My New Years Resolution

[jonesthecurl]

So Dod....on a scale of 1 - 10, how much do you value the advice you're getting?

Do you want more?
Do you laff and shake your head?
Wanna hear about the 5,000 books I've read for fun? Or my 4 years of college philosophy??



This is fun....

I don't mind reading all the suggestions, though I absolutely won't be able to keep up with all of them.

Sure, I wouldn't mind hearing about your favourites.

You took Philosophy as a major?

I took one course in Philosophy and didn't even finish it. Didn't help that the first major assignment was on Plato, and I hate Plato. I'm thinking if they would have started with Aristotle, I might have gotten more enthused.

I have read bits and pieces of: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Kierkegaard, Hume, Nietzche, Lysander Spooner, John Stuart Mill. Browsed, skimmed, but didn't finish any of them. My ADD really showing. LOL. Philosophers that I have finished complete works by are really Voltaire, Voltaire, or Voltaire.

My mind always drifts back to Poul Anderson or Robert Heinlein, lol. The professors' outbursts in Starship Troopers is about as much philosophy as a can handle in a sitting.

Also read Machiavelli, L.Ron Hubbard, and Ayn Rand, although opinions diverge widely about whether any of those can be considered legitimate philosophers..

I remember being impressed by Colin Wilson's Introduction to Existentialist Phenomenology. I doubt I could read it now and stay awake.

[KoolBak]

In clarification DoD....no, I did NOT major in it. Simply took what was forced down my throat by the penguins

I know exactly ONE person that majored in philosophy. He works at starbucks and annoys every sucker he can rope in to death with his ceaseless spew

[jonesthecurl]

Well at least he's philosophical about it.

[Votanic]

I have read bits and pieces of: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Kierkegaard, Hume, Nietzche, Lysander Spooner, John Stuart Mill. Browsed, skimmed, but didn't finish any of them. My ADD really showing. LOL. Philosophers that I have finished complete works by are really Voltaire, Voltaire, or Voltaire.

My mind always drifts back to Poul Anderson or Robert Heinlein, lol. The professors' outbursts in Starship Troopers is about as much philosophy as a can handle in a sitting.

Also read Machiavelli, L.Ron Hubbard, and Ayn Rand, although opinions diverge widely about whether any of those can be considered legitimate philosophers..

Always remember, philosophy (more precisely axiology) is just like religion and politics... if it was based on inescapable logic there would be no debate.
(Though for many, that ocean of bullshit, put in place of the logic, seems to be equally inescapable).

btw, I agree. Candide is a fun, frothy read. Just do it for kicks ... afterwards you can pretend to be all philosophical about it.

[Dukasaur]

In clarification DoD....no, I did NOT major in it. Simply took what was forced down my throat by the penguins

I know exactly ONE person that majored in philosophy. He works at starbucks and annoys every sucker he can rope in to death with his ceaseless spew

LOL.

Back when I was a cab driver, one of the Philosophy profs from our local university held court at a local bar, where people would buy him pitchers of beer and he'd reward them with a philosophy lecture.

In seriousness, though, Philosophy majors tend to do well in the world. It's one of the harder degrees to get in the Humanities, and they tend to get a good grounding in logic, rhetoric, and ethics, all of which are basically useful things to understand. One Philosophy major I hung out with showed me some statistics showing it's a very powerful pre-MBA degree to have in terms of future income.

[KoolBak]

That's very interesting and I can see that logic.

Of course, if that person is an insufferable douche, no amount of edjuhmuhkayshun could help

[Dukasaur]

True enough!

[HitRed]

Masters of the Air January 2024
From the makers of Band of Brothers and The Pacific

[jimboston]

If you have not yet done so, everybody read The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner and Moby Dick by Melville.
Two Great (North) American Novels that live up to the hype. Hemingway be wishing.

Moby Dick is the most boring book ever written.

The level of detail was too granular for my taste. How many pages are there just describing the knots needed in sailing and whale hunting?

I think it was written with that level of detail for people in the interior of the country who would never see a sailing ship or a whale in real life. As a New Englander I found it redundant.

[KoolBak]

I wish MORE people would tell me wtf to do since, at age 60, I can't fucking decide what I like

Polite nudge: SUGEST the book - defend your opinion if you wish. Someone says "DO XXX NOW" assures I aint doing shit

[Votanic]

Read:
After Candide, read Against the Grain (À rebours) by Huysmans. Both are a lot of fun.

Two Serious Ladies by Bowles is also immensely enjoyable.

Deep dive into Poe, Lovecraft, Machen, etc. Don't leave off The House on the Borderland* by Hodgson

Pretty much everything by David Foster Wallace. The fiction anyway, his essays are more hit and miss.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and The Moonchild by Aleister Crowley

She, The Return of She, etc. by Rider Haggard

Narcissus and Goldmund by Hesse, Others of his too, but that's my fave.

Whatever stories you really enjoyed in early adolescence are definitely worth a second read in mid-life.

*Not to be confused with The Keep on the Borderlands...