progress:
(page 75 of 306)
"I liked the "What is a Human" chapter until the very last line by George Bernard Shaw "Life is not about finding ourselves, its about creating ourselves." Sure there is some aspect of this, life would be tragic without the aspect of self creation. But for the books purposes I think it would have been better to highlight the static and permanent aspects in a human (which I staunchly insist is deep and abiding surely)" — Apr 14, 2026 10:25AM
"I liked the "What is a Human" chapter until the very last line by George Bernard Shaw "Life is not about finding ourselves, its about creating ourselves." Sure there is some aspect of this, life would be tragic without the aspect of self creation. But for the books purposes I think it would have been better to highlight the static and permanent aspects in a human (which I staunchly insist is deep and abiding surely)" — Apr 14, 2026 10:25AM
Ian
is currently reading
progress:
(page 0 of 496)
"Three things:
1.) fitting I buy this book at the Harvard Square bookstore.
2.) It’s useful to originate the MAGA phenomenon in the 1960, but it’s far from accurate. And, relatedly
3.) Through the introduction there is much of the usual talk: centering female/bipoc experience, problematizing the family, framing native climate experiences but not a damn word given to deindustrialization. Typical" — Jun 11, 2025 09:35AM
"Three things:
1.) fitting I buy this book at the Harvard Square bookstore.
2.) It’s useful to originate the MAGA phenomenon in the 1960, but it’s far from accurate. And, relatedly
3.) Through the introduction there is much of the usual talk: centering female/bipoc experience, problematizing the family, framing native climate experiences but not a damn word given to deindustrialization. Typical" — Jun 11, 2025 09:35AM
“Imprisoning philosophy within the professionalizations and specializations of an institutionalized curriculum, after the manner of our contemporary European and North American culture, is arguably a good deal more effective in neutralizing its effects than either religious censorship or political terror”
― Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922
― Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922
“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.”
― This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
― This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”
―
―
“It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over over any soul be loved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return. ”
― Phantastes
― Phantastes
Ian’s 2025 Year in Books
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