Locke's Essay

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 

by John Locke

“One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant.”

― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

This is a great abridgment of Locke's magnum opus. Besides selections from the essay, there is a chronology, a bibliography, a glossary, and an index. An introduction by the editor situates the work in its historical and philosophical context. The result is a useful reading edition of one of the best-known works of seventeenth-century philosophy.

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Renaissance Tale

The Dwarf 

by Pär Lagerkvist

“Human beings like to see themselves reflected in clouded mirrors.”

― Pär Lagerkvist, The Dwarf

This was my first Lagerkvist, and what a book it is. I found it unique in my experience and well worth reading again. The title Dwarf, 26 inches high, is set in the court of an Italian city-state during the Renaissance. He is the narrator of the story, clearly obsessed with recording his experience in a diary-like fashion. All in the novel is seen from his own particular point of view, mostly in retrospect, ranging from a few hours or minutes to several weeks or months after the actual events. The dwarf is a thorough misanthropist and generally represents all that is evil. He hates almost everybody at court, except the prince (the ruler of the city-state, more king than prince), or rather, parts of him. He likes war, brutality, and static positions. The dwarf remains unchanged, and almost all the other characters of the novel evolve through the chain of events. From the first page to the last he is still exactly the same character. He is very religious, but his Christianity is the sort that believes in a God who does not forgive. He admires Bernardo’s science, but is soon repelled by its unceasing quest for truth.

It is not in doubt that the setting is not in doubt, as the character called Bernardo, who is clearly based on Leonardo da Vinci appears in the novel, and it is full of political intrigue that is truly Machiavellian. The exact locations are unclear, but in addition, it is considered his most important novel and the most artistically innovative. If you are interested in Renaissance history or Machiavelli's politics, you will definitely find this novel a great read.

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Natural History

The Forest and the Sea: A Look at the Economy of Nature and the Ecology of Man   

Marston Bates

 

  

A great trip into the world of nature. The author explores the natural life in a maze of different worlds from the sea to the marsh and further. The climax of the story is about man's place in nature, and the outcome is a logical conclusion to the essay.

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Artistic Life

The Vivisector 

by Patrick White

“silence, simplicity and humility . . . the only proper state for the artist as for the human being,”

― Patrick White, The Vivisector

The Vivisector is Nobel laureate Patrick White’s powerful, uncompromising portrait of the artist as “sacred monster.” The novel charts the full life arc of Australian painter Hurtle Duffield from childhood to death, and asks a brutal question: can a person dedicate their life solely to art without sacrificing their humanity?

Hurtle is born into poverty and at the age of four is “sold” by his impoverished parents to the rich Courtney family to be a companion to their hunchbacked daughter, Rhoda. This first trade establishes the pattern for a life in terms of emotional withdrawals and esthetic intake. Hurtle becomes a famous avant-garde painter, using the world and its people as raw material on his canvas. He dissects his victims with the ruthless precision of the surgeon, seeing himself and God as "the Vivisector." His muses and lovers—a warmhearted prostitute, an heiress, a married Greek socialite, and a young musical prodigy—are all emotionally consumed and discarded in pursuit of his vision.

White's beautiful and gripping prose demands your attention while the narrative keeps you engaged with the life of the artist. While The Vivisector is not an easy read, it is a monumental masterpiece of Australian literature. It is essential reading for anyone interested in novels about the creative process, the morality of art, or complex character studies of flawed genius. This is one of White's best novels and one that I will read again.

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War in the Pacific

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 

by Ian W. Toll

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942, by Ian W. Toll, is the first entry in his acclaimed Pacific War Trilogy. Covering the initial six months of the conflict—from the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 through the Battle of Midway in June 1942—the book examines how a staggering American defeat transformed into a strategic turning point. 

Toll depicts the initial stage of the Pacific Campaign as more than a series of battles, but a total trial by fire for the two nations involved. The first part of the story is some background on US-Japanese diplomacy and naval doctrine, followed by the shock of Pearl Harbor, then the early battles (Doolittle Raid, Java Sea, and Coral Sea), and finally Midway.

The story is equally divided between the American and Japanese high command, doctrine and decision making, and not just the Allied high command. Toll describes the change in operational philosophy from the traditional battleship-based doctrine (based on the writings of Alfred Thayer Mahan) to carrier aviation and submarine warfare.

This is history at its best. Compulsively readable. The author writes in a disarming style, and lays out the details. You find it hard to put the book down. Even with the detail of the story (this volume only brings you to the battle of Midway) the pages fly by as you get engrossed in the details of everything from the lead admirals to the minutia of all the significant battles.

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War in Albania

Chronicle in Stone 

by Ismail Kadare

“If an animal has to be sacrificed when a new bridge is built, what will it take to build a whole new world?” ― Ismail Kadare, Chronicle in Stone




Chronicle in Stone is a masterpiece of Balkan literature by Ismail Kadare. The novel is set in Kadare’s hometown of Gjirokastër, in southern Albania, during World War II, and through the eyes of a child we see the absurdities, terrors and enduring rhythms of a world in turmoil.

The story is told from the point of view of an unnamed young boy. Without full context of geopolitical conflict, he views foreign invasions, air raids, shifting factions with naive curiosity. A severed arm is a weird artifact and the arrival of occupying armies is processed with childhood games.
City is the real protagonist, Gjirokastër, with its steep stone streets, fortress walls, and ancient roofs, is depicted as a living, breathing entity with a ‘stone carapace.' Italian, Greek, and German forces rapidly occupy the city and take it from its people, but the stone architecture stands witness to centuries of history. Chapters' narrative sections are counterpointed with short fragments of official chronicles, city news, and local gossip. This structural technique is reminiscent of the way history is written in bits and pieces, not as a smooth continuum.

Kadare juxtaposes tragic events like summary executions and destruction in wartime with dark humor and Balkan folk superstition. Classical motifs, like references to Greek mythology, are superimposed on the day-to-day lives and eccentricities of the town’s inhabitants. The result of my reading was a powerful novel.



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Different Views

Shadow Country 

by Peter Matthiessen

“Course truth don’t count for much after all these years cause folks hangs on to what it suits ’em to believe and won’t let go of it.”

― Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country

This is a long novel but can be conquered with perseverance. The excellence of the narrative helped this reader to cover the ground. I liked the book, well written, but the three sections, telling the same or similar story, were different enough to make the reading more pleasant as the book progressed. There are three sections, each of which tells a similar story but from different perspectives. As I read on in the book, I found the change in the perspective of the narration easier to read.
It proved to be an enjoyable read.

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Family History

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty 

by Patrick Radden Keefe

Patrick Radden Keefe's 2021 book Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty is a painstakingly detailed, compelling, and damning narrative nonfiction account of the Sackler family's ascent, Purdue Pharma, and their pivotal role in escalating the opioid crisis in the United States through the aggressive marketing of OxyContin.

The book is organized as a multigenerational family saga by Keefe. The story starts with the aspirational sons of Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, Arthur Sackler and his brothers Mortimer and Raymond, who amassed wealth through creative (and frequently unethical) pharmaceutical marketing, advertising, and medical publishing. Arthur was involved with medications like Valium and helped develop direct-to-doctor advertising. The development and successful launch of OxyContin in the mid-1990s under the next generation (most notably Richard Sackler) are covered in the middle section. This includes the company's claims about its lower risk of addiction, high-pressure sales tactics, targeting of high-prescribing doctors, and attempts to minimize or deny issues as addiction and overdoses increased. The growing crisis (hundreds of thousands of opioid-related deaths), lawsuits, bankruptcy tactics, the family's extraction of billions while hiding personal wealth, their philanthropy (which bought prestige and name recognition on museums and universities), and their persistent refusal to take meaningful responsibility are all examined in the later sections.

All things considered, I thought the book was an insightful and captivating narrative history. A fascinating look at the development of one facet of the drug industry and a family story.



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Poems

A Concise Treasury of Great Poems 

by Louis Untermeyer

For over forty years, this poetry collection has been one of my favorites. A book that I frequently consult to find new poems or to revisit old favorites. Louis Untermeyer's ability to choose the best poems and provide a brief introduction to each poet is something for which I cannot express my gratitude. This collection's scope matches its caliber and entices readers to return time and time again. For anyone who enjoys poetry or is unsure whether it is worthwhile to read, this book is a must-have. If you spend a little time with this volume, the answer to that question is definitely yes.

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