Tag Archives: philosophy

The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi

Posted on March 23, 2023 by smellincoffee

© 2005, 2019 General Press Publishers183 pages The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi is a book better judged by its cover than its title, for the title makes it sound like a collection of jokes and sage observations from a … Continue reading →

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Tuesday tease: habits

Posted on January 3, 2023 by smellincoffee

Plus, Kindle books I forgot I owned. I have struggled with hard habits in my life. I have found these hard habits are only broken by harder habits. Nature abhors a vacuum, meaning I cannot just quit doing something in … Continue reading →

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Selected Quotes From “What They Forgot to Teach You In School”

Posted on October 12, 2022 by smellincoffee

Shortly after reading On Love, I found another de Botton title in my library’s e-book collection, What they Forgot to Teach You In School. Unsurprisingly, I soon had four pages of quotes from the book. Below are just a few. … Continue reading →

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The Reading Life

Posted on November 23, 2021 by smellincoffee

The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds through Others’ Eyes © 2019 C.S. Lewis 192 pages One of the reasons I’ve grown so fond of Jack Lewis over the years is that he and I share some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Reviews | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The Razor’s Edge

Posted on November 22, 2021 by smellincoffee

The Razor’s Edge© 1944 W. Somerset Maugham314 pages Larry Darrell was an unremarkable young man with a pre-determined future: possessing independent wealth from his family background, he needed only marry his childhood friend and fiancé Isabel, take his place in … Continue reading →

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Sohrab Ahmari and the Unbroken Thread

Posted on September 30, 2021 by smellincoffee

Sohrab Ahmari fled Iran for the West, rejoicing in its freedoms alongside his wife, a Chinese national who had also found relief from the relentless tyranny of her own country. As they formed a family and looked to the future, … Continue reading →

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Selections from The Unbroken Thread

Posted on September 16, 2021 by smellincoffee

“The great benefit to be derived from reading pre-modern authors is to come to realise that after all we [moderns] might have been mistaken.” – C.F.J. Martin  [C.S. Lewis] argued that instinct, science’s go-to answer to our central question, just … Continue reading →

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Unsubscribing from romantic-comedy dreams

Posted on August 26, 2021 by smellincoffee

Within the last month I’ve read two somewhat related titles: No More Mr. Nice Guy and The Unplugged Alpha, both mens-interest books but with different tones.  No More Mr. Nice Guy is written by a psychologist who treats men trapped … Continue reading →

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The Virtue of Selfishness

Posted on July 8, 2021 by smellincoffee

The Virtue of Selfishness© 1964 Ayn Rand174 pages How many books and movies have moved audiences by portraying a character who, struggling with persistent unhappiness, is pushed by their despair through to the realization that they’ve been living their life … Continue reading →

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Return of the Primitive

Posted on June 30, 2021 by smellincoffee

Return of the Primitive© 1971 Ayn Rand, The New Left© 1999 Ayn Rand and Peter Schwartz290 pages   The Return of the Primitive  collects Ayn Rand’s  written responses to the eruption of the student movement in the late sixties,  particularly … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments