VANITY... Books That Have Influenced You

[Minus_The_Bear]

What books have influenced your political, religious, or historical reasoning?

[Victoria Delsoul]

The Passionate State of Mind by Eric Hoffer.
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.
Six Great Ideas and also, Ten Philosophical Mistakes by Mortimer Adler.

[Alberta's Child]

The Passionate State of Mind

I'm thinking I'd like to get a better understanding of this, Victoria. ;-)

[Billthedrill]

A tiny correction - A Wrinkle In Time was by Madeleine L'Engle. I know this because it was one of the more influential books in my own early political education.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hmmm ;-)

[phantomworker]

Of course. Thank you!

I liked the Tesseract. That is so cool!

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wrinkle/section5.rhtml

[Billthedrill]

Try The Arm Of The Starfish for some fun if you haven't already. You have to read close to realize who Polyhymnia's parents are...well, I missed it, anyway.

[Euro-American Scum]

William Manchester's book-forgot the title-of his four years in the Marines during WW2.

Goodbye Darkness. Just got done rereading it for I don't know how many times. An outstanding personal memoir.

[phantomworker]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[BruceysMom]

You're right. I was thinking of Lathe of Heaven also which actually IS a LE'Guin book.

[Alberta's Child]

:-)

[Billthedrill]

And also a dang good one. Lathe Of Heaven influenced an entire genre.

I just realized that I remembered that trivia from L'Engle's books fully forty years after I read them. How's that for influential?

[LK44-40]

RE: Caro LBJ bio

Yea...a great book! (the first vol)

How about that little bit right in the beginning describing the life of women (LBJ's grandma?) out in the scrub country around the turn of the century?

Another favorite part: LBJ at college pretending to hold a dialogue with the Johnson Johnson on the topic of its conquests to impress his younger brother(?).

I read it a good number of years ago and it fades but some bits remain really vivid...great book.

[LK44-40]

I did not go deeply into the philosophical argument of ZAMM, as many people did, but that book has haunted me over the years, and I have my own little obsession about "quality." (I was also a technical writer at one time and am, frankly, also a little nuts ;-)(You know, the kid died a few years after the book. I think he was a victim of a violent crime but can't quite remember.)

Your other book, Closing, also has a little sweet note for me. I (who am not an academic)had the opportunity some years back to give a substantial piece of my mind to some of the really heavy hitters from fashionable academia. Audience included Stanley Fish, Henry Louis Gates, and other hot names. This was not a deal where the audience members could just ask a thirty second question but were allowed to take the floor for a few minutes and have at it. It happened that my time came shortly after somebody had trashed Closing of the American Mind and quite misstated its contents. By chance, I had just read it so I was able to get right in that dude's face with very precise commentary on that book...got me off to a good start and gave me confidence. Really, it was a rare thing for someone like me to get a good public shot at these cats. I did real good, polite but bold, and pulled no punches. Went right after them on race-obsessed victimhood thing, among other things.

[Blind Eye Jones]

Closing is a timeless book, and I had the chance to question Bloom about his disastrous take on rock music, when he addressed the audience at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto. He said that in the 1950s smoking was a substitute for sex or a quick fix as rock music is today. I didn't know what he meant by that or how smoking could possibly affect liberal education (for good or bad) but I said that the Cyclops throwing a rock at Ulysses was the same aberration of nature as rock music in his estimation and he was taken aback. I gathered that he privately came to the same conclusion but was shocked that somebody else could have. I think he was thinking about Mick Jagger... but all told I think his book hits more home runs (excuse the sports analogy) than most books about culture.

[LK44-40]

all told I think his book hits more home runs (excuse the sports analogy) than most books about culture.

I recollect myself that when speaking out in public about this book I was very quick to distance myself from his take on women. Indefensible. Yea....some home runs but some definite whiffs. (btw...I read about half of Ravelstein but just was not charmed enough to keep on.)

[Maigrey]

Ambrose Bierce... An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge

Now that is a blast from the past....

[MitchellC]

last night I watched Spiderman on TV. Hope that doesn't mean that I'm becoming a liberal. ;-)

Well, if you overcame the influences of that trust fund brat Richie Rich then I think you'll be okay. :)

[Mark Koch]

the jilting of granny weatheral. 7 page short story:

http://www.barksdale.latech.edu/Engl%20308/THE%20JILTING%20OF%20GRANNY%20WEATHERALL.doc

Interesting message. Apparently, if you don't come to grips with unfinished business, it will come back to bite you on your deathbed.

[Minus_The_Bear]

BTTT

[Old Professer]

Assessing culture in America is a thankless task, whoever takes it on; too transitory, rather like the study of cicada swarming cycles.

One can explain the current noise but is left to guess how long it must be tolerated.