. He is weakest when he aggregating and acting as an art historian or literary critic; he both tries to summarize the work AND the artist and excels at neither.
Durant's approach (and with Hellenic Civilization it is difficult to find a perfect approach) takes the reader from city-state to city-state (which often yo-yos the reader in time). Like with Book 1, I loved Durant's imagry, metaphors, and well-formed lines. Here is just a sample from Book 1 of the Story of Civilization 2: The Life of Greece:
"It is as difficult to begin a civilization without robbery as it is to maintain it without slaves" (10). "But we must not mistake our guessing for history" (15). "...the patient perfecting of litttle things" (16). "...a nation is born stoic and dies epicurean" (21). "By a hundered channels the old civilization emptied itself out into the new" (23). "Civilization is always older than we think" (27); "...but faith survives every desolation" (33). "We shall assume that the major leggends are true in essence, imaginitive in detail" (38). "A myth is often a bit of popular wisdom personified in poetic figures...legend is often a fragment of history swelling with new fictions as it folls down the years" (43-44). "society is a rumbling cart that travels an uneven road; and no matter how carefully the cart is constituted, some of the varied objects in it will sink to the bottom, and others will rise to the top" (47). "Precedent dominates law because precedent is custom, and custom is the jealous older brother of law" (54). "Art (to vary Aristotle) may make even terror beautiful -- and so purify it--by giving it significance and form" (56). ...more
“Happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked” ― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
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I like looking at myths and great literatu“Happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked” ― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
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I like looking at myths and great literature in another way. I enjoyed the book, but it just wasnt' great Margaret Atwood. It felt a bit dashed-off, almost an afterthought. Great in idea, but just OK in execution.
Things I liked: 1. the conception 2. the re-evaluation of Penelope in conjunction with Helen, Odysseus, Eryurycleia, Telemachus, etc. 3. the re-evaluation of Odysseus 4. the idea of the 12 maids 5. the idea of Penelope as female-goddess cult-leader
Things I didn't like: 1. the prose 2. the Chorus Lines 3. general execution
Anyway, I still adore Atwood. This one just happens to be my least favorite I've read so far....more
Part 1 of Mary Renault's Alexander the Great trilogy. I'll write more tomorrow, but for now it reminded me of Robert Graves mixed with a bit of PatricPart 1 of Mary Renault's Alexander the Great trilogy. I'll write more tomorrow, but for now it reminded me of Robert Graves mixed with a bit of Patricia Highsmith's penchant for psychological tension. Renault isn't trying to give some accurate account of Alexander the Great, only use the template of Alexander to paint her ideas of Hubris upon. So many great characters in the books and the prose was fantastic. I'm giving it only 4 stars right now, because it is only my 2nd Mary Renault novel and I don't want to presume to know her peak....more
"All this while, I have been a weaver without wool, a ship without the sea. Yet now look where I sail." - Circe, Madeline Miller, Circe
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This mig"All this while, I have been a weaver without wool, a ship without the sea. Yet now look where I sail." - Circe, Madeline Miller, Circe
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This might be a 5-star book. I need to let it soak. I really enjoyed it. Feminist. Marxist almost. It looks at the gods and at Man from the perspective of a banished nymph, a witch, a daughter of Helios. The myths get brushed, twisted and woven in a way that is both familiar and new. Miller changes the myths by simply changing the narrator, removing the hero, and looking at the narrative from a different perspective. This has been done before, but Miller's approach and craft is hard to replicate. I'm not sure she is Robert Graves, but she is definitely on the same island as Mary Renault....more
“One must live as if it would be forever, and as if one might die each moment. Always both at once.” - Mary Renault, The Persian Boy
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Mary Renau“One must live as if it would be forever, and as if one might die each moment. Always both at once.” - Mary Renault, The Persian Boy
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Mary Renault's second volume of her The Alexander Trilogy is narrated by Bagoas a beautiful Perisan boy from an aristocratic family who at a young age sees his family killed and through a series of events ends up in Darius III's court as a favorite eunuch of Darius. Later, as Darius III falls, like the rest of Asia, into Alexander's hands, Bagoas become's a favorite of Alexander.
Renault uses the relationship between Bagoas and Darius, Bagoas and Alexander, Alexander and Hephaistion, Alexander and the Macedonians, and Alexander and his army to explore love in many aspects. It also shows how the hubris of love can affect people for the better and the worse. Love is a two edged sword indeed.
Another important piece of this book is the homosexual love between Bagoas and Darius, Bagoas and Alexander, and Alexander and Hephaistion. Renault is unflinching in her exploration of various aspects of homosexuality and in many ways this book can be considered gay fiction as much as it is considered historical fiction. I'd probably also need to call it historical fiction* with an asterix because I think Renault isn't seaching to tell the "truth" about Alexander, but rather use the myth of Alexander to paint a story on. Once you recognize that she isn't necessarily limited by history, the book flows a bit easier.
I enjoyed the book, but not as much as Book 1 in the series. There were definitely parts here that dragged a bit and other pieces that seemed to skip along without much effort. It was a book that was "rich" enough (like a hot bath, or incenced room) where I would need to step away occasionally to regain my footing....more
"-- and when she'd finished, then, at last I mounted Circe's gorgeous bed...." - Homer, "The Odyssey"
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Vol N° 70 of my Penguin Little Black Classi"-- and when she'd finished, then, at last I mounted Circe's gorgeous bed...." - Homer, "The Odyssey"
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Vol N° 70 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This volume contains about two sections of of Homer's Epic The Odyssey translated by Robert Fagles. I'm a ho for Homer. So, I read this again in preparation for finally getting to the Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey. I've had it sitting on my shelf to read for too long.
This selection contains: 1. "In the One Eyed Giant's Cave" and 2. "The bewitching Queen of Aeaea". Both sections are quite wonderful. My little brother loves Dante and collects many different translations. I'm not ashamed to find I have done the same with Homer. My biggest regret is I can't read him(them) in the original Greek. From my understanding, at best, I'm getting Homer in black and white and missing the full color and force of his verse. Someday, I guess, I will find time to learn Greek for my Greeks and Russian for my Russians....more
Rating Aesop is like rating the King James Bible or rating the Brother Grimm. The stories are so ubiquitous it is easy to both overappreciate and undeRating Aesop is like rating the King James Bible or rating the Brother Grimm. The stories are so ubiquitous it is easy to both overappreciate and underappreciate them at the same time. I'll come back and give this more attention as soon as this damn snake warms up....more
"Men serve no harsher mistress than necessity, who drives me now..." -Apollonius of Rhodes, Jason and Medea
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Vol 18 of my Penguin Little Black Cla"Men serve no harsher mistress than necessity, who drives me now..." -Apollonius of Rhodes, Jason and Medea
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Vol 18 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. "Jason and Medea" represents Book 3 of Apollonius of Rhodes epic Greek poem the Jason and the Golden Fleece (aka Argonautica). This Penguin selection is limited mainly by two things: First, it is only a section of the Hellenistic epic, thus the reader is dropped into the middle of it. If you are unfamiliar with the myth of Jason and the Argonauts and are otherwise unfamiliar with his trials, it might take a minute to get your sea legs. Second, this is a translation. I don't read classical Greek, and my fluency with the Argonautica is limited, by necessity, to the translators' gift (E.V. Rieu). But it IS a limitation. I've heard that the difference between reading Homer in the Greek and Homer translated, is like color vs black & white, etc. So, there is that limit. I DID, however, dig this translators ability to both make the text readable and lyrical at the same time. So, win....more
"Return often and take me at night, when lips and skin remember." - CP Cavafis, "Return"
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Vol N° 43 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. T"Return often and take me at night, when lips and skin remember." - CP Cavafis, "Return"
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Vol N° 43 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This volume contains 50 of C.P. Cavafy's sensual poems assembled from Penguin's 'Selected Poems of Cavafy'.
After having read Durrell's 'Alexandria Quartet' I was prepared for the sensual, erotic, and excessive poetry of Cavafy. I appreciated the poems and a couple I liked a lot. It just didn't resonate with me like other poets have. I can see how certain readers and certain points in life would be HUGELY affected by Cavafy. I think I might have responded better to some of his other poems (historical/philosophical vs sensual). I DID enjoy how personal and evocative his poems were. These short poems are sensual and awaken the reader to the smells, tastes, and longings of Cavafy's memory of his youth and Alexandria....more
"But leave me to my own absurdity..." Antigone, Sophocles
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Vol N° 55 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This volume contains Sophocles p"But leave me to my own absurdity..." Antigone, Sophocles
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Vol N° 55 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This volume contains Sophocles play Antigone (third in his The Theban Plays; Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus came chronologically before, but were actually written after). It was translated by Robert Fagles. I'm giving it 4-stars because while I LOVE Fagles' translations of Homer's The Iliad/The Odyssey and his translation of Virgil's The Aeneid, I prefer other translations of Sophocles. I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm not sure if I just didn't catch the rhythm of this translation or what? It just seemed heavier, denser, less poetic, and (I feel I might anger the gods) clunkier too.
Anyway, the play itself I love/adore. I love its nuance, its tension, its simplicity....more
"If you think killing people will stop anyone reproaching you for not living corrrectly, you are not thinking straight." - Socrates, as writing by Plat"If you think killing people will stop anyone reproaching you for not living corrrectly, you are not thinking straight." - Socrates, as writing by Plato in 'Socrates Defense'
I've read a different translation of this before (a couple times), but always enjoy both the logic and the clarity of thought of Socrates (as told by Plato). It is a good reminder of the limits of democracy and justice, and how an individual can stand up to an unjust state, or unjust persecution, with dignity and wisdom....more
It is broken down into several groupings: 1. Goddesses 2. Desire and Death-Longing 3. Her Girls and Family 4. Troy 5. Maidens and Marriages 6. The Wisdom of Sappho
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