All About Books discussion

Our theme for February/March is philosophy.
Original works of philosopers, books about philosophy or the memoir of a philosopher: anything goes as long as it is philosophy related non-ficion.

Nominations will run for a maximum of 10 days or until 7 poll-contestants are chosen. In order to move into poll a book needs to receive a second vote. So second if you are not nominating!

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

I and Thou by Martin Buber

The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

I second The Problems of Philosophy

Great choices everyone.

And Pia it does absolutely fit the criteria, in fact it's a choice that I'd be quite thrilled to read. Only problem is: it seems to be quite expensive. Could any of you natives check the booksite of your choice to see whether there are more affordable copies availabe? (the only copy on amazon.co.uk that I can find comes in at 16 pounds and some pennies) Would most libraries hold it? I know Sartre is really popular in Germany, so the chances are high not so sure about Britain and the States.

I checked the Bertrand Russell before I posted and it costs the princely sum of 76p on Kindle, in the UK anyway.

I'll second Being and Nothingness.

Jean wrote: "I checked the Bertrand Russell before I posted and it costs the princely sum of 76p on Kindle, in the UK anyway."

We have a winner!!! Well of cost at least. ;)

It seems as if Sartre really is the costly little scallywag that amazon claims him to be, new at least.
However secondhand there seem to be many copies available for 1-2 Euro or whatever the equivalent in pound and dollar. So I say he's in.

Pia wrote: "Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre

Does this fit the criteria?"

Existentialism? Great, I love it and it would be awesome to read something by Sartre. I've never read anything of his works but I'm a huge fan of Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus is extraordinary. :) A sort of personal bible for me. :-D

Has anyone seen the series Blackwell's pop culture and philosophy? I have been reading Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a Dream but there are lots of others for example Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You've Lost Your Dwarves, Your Wizard, and Your Way The Big Bang Theory and Philosophy House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies
Everyone could choose their favourite!

Jenny - I think "scallywag" deserves to be posted on the thread of words - I love it :D

I am interested in reading Being and Nothingness by Sartre

... the book has 800+ pages and the price is ok for that (14 € in my case), I do hope that I like it enough :)

at the same time I would like to nominate Being and Time by Martin Heidegger

Jean wrote: "The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell"

I second this one.

i second Sartre's augestion. also la peste by camus or something from Nietzche would meet the criteria :)

Man's Search for Meaning is a wonderful book! I will second that.

How about The Republic by Plato? Or does that not count as non-fiction?

I was thinking of something by Plato, but wasn't sure which one to pick!

Charbel wrote: "How about The Republic by Plato? Or does that not count as non-fiction?"

It is shelved as non-fiction here 612 times, and though it is composed in dialog which could imply fiction I'd say it counts as non-fiction, as I believe it was intended as such.

Ok great! Then I nominate it.

Alright. So far we have:

Being and Nothingness by Sartre seconded
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl seconded
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell seconded
The Republic by Plato seconded
and I'll add a nomination by Mavibaubauful that I received via PM:
The Logic of Sense by Gilles Deleuze seconded
I and Thou by Martin Buber
Being and Time by Heidegger
Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series (individual choice)
Discourse on Method by Descartes

I'll second The Republic

I would like to nominate A Discourse on the Method by René Descartes

Brilliant, I'll edit it in.

I second The Logic of Sense. But I am afraid whether that book will be easily available.

Dhanaraj wrote: "I second The Logic of Sense. But I am afraid whether that book will be easily available."

Look here (Euro) or here (Pound) or here (Dollar)

I'd like to second nominate Man's Search for Meaning

I'll second The Logic of Sense

Mavibaubauful wrote: "I'll second The Logic of Sense"

Cheeky! Seconding your own nomination ;)
It already received a second vote by Dhanaraj though, so it will definitely move into poll. Thanks again for nominating!

Ah - nobody can get anything past the sharp eyes of our Jenny ;)

I second I and Thou

Since in the first quarter of 2014 I'll be focusing on Descartes for my philosophy challenge, I will second Discourse on Method though I would like to read almost all of the books nominated so far.

Which means that so far we have:
Being and Nothingness by Sartre seconded
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl seconded
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell seconded
The Republic by Plato seconded
The Logic of Sense by Gilles Deleuze seconded
Discourse on Method by Descartes seconded
I and Thou by Martin Buber
Being and Time by Heidegger
Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series (individual choice)

Christine wrote: "I second I and Thou"

Christine, you can only second if you haven't already nominated. I am afraid this is my mistake though, because I haven't made that very clear in my introductory post. Sorry about that. Anyone else who would like to second something (and hasn't nominated)?

Just seen I and Thou is seconded. Good!

Oh, boo! No it isn't!

Jean wrote: "Ah - nobody can get anything past the sharp eyes of our Jenny ;)"

LOL, I am extremely short-sighted, so it must be a compensational mechanism kicking in ;)

Gill wrote: "Just seen I and Thou is seconded. Good!"

Gill we must have been cross posting. Sorry!

I think we just cross-posted again!

I love all this pre-Christmas befuddlement :D

Jean wrote: "I love all this pre-Christmas befuddlement :D"

OK now that's a word that really needs to be added to my active English vocabulary!! Befuddlement.

Hey it's in the dictionary!! And I thought I'd just made it up...

Lol, I know the feeling.

Jenny wrote: "Christine wrote: "I second I and Thou"

Christine, you can only second if you haven't already nominated. I am afraid this is my mistake though, because I haven't made that very clear ..."

oh! ok - I did not know that - sorry :)

Ok, so the thread is now officially CLOSED for nominations but obviously you can still chat away here until the poll result is in.

In German we have a saying that there's not need 'to be more papal than the pope' so I've decided to consider Gill's nomination of Martin Buber seconded, since Christine's nomination didn't move into poll, so it isn't really a double vote. ANARCHY!!!
The poll will be up shortely, so come and vote!

Sounds fair to me :) (And no, I didn't actually vote for it!)

Jenny wrote: "Ok, so the thread is now officially CLOSED for nominations but obviously you can still chat away here until the poll result is in.

In German we have a saying that there's not need 'to be more papa..."

Sounds good to me!

Jenny wrote: "Ok, so the thread is now officially CLOSED for nominations but obviously you can still chat away here until the poll result is in.

In German we have a saying that there's not need 'to be more papa..."

Sounds good, already voted.

man's search for meaning

Bill, you can find the poll to vote for the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

That's not a bad idea, Jenny. Although it does depend on having enough readers interested in both books. I personally am not sure if I will join the Plato but am planning on reading the Russell book. I hope to get to it in feb!

And the winners are:

The Republic by Plato
and
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.

Here's a thought: Since it is a more complicated subject matter, discussion would be really benefitial, so we thought of staggering the group reads this time around.
We could begin discussing Russell in February and go for Plato in March. Though the Republic is clearly written earlier than The Problems of Philosophy, the latter (as I understand it) also gives a bit of an introduction into a wider scope of philosophy and to philosophical thinking in general, so it might be a good place to lay a foundation for people that are interested in reading both.