Tag Archives: philosophy

Stoic advice on overcoming anger

Posted on August 31, 2019 by smellincoffee

In the last couple of weeks I’ve  read a few books on nonviolence communication and  conflict management (How To Be Your Own Bodyguard; Verbal Judo (re-read); and How to Survive Aggressive People).    Tonight, in a similar vein,  I encountered a … Continue reading →

Posted in history, quotations | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Status Anxiety

Posted on February 7, 2019 by smellincoffee

Status Anxiety© 2004 Alain de Botton 306 pages Who said “comparison is the thief of joy”?  If they hadn’t, Alain de Botton would, as here he argues that most of our misery comes from the constant comparison of ourselves to others … Continue reading →

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How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life

Posted on March 6, 2018 by smellincoffee

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness© 2014 Russ Roberts269 pages\ An economist and a rabbi walk into a bar and co-author a work on the meaning of life. That’s not the … Continue reading →

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Atlas Shrugged

Posted on February 27, 2018 by smellincoffee

Atlas Shrugged © 1957 Ayn Rand 1168 pages Sometimes the chains that bind us are made by our own hands.   Dagny Taggart knew as a young girl that she wanted to grow up to be the master of her family’s … Continue reading →

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Amsterdam

Posted on January 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City© 2013 Russell Shorto369 pages In the early 14th century, a group of fisher-folk around the Amstel river came together with a dream: to build a place where people could smoke weed … Continue reading →

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The Fountainhead

Posted on June 22, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Fountainhead © 1943 Ayn Rand 753 pages “Howard Roark laughed.”   This epic novel opens with the roar of its main character, leading the reader to wonder what is to come. Is he laughing in triumph? In fatalistic glee, … Continue reading →

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On the Shoulders of Hobbits

Posted on May 11, 2017 by smellincoffee

On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis© 2012 Louis Markos235 pages Fairy tales don’t teach children that dragons exist; they know dragons exist. Fairy tales teach children that dragons can be defeated.  GKC declared … Continue reading →

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Surprised by Joy

Posted on March 20, 2017 by smellincoffee

Surprised by Joy© 1955 C.S. Lewis252 pages “When I first read Chesterton, I did not know what I was in for. God is, if I may say it,  quite unscrupulous.” Mention the name C.S. Lewis and the image of a … Continue reading →

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China: An Introduction

Posted on March 15, 2017 by smellincoffee

China: An Introduction© 1984 Lucian W. Pye400 pages Lucien Pye was born in China and later returned there to advise the US government. China: An Introduction is written in that spirit, being a review of the making of Communist China and … Continue reading →

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Lost Enlightenment

Posted on November 28, 2016 by smellincoffee

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane © 2015 S. Frederick Starr618 pages Lost Enlightenment takes readers back to a time when Central Asia was the crossroads of the world, a hub of both commercial and … Continue reading →

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