Hail and Welcome one and all!
It is a paradox of my life that since I attained a post graduate certificate of education and then took up professional responsibilities that my reading for pleasure and for my own curiosity and still further for learning new things: that reading books is now harder to pursue. I am distracted, fed up, tired, motivated to play a computer game, prefer to listen to a podcast rather than read a book.
I have often thought that this paradigm I've made for myself is stupid. Myopic.
Stupidity on a personal level is not warned of like some phantom of the night by the mere fact your educated. It takes practice and strategies to confront, head off, avoid the many situations we face that can make or mislead you to choose foolish choices. Thought and attention are required.
Im not saying that reading books is the answer to humanities frailties and often selfish or even tribal sensibilities. I am saying that reading books is part of the mix of such a quest to be more together than we are as individuals.
Authors and their books have enriched my life beyond measure. Just think about who has lived in my mind since I could read for myself. For 45 years my cerebellum has within its folds and ridges the likes of Herodotus, Apuleius, Plato, Jesus, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, Keats, AJPTaylor, Lao Tzu, Jules Verne and far to many others to relate here. Non fiction and fiction have informed, entertained and taught me about the vastness of the Universe and the infinite possibilities of the mind.
So I have picked up two or three books recently on my devices. All E- books as that is the best option for someone with no physical home of his own. I can carry on my hip a library more vast than any mere wooden shelf in a room. Though I confess, I hanker for such a room still.
The books I have chosen to read are mentioned here in no particular order. So firstly “Conservatism: A rediscovery” by Yoram Hazony.
After reading Edmund Burkes treatise on the French Revolution a couple of years ago I thought it would be a good idea to place Burke in a wider historical and political context. One that also links across different conceptions and practices of the essential principles Burke was writing about. They exist, richly, between England and USA and in the wider world. This book should give me that wider conception of what conservatism is. A framework for my own evaluations.
The second book is actually the book I began this past week and am about halfway through as I write. It is one of the Oxford University Press series that examines the lives of “ Women from Antiquity”. I was drawn to the series because it has a volume dedicated to Zenobia and one to someone who I feel more than know: Boudicca. Or as my Uncle Ken last summer insisted was called Boadicea, as he had been taught. Great!
However those two volumes can be bought and read later. For the biography I really wanted to read before them was, and is, Hypatia. A mathematician and fore-mostly a Philosopher. A teacher and educator. A pagan murdered by Christians in the streets of Alexandria (Egypt) in 415 AD.
I am enjoying learning about her world. About her philosophical approaches in a City being rent and convulsed over confessional conflicts. Looking forward to completing the book and then reflecting upon it. I may write a review in the coming weeks. I feel even at this stage Hypatia to be a fascinating and wise personality whose voice I hear which is credit to Edward J Watts the author.
The third book is a standard history book. I have little to no knowledge of the ancient civilisations that straddled this part of the world I now live in, or near: such as Mesopotamia for example. In this particular instance I have got ready Paul Collins “Sumerians” one of the Lost Civilisations series of books.
Looking forward to reading that. Here in Bahrain there are still ancient tombs from the Delmon who at least link to the cultures of that lost civilisation. So seemed like a good place to start.
So I think my reading, all things being equal, should be back on my daily agenda and lifestyle. Well, at least before I get bogged down in the Summer Term!
Please feel free to share your reading list in the comments. Consider sharing the Word Emporium with friends and family who may also want to engage with us.
Have a blessed week everyone!
Syre Byrd