Phatmass Book Review Thread

[4588686]

We used to have one. Now it's Gone. So I'm restarting it. Yay Hasan!

[4588686]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Philosophy-Guide-Life-Wittgenstein/dp/0253351332"]Jewish Philosophy As A Guide To Life[/url]


Lind of a big let down. Putnam is by all accounts, even for those of us who reject his functionalist accounts of the mind, a brilliant man. He's a Mathematician and a Philosopher. So the idea of reading his thoughts on religion seemed intriguing and he starts off on a promising note. He admits that he is torn between is personal life as a religious 'believer' and his professional life as an atheist and materialist. I put believe in quotes because in the very last pages we see that Putnam's notion of God is a pretty vapid one. I'm not discounting his personal faith. Just that his understanding of God wouldn't really qualify him as a religious believer in the eyes of most people. He basically summarizes some aspects of the works of
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="2"]Rosenzweig, Buber and Levinas that he finds [/size][size="2"]interesting[/size][size="2"]. But the book is too short to be a really comprehensive account on any of them and his personal reactions to their commentary is kind of sparse. So it's really him just talking about bits and pieces of various writers. Which is fine. Just nothing great. I don't know. I just felt like there was a lot to be desired. [/size][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="2"]Two stars.[/size][/font]

Edited July 14, 2011 by Hasan

[4588686]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Mergers-Acquisitions-Dana-Vachon/dp/B001G8WS82/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310625535&sr=1-1"]Mergers and Acquisitions[/url]

Dana Vachon is a really brilliant, insightful man and a wonderfully perceptive social commentator. He has an outstanding ability to frame cultural phenomena in interesting ways and draw deeper lessons about the current state of society from those phenomena. So I was really excited to read his book which I assumed would be chocked full of those same brilliant observations.

Not really. I read a lot of Slavic literature. And because Slavic countries have a history of very harsh censorship the novels tend to be highly philosophical and dense as philosophical discussion can really only take place under the cover of being presented as merely a novel. So maybe that explains why I found his book so empty. It was fine for a 'beach read' I suppose. It did make social commentary but most of that commentary was kind of generic. It did shine in a few places. It was a fun story.

If you're just looking for a fun story this book is fine. If you're looking for something deeper it's a bit of a let down.

two stars.

Edited July 14, 2011 by Hasan

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1310625428' post='2267311']
[url="http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Philosophy-Guide-Life-Wittgenstein/dp/0253351332"]Jewish Philosophy As A Guide To Life[/url]


Lind of a big let down. Putnam is by all accounts, even for those of us who reject his functionalist accounts of the mind, a brilliant man. He's a Mathematician and a Philosopher. So the idea of reading his thoughts on religion seemed intriguing and he starts off on a promising note. He admits that he is torn between is personal life as a religious 'believer' and his professional life as an atheist and materialist. I put believe in quotes because in the very last pages we see that Putnam's notion of God is a pretty vapid one. I'm not discounting his personal faith. Just that his understanding of God wouldn't really qualify him as a religious believer in the eyes of most people. He basically summarizes some aspects of the works of
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="2"]Rosenzweig, Buber and Levinas that he finds [/size][size="2"]interesting[/size][size="2"]. But the book is too short to be a really comprehensive account on any of them and his personal reactions to their commentary is kind of sparse. So it's really him just talking about bits and pieces of various writers. Which is fine. Just nothing great. I don't know. I just felt like there was a lot to be desired. [/size][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] [/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="2"]Two stars.[/size][/font]
[/quote]
Look at this amazon review:

[i]"If you enjoy esoteric intellectual excercises with complicated sentence structure, this is a good book for you. If you want to use Jewish philosophy as a guide to your life, read the Torah."[/i]

Esoteric intellectual exercises with complicated sentence structure sounds fun but your review has turned me off the teh book. Thanks dude. Something deep about those dudes would be neat though.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Third-Chimpanzee-Evolution-Future-Animal/dp/0060845503/"]The Third Chimpanzee[/url]

Good book. Meesa like it. Scientifically it is a bit dated at times but somehow this doesn't take away from the book at all. I read it after reading Diamond's later stuff but would suggest reading it first if possible. [i]Guns, Germs and Steel[/i] and [i]Collapse[/i] basically expand upon chapters in this book (to put it mildly). Many excellent reviews of this book have been written so I won't waste time. Teh book pwns.

Five stars.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1310630022' post='2267319']
Esoteric intellectual exercises with complicated sentence structure sounds fun but your review has turned me off the teh book.
[/quote]
Sounds like most philosopher-writers. It seems to be a prerequisite that to be a modern philosopher you also have to be a bad, unnecessarily complicated writer.

[Papist]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Meaningful-World-Sciences-Reveal-Genius/dp/0830827994/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310654185&sr=1-5"]A Meaningful World[/url]

An excellent look at a wide variety of subjects in order to define "genius" and apply it to aspects of the natural world. Compelling and fascinating! I learned a lot about Shakespeare, the properties of water and the periodic table of elements, among other things! Highly recommended--most of it is well within the grasp of a layperson.

[Amppax]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1310630839' post='2267320']
[url="http://www.amazon.com/Third-Chimpanzee-Evolution-Future-Animal/dp/0060845503/"]The Third Chimpanzee[/url]

Good book. Meesa like it. Scientifically it is a bit dated at times but somehow this doesn't take away from the book at all. I read it after reading Diamond's later stuff but would suggest reading it first if possible. [i]Guns, Germs and Steel[/i] and [i]Collapse[/i] basically expand upon chapters in this book (to put it mildly). Many excellent reviews of this book have been written so I won't waste time. Teh book pwns.

Five stars.
[/quote]

Kewl! added to the to-read list. Read [i]Guns, Germs, and Steel[/i] and really liked it (would have liked it a lot more if it wasn't a school assignment, and if the teacher had actually used the book in the class). [i]Collapse [/i]sounds amesome too, need to read that.

btw great thread Hasan

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1310646434' post='2267353']
Sounds like most philosopher-writers. It seems to be a prerequisite that to be a modern philosopher you also have to be a bad, unnecessarily complicated writer.
[/quote]
For sure. I think after a while you start to like it. God bless arcane continental writers and their pitiful English translators.

[Amppax]

[u]
[/u]
[u][url="http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html"]Outliers[/url]
[/u]

haven't finished it yet, but just from the little bits and pieces I've read, its worth a look. Much like Diamond shows in [i]Guns, Germs, and Steel[/i] the background that led certain groups to become the ones that were dominant globally, this book takes that to an individual level. Just in the first chapter, I've learned how much of an advantage relative age can be, and (from skipping ahead) learned why Asian's are so good at math. Definitely a fascinating interesting book.

[Amppax]

[quote name='Amppax' timestamp='1311106299' post='2270285']
[u]
[/u]
[u][url="http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html"]Outliers[/url]
[/u]

haven't finished it yet, but just from the little bits and pieces I've read, its worth a look. Much like Diamond shows in [i]Guns, Germs, and Steel[/i] the background that led certain groups to become the ones that were dominant globally, this book takes that to an individual level. Just in the first chapter, I've learned how much of an advantage relative age can be, and (from skipping ahead) learned why Asian's are so good at math. Definitely a fascinating interesting book.
[/quote]

Finished. An excellant read. very engaging. I suppose from a scholarly perspective its not great, but it was interesting. to use Hasan's metrics, 3/5 stars.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[Vincent Vega]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/About-Bells-George-Smith-Tyack/dp/1558888918"]A Book about Bells[/url] - George S. Tyack

An interesting (if a bit dry) read about the history, casting, uses, &c. of bells (primarily ring/peal type, but I think there has been a bit of information about carillonic bells scattered throughout). Mostly good for historical perspective as a lot has changed since the book's original printing in 1898.

[Luigi]

[u]Goodnight, Moon[/u].

I love this book! You will, too.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1311309747' post='2273618']
[u]Goodnight, Moon[/u].

I love this book! You will, too.
[/quote]
I have read that book MANY times. 5/5