Let’s start by getting this out of the way: The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevsky is a Great Book (you also knew that). Not only is it Great, it is perhaps the Greatest Novel Ever Written. I think its only competitors for that status are Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch. Maybe War and Peace. After reading it 4 or 5 times, I still find it brilliant from beginning to end, gripping, thoughtful, and amazingly fun to read. Everything … [Read more...] about Finding Joy in Great Books
Life Advice
The Quest for Answers
During graduation weekend, I gave a talk encouraging the students to never cease asking the important questions in life. Questions like: Does your life have a purpose? What is a Good life? A student stopped by the next day to talk about it. She was worried. How could she possibly ever find a definitive answer to hard questions like that? My student’s question is an interesting one, but not for the reason she imagined. In the final chapter of Dorothy … [Read more...] about The Quest for Answers
The End of Work
I once mentioned to a friend of mine that I was determined to read more Hermann Hesse. He enthusiastically told me that I simply must read Beneath the Wheel, that it was by far his favorite book by what turns out to be one of his favorite authors. I had no idea that Hesse was among anyone’s favorite authors, let alone someone I knew, let alone someone I knew who didn’t dress in all black with black earrings and black fingernail polish. (Truth be told, I have no idea why I … [Read more...] about The End of Work
How to be a Good Friend
What is Friendship? That is one of those questions which I instinctively answer, “It’s obvious,” but whenever I read something about the matter, I think the essay I just read misses the point. Consider Plato’s Lysis, his dialogue on Friendship. Not a very good work if one evaluates a work of philosophy on the criterion of providing an answer which is even worth considering. Nothing here on that front. A decent work if one uses the criterion of whether it has the … [Read more...] about How to be a Good Friend
Perfect Gift for College Students
If you are looking for a graduation gift (high school or college), here it is. If you are looking for a gift for a student still in college, here it is. Charles Murray’s, The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life. Every student I know or have ever known would benefit immensely, immensely, from reading this book. Indeed, in all honesty, I cannot think of a book of advice I would more … [Read more...] about Perfect Gift for College Students
Meditations on Leadership
Why do you want to be leader? Is there any reason to desire to lead? Marcus Aurelius would like to have a word with you. You want fame? People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out. But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do to you? And I don't just … [Read more...] about Meditations on Leadership