Most commented posts
- The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P. Taylor — 1 comments
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving — 1 comments
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving — 1 comments
- Theogony / Works and Days / Shield by Hesiod — 1 comments
Al Singh
Author's posts
Jul 13 2012
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
Uneven, but some of these stories were pretty good. The scariest story was about an obsessive-compulsive whose condition is contagious. There is more than one story that is basically a revenge fantasy, which makes me wonder what goes on in King’s head these days. And there is more than one story featuring the stock King …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/07/13/just-after-sunset-by-stephen-king/
Jul 12 2012
Einstein by Walter Isaacson
I read this book several years ago; on rereading it I was much more interested in Einstein’s science than his life story. Yet the story is still inspiring; it is a testimony to what an unconventional mind and a lot of curiosity can accomplish. Einstein remained a determinist throughout his life, and on reading a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/07/12/einstein-by-walter-isaacson/
Jul 09 2012
Pulp by Charles Bukowski
When I first read this, I thought it was the worst novel I had ever read. On a second reading, however, it comes off remarkably well. It’s much funnier than I remembered the first time around, and somehow the ending seems more poignant now. It’s not one of Bukowski’s best, but it’s still Bukowski: funny, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/07/09/pulp-by-charles-bukowski/
Jul 05 2012
The Social Animal by David Brooks
This is ostensibly the life stories of two people from youth to old age, but it is really a vehicle for illustrating the results of the social and psychological research that is obviously dear to the author’s heart. It’s an engaging mixture of narrative, commentary, and analysis, but it’s clear from the kind of people …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/07/05/the-social-animal-by-david-brooks/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/06/18/the-march-of-folly-by-barbara-tuchman/
Jun 17 2012
The Enneads by Plotinus
This work deserves more discussion than space allows, even though much of it was unintelligible to me. It represents Plotinus’ quest to know and understand God, which for him consists of a trinity: the One, the Intellectual-Principle, and the All-Soul. Part of his problem is that he is trying to describe in words something that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/06/17/the-enneads-by-plotinus/
May 18 2012
A Better War by Lewis Sorley
Every now and then you get a revisionist account of Vietnam that argues that the U.S. military knew what it was doing and could have won the war if not for the hippies, the journalists, and the politicians. Sorley makes a decent case that the war under the command of General Creighton Abrams was not …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/05/18/a-better-war-by-lewis-sorley/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/05/13/the-proud-tower-by-barbara-tuchman/
Apr 19 2012
King John by William Shakespeare
This play is surprisingly good for one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works. It is a story of shifting alliances and treachery in a world that is constantly uncertain. Surprisingly, a character known simply as “the Bastard,” who is surely fictional, is the central and most sympathetic character in the story, proving himself a pole of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/04/19/king-john-by-william-shakespeare/
Apr 15 2012
The Myth of Mental Illness by Thomas Szasz
Dr. Szasz seems to regard mental illness as a moral failure rather than a genuine illness, and he seems to think the mentally ill deserve judgment rather than treatment. Most mentally ill patients, he believes, are merely social misfits and malingerers rather than people suffering from a disease. His arguments are philosophical rather than scientific, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/04/15/the-myth-of-mental-illness-by-thomas-szasz/