Tom LA's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 04 Apr 2025 20:26:29 -0700 60 Tom LA's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[L'Apocalisse: L'ultima rivelazione]]> 9841458 126 Piero Stefani 8815124349 Tom LA 0 currently-reading 3.29 2008 L'Apocalisse: L'ultima rivelazione
author: Piero Stefani
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Memoriale 42410572 273 Paolo Volponi 8806225758 Tom LA 2 to-read-soon
Pessimo. Questo libro sulla vita di un reduce di guerra nel nord Italia che va a lavorare in fabbrica sprigiona un’energia negativa che manco un picnic sotto il reattore di Chernobyl nel �86 ti farebbe ingoiare tanto veleno.

Il protagonista è un ipocondriaco flaccido, senza un briciolo di spina dorsale, che passa il tempo a frignare e a fare la vittima come se fosse il re dei martiri. Uno così farebbe perdere la pazienza pure a uno psichiatra con trent’anni di esperienza.

Avete presente quei conoscenti che vi attaccano bottoni sui loro problemi, soprattutto quelli di salute? Ma perché caspita uno dovrebbe leggersi tutto un libro così?

Ma dico io� non ti va di sudare in fabbrica? E allora piantala di piagnucolare e vai a zappare un orto, che ti fa pure bene all’umore! Soprattutto se siamo nel 1946 e non hai moglie, figli o un cane che ti aspetta a casa.

˛Ń˛ął¦ł¦łóĂ©!

Questo Zeno Cosini dei poveri, che “proletario� lo è quanto io sono astronauta, si trascina per i capitoli con delle pippe mentali così titaniche che Leopardi, al confronto, sembra uno spensierato zuzzurellone.

Certo, capisco l’autore, documentare la vita operaia ha il suo perché, è storia, è cultura, ed è importante.

Ma non così, per favore, non attraverso gli occhi di questo mollusco umano. Scegli un eroe con un po� di fegato, non un lamento con le gambe�

Non capisco il perché di questa scelta, che in verità si inserisce in tutto un filone letterario, sia italiano che francese, popolato di protagonisti dalla lagna facile.

Il linguaggio è snello, elegante, un piacere da leggere. Le descrizioni dei paesaggi sono spesso liriche, ti viene quasi voglia di incorniciarle.

Ma il romanzo, nel complesso � come la corazzata Potemkin � è una cagata pazzesca.

Mi fa sorridere che quelli a cui è piaciuto, nelle loro recensioni qui su Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ, dicono “eh beâ€�, insomma, ammetto che ho fatto un bel poâ€� di faticaâ€� â€�. oppure: “Ă� molto pesante, però bellissimo!!â€�.

Insomma� Una palla mostruosa.


---

Awful. This book about a guy who comes back from WWII and goes to work in a factory in northern Italy oozes a negative energy so toxic that not even a picnic under the Chernobyl reactor in �86 would pump this much poison into you.

The protagonist? A flabby hypochondriac with not a shred of backbone, whining and playing the victim like he’s the king of martyrs. A guy like that could drive even a psychiatrist with thirty years under their belt up the wall.

I mean, come on—if you don’t want to sweat it out in a factory, quit your griping and go dig in a garden! It’d do wonders for your mood, especially if it’s 1946 and you’ve got no wife, kids, or even a dog waiting at home. But nooo!

This poor man’s Zeno Cosini—who’s about as “proletarian� as I am an astronaut—drags himself through the chapters with mental gymnastics so colossal that Leopardi looks like a carefree goofball by comparison.

Sure, I get it—documenting working-class life has its value, it’s history, it’s culture, it matters.

But please, not through the eyes of this human jellyfish. Pick a hero with some guts, not a walking complaint!

I don’t get why they went with this choice, though it fits into a whole literary trend—Italian and French—stuffed with protagonists who can’t stop moaning.

The language? Lean, elegant, a joy to read. The landscape descriptions? Often poetic, almost frame-worthy.

But the novel as a whole—like the Battleship Potemkin—is an absolute stinker.

Even the folks who liked it, in their Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ reviews, go, “Well, uh, it was a bit of a slog…â€� or “It’s really heavy, but so so beautiful!!â€�

In short� a monstrous bore.

---]]> 3.44 1962 Memoriale
author: Paolo Volponi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.44
book published: 1962
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
(In English below)

Pessimo. Questo libro sulla vita di un reduce di guerra nel nord Italia che va a lavorare in fabbrica sprigiona un’energia negativa che manco un picnic sotto il reattore di Chernobyl nel �86 ti farebbe ingoiare tanto veleno.

Il protagonista è un ipocondriaco flaccido, senza un briciolo di spina dorsale, che passa il tempo a frignare e a fare la vittima come se fosse il re dei martiri. Uno così farebbe perdere la pazienza pure a uno psichiatra con trent’anni di esperienza.

Avete presente quei conoscenti che vi attaccano bottoni sui loro problemi, soprattutto quelli di salute? Ma perché caspita uno dovrebbe leggersi tutto un libro così?

Ma dico io� non ti va di sudare in fabbrica? E allora piantala di piagnucolare e vai a zappare un orto, che ti fa pure bene all’umore! Soprattutto se siamo nel 1946 e non hai moglie, figli o un cane che ti aspetta a casa.

˛Ń˛ął¦ł¦łóĂ©!

Questo Zeno Cosini dei poveri, che “proletario� lo è quanto io sono astronauta, si trascina per i capitoli con delle pippe mentali così titaniche che Leopardi, al confronto, sembra uno spensierato zuzzurellone.

Certo, capisco l’autore, documentare la vita operaia ha il suo perché, è storia, è cultura, ed è importante.

Ma non così, per favore, non attraverso gli occhi di questo mollusco umano. Scegli un eroe con un po� di fegato, non un lamento con le gambe�

Non capisco il perché di questa scelta, che in verità si inserisce in tutto un filone letterario, sia italiano che francese, popolato di protagonisti dalla lagna facile.

Il linguaggio è snello, elegante, un piacere da leggere. Le descrizioni dei paesaggi sono spesso liriche, ti viene quasi voglia di incorniciarle.

Ma il romanzo, nel complesso � come la corazzata Potemkin � è una cagata pazzesca.

Mi fa sorridere che quelli a cui è piaciuto, nelle loro recensioni qui su Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ, dicono “eh beâ€�, insomma, ammetto che ho fatto un bel poâ€� di faticaâ€� â€�. oppure: “Ă� molto pesante, però bellissimo!!â€�.

Insomma� Una palla mostruosa.


---

Awful. This book about a guy who comes back from WWII and goes to work in a factory in northern Italy oozes a negative energy so toxic that not even a picnic under the Chernobyl reactor in �86 would pump this much poison into you.

The protagonist? A flabby hypochondriac with not a shred of backbone, whining and playing the victim like he’s the king of martyrs. A guy like that could drive even a psychiatrist with thirty years under their belt up the wall.

I mean, come on—if you don’t want to sweat it out in a factory, quit your griping and go dig in a garden! It’d do wonders for your mood, especially if it’s 1946 and you’ve got no wife, kids, or even a dog waiting at home. But nooo!

This poor man’s Zeno Cosini—who’s about as “proletarian� as I am an astronaut—drags himself through the chapters with mental gymnastics so colossal that Leopardi looks like a carefree goofball by comparison.

Sure, I get it—documenting working-class life has its value, it’s history, it’s culture, it matters.

But please, not through the eyes of this human jellyfish. Pick a hero with some guts, not a walking complaint!

I don’t get why they went with this choice, though it fits into a whole literary trend—Italian and French—stuffed with protagonists who can’t stop moaning.

The language? Lean, elegant, a joy to read. The landscape descriptions? Often poetic, almost frame-worthy.

But the novel as a whole—like the Battleship Potemkin—is an absolute stinker.

Even the folks who liked it, in their Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ reviews, go, “Well, uh, it was a bit of a slog…â€� or “It’s really heavy, but so so beautiful!!â€�

In short� a monstrous bore.

---
]]> Charles Dickens 13646454 101 George Orwell 3257213980 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.06 Charles Dickens
author: George Orwell
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Whatever Happened to the Soul: Scientific And Theological Portraits Of Human Nature (Theology and the Sciences)]]> 8308380
This collaborative project strives for greater consonance between contemporary science and Christian faith. Outstanding scholars in biology, genetics, neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy, theology, biblical studies, and ethics join here to offer contemporary accounts of human nature consistent with Christian teaching. Their central theme is a nondualistic account of the human person that does not consider the "soul" an entity separable from the body; scientific statements about the physical nature of human beings are about exactly the same entity as are theological statements concerning the spiritual nature of human beings.

For all those interested in fundamental questions of human identity posed by the present context, this volume will provide a fascinating and authoritative resource.]]> 272 Warren S. Brown 145142003X Tom LA 0 to-read 4.50 1998 Whatever Happened to the Soul: Scientific And Theological Portraits Of Human Nature (Theology and the Sciences)
author: Warren S. Brown
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Till We Have Faces 17343
Set against the backdrop of Glome, a barbaric, pre-Christian world, the struggles between sacred and profane love are illuminated as Orual learns that we cannot understand the intent of the gods "till we have faces" and sincerity in our souls and selves.]]> 313 C.S. Lewis Tom LA 0 to-read 4.19 1956 Till We Have Faces
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel (The Books of Earthsea)]]> 214504702 Ursula K. Le Guin’s timeless and revered A Wizard of Earthsea is reimagined in a richly expansive graphic novel by acclaimed artist Fred Fordham, creator of stunning adaptations To Kill a Mockingbird and Brave New World.

"The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream." —Neil Gaiman

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and unleashed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

Experience the bestselling first adventure of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle as a masterly crafted graphic novel. Fred Fordham brings new life to Le Guin's iconic fantasy classic with his breathtaking illustrations and thoughtful text adaptation.]]> 288 Fred Fordham 0063285762 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.11 2025 A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel (The Books of Earthsea)
author: Fred Fordham
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tower of Glass 202173 ]]> 185 Robert Silverberg 0553126415 Tom LA 5
The reason why Robert Silverberg isn’t more popular than he is is simply because his work is too smart and sophisticated to be popular. Only really, really, really dumb stories have that “magic something� to become global blockbusters. If Silverberg wrote crap like Star Wars, everyone would know his name.

But let’s talk about this book. Another gigantic masterwork. In the early seventies, when it was published, it came second at the Hugo’s (most prestigious SF award) losing to “Ringworld� by Larry Niven, which I never liked that much.

The plot revolves around SimeonĚýKrug, one of the richest men on Earth in the first decades of the 23rd century.

Krug has invented a way to create life in the laboratory, and he’s become the first designer of androids, living simulacra that appear human except for the red skin andĚýfor some physical improvements.

It’s on the backs of his androidsĚýthat Krug is building his tower, a modern-day wonder of the world—a tower of glass that will stretch over a thousand and five hundred meters into the Arctic sky, a communications tower that will be one of the greatest human achievements.

A mysterious signal is being broadcast from deep space, which a few scientists understand to be from another intelligent species. Krug wants to use his tower as a massive communication device to reply to that message - “Here we areâ€�,ĚýKrug will announce from his tower, “We are humans, we are worthy, we are not alone, come and speak unto us. Thus Krug has decreed. Thus shall it be.â€�

Krug sees his androids as “thingsâ€�, although they are very much alive individuals with feelings and a conscience. They live a hard life of constant servitude and yearn to be free, but while a few of them advocate for political action, the majority of them have secretly organized in a religion, praying every night to Simon Krug the CreatorĚýfor redemption (even though Krug knows nothing about this).

As part of this religion, they believe they’reĚýbeing tested by their dedication and hard work for Krug to see if they are worthy, until the moment when he will finally set them free.

The way Silverberg describes this religion is a provocation in itself, as the androids use passages taken directly from the Bible to express their faith in Krug. I’m catholic myself, but I take this as a typical amusing provocation.

Of all the directions this novel might have taken, the author decided to focus on the “social struggle� aspect, to work on the concept of equality, and as the chapters fly by, that becomes the core of this complex novel.

The writing is typical Silverberg - so polished and tight and essential. He doesn’t waste a word.

He’s also great at mastering the overall structure, and at keeping the tension high despite all the layers of narration.

In other words, he is a real pro. Someone who got to this point in the only way possible: by writing A LOT.

Here is an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Silverberg:

“I think there's a lot of terribly-written material being published today, and neither writers nor editors nor readers seem aware of that. [AMEN! Even more today in 2018!!] Thus the premium on literary accomplishment, which carried such writers as Bradbury and Sturgeon and Leiber to fame, has been devalued: if no one can tell junk from gold these days, gold is worth no more than junk. But we've always had bad writing, and it hasn't mattered in the case of really powerful storytellers -- van Vogt, say. What really bothers me is the eagerness of people to buy huge quantities of books patched together out of dumb or recycled ideas, or out of stale concepts translated from mediocre Hollywood products that have lowest-common-denominator audience goals.�

Mass-produced, money-driven art has always existed in history, but NEVER in the shocking quantity that we see today. Quality still exists, but it’s swamped under this tsunami of Hunger Games and Star Wars and YA shit.

If you, like me, don’t have the time to go in search of true quality in today’s publishing world, and have no faith in book recommendations, don’t think twice and go back to classics like Silverberg, Asimov, Sturgeon, Clarke. Those guys knew how to write a damn good story.]]> 3.84 1970 Tower of Glass
author: Robert Silverberg
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at: 2018/08/04
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
review:
I have written a few reviews of Silverberg’s books on here that I would qualify as “raving�. I passionately love this author’s work. I think he’s one of the most exciting writers I have ever read, fun, deep, smart as hell, and one of the top 5 science fiction authors. For the power of his original ideas and his ability to transcend any specific genre, he’s been called the “Philip Roth of science fiction�, which sounds pretty good to me even if Philip Roth was a rotten pessimist, and Silverberg is not.

The reason why Robert Silverberg isn’t more popular than he is is simply because his work is too smart and sophisticated to be popular. Only really, really, really dumb stories have that “magic something� to become global blockbusters. If Silverberg wrote crap like Star Wars, everyone would know his name.

But let’s talk about this book. Another gigantic masterwork. In the early seventies, when it was published, it came second at the Hugo’s (most prestigious SF award) losing to “Ringworld� by Larry Niven, which I never liked that much.

The plot revolves around SimeonĚýKrug, one of the richest men on Earth in the first decades of the 23rd century.

Krug has invented a way to create life in the laboratory, and he’s become the first designer of androids, living simulacra that appear human except for the red skin andĚýfor some physical improvements.

It’s on the backs of his androidsĚýthat Krug is building his tower, a modern-day wonder of the world—a tower of glass that will stretch over a thousand and five hundred meters into the Arctic sky, a communications tower that will be one of the greatest human achievements.

A mysterious signal is being broadcast from deep space, which a few scientists understand to be from another intelligent species. Krug wants to use his tower as a massive communication device to reply to that message - “Here we areâ€�,ĚýKrug will announce from his tower, “We are humans, we are worthy, we are not alone, come and speak unto us. Thus Krug has decreed. Thus shall it be.â€�

Krug sees his androids as “thingsâ€�, although they are very much alive individuals with feelings and a conscience. They live a hard life of constant servitude and yearn to be free, but while a few of them advocate for political action, the majority of them have secretly organized in a religion, praying every night to Simon Krug the CreatorĚýfor redemption (even though Krug knows nothing about this).

As part of this religion, they believe they’reĚýbeing tested by their dedication and hard work for Krug to see if they are worthy, until the moment when he will finally set them free.

The way Silverberg describes this religion is a provocation in itself, as the androids use passages taken directly from the Bible to express their faith in Krug. I’m catholic myself, but I take this as a typical amusing provocation.

Of all the directions this novel might have taken, the author decided to focus on the “social struggle� aspect, to work on the concept of equality, and as the chapters fly by, that becomes the core of this complex novel.

The writing is typical Silverberg - so polished and tight and essential. He doesn’t waste a word.

He’s also great at mastering the overall structure, and at keeping the tension high despite all the layers of narration.

In other words, he is a real pro. Someone who got to this point in the only way possible: by writing A LOT.

Here is an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Silverberg:

“I think there's a lot of terribly-written material being published today, and neither writers nor editors nor readers seem aware of that. [AMEN! Even more today in 2018!!] Thus the premium on literary accomplishment, which carried such writers as Bradbury and Sturgeon and Leiber to fame, has been devalued: if no one can tell junk from gold these days, gold is worth no more than junk. But we've always had bad writing, and it hasn't mattered in the case of really powerful storytellers -- van Vogt, say. What really bothers me is the eagerness of people to buy huge quantities of books patched together out of dumb or recycled ideas, or out of stale concepts translated from mediocre Hollywood products that have lowest-common-denominator audience goals.�

Mass-produced, money-driven art has always existed in history, but NEVER in the shocking quantity that we see today. Quality still exists, but it’s swamped under this tsunami of Hunger Games and Star Wars and YA shit.

If you, like me, don’t have the time to go in search of true quality in today’s publishing world, and have no faith in book recommendations, don’t think twice and go back to classics like Silverberg, Asimov, Sturgeon, Clarke. Those guys knew how to write a damn good story.
]]> <![CDATA[An Axe for the Frozen Sea: Conversations with Poets about What Matters Most]]> 216425330 Discover the wisdom and wonder of poetry through candid conversations with some of the most powerful poets of the 21st century.

In this remarkable collection, Ben Palpant, author of Letters from The Mountain, invites readers into intimate, one-on-one interviews with seventeen acclaimed poets. These conversations
� The human experience: Grief, hope, culture, and the imagination.
� The writing life: Insights into the craft of poetry and the challenges of creativity.
� Everyday joys and struggles: Reflections on family life, faith, and the power of words.

As Franz Kafka once said, "A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us." The thoughts and words in this collection aim to awaken what has grown silent within us, reminding us that poetry is an essential expression of what it means to be human.]]> 344 Ben Palpant 1951872312 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.67 An Axe for the Frozen Sea: Conversations with Poets about What Matters Most
author: Ben Palpant
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai a Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb]]> 6552272
A Song for Nagasaki tells the moving story of this extraordinary man, beginning with his boyhood and the heroic tales and stoic virtues of his family's Shinto religion. It reveals the inspiring story of Nagai's remarkable spiritual journey from Shintoism to atheism to Catholicism. Mixed with interesting details about Japanese history and culture, the biography traces Nagai's spiritual quest as he studied medicine at Nagasaki University, served as a medic with the Japanese army during its occupation of Manchuria, and returned to Nagasaki to dedicate himself to the science of radiology. The historic Catholic district of the city, where Nagai became a Catholic and began a family, was ground zero for the atomic bomb.

After the bomb disaster that killed thousands, including Nagai's beloved wife, Nagai, then Dean of Radiology at Nagasaki University, threw himself into service to the countless victims of the bomb explosion, even though it meant deadly exposure to the radiation which eventually would cause his own death. While dying, he also wrote powerful books that became best-sellers in Japan. These included The Bells of Nagasaki , which resonated deeply with the Japanese people in their great suffering as it explores the Christian message of love and forgiveness. Nagai became a highly revered man and is considered a saint by many Japanese people.

"Christians and non-Christians alike were deeply moved by Nagai's faith in Christ that made him like Job of the in the midst of the nuclear wilderness he kept his heart in tranquility and peace, neither bearing resentment against any man nor cursing God."
Shusaku Endo , from the Foreword]]> 267 Paul Glynn 158617343X Tom LA 0 to-read 4.63 1989 A Song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai a Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb
author: Paul Glynn
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.63
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Né sazio né disperato. 41 spunti per cattolici ancora credenti]]> 218179497 260 Giacomo Biffi 8897921671 Tom LA 3 to-read-soon 3.00 Né sazio né disperato. 41 spunti per cattolici ancora credenti
author: Giacomo Biffi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
Alcuni brani molto interessanti e profondi, ma nonostante il raggruppamento dei frammenti in capitoli tematici, ho trovato questo libro troppo frammentario. Non lo consiglio.
]]> Il libro del buio 4469829 Parte cosĂ­, da una delle pagine piĂş tragiche della storia del Marocco, il nuovo romanzo di Tahar Ben Jelloun. Da un atto di denuncia, da una testimonianza politica e civile. Ma si abbandona, pagina dopo pagina, a una lenta deriva in cui la scrittura diviene specchio e scandaglio: fino a scoprire, dopo la discesa negli inferi della disperazione, il germe della purezza assoluta. Dove la vita perde ogni appiglio, dove il corpo regredisce verso il piĂş animale istinto di sopravvivenza, inizia un percorso interiore che intreccia l'ascesi mistica con la fantasia.
I personaggi di questo libro sono pure voci, ma animano quel mondo notturno della loro piú nascosta forza vitale. C'è Wakrine, lo specialista degli scorpioni; c'è Karim, l'uomo che sa contare il tempo; c'è Achar, anima maligna; c'è chi finge di cucinare un piatto al giorno e chi rimpiange all'infinito di non poter fumare. E poi c'è Salim, il narratore, che ogni sera racconta una storia ai compagni: dalla sua memoria sgorgano libri e film, fiabe e poesie, cantando il potere salvifico e violento della fantasia.
La scrittura di Ben Jelloun tocca forse in queste pagine il suo punto piĂş alto, dove tensione etica e affabulazione s'incontrano a svelare l'essenza segreta dell'animo umano.]]> 208 Tahar Ben Jelloun 8806156888 Tom LA 0 to-read-soon, to-read 4.03 2001 Il libro del buio
author: Tahar Ben Jelloun
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read-soon, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age]]> 58537083 "[An] elegantly layered exploration of Europe's past and future . . . a multifaceted masterpiece."--The Wall Street Journal

"A lovely, personal journey around the Adriatic, in which Robert Kaplan revisits places and peoples he first encountered decades ago."--Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads

In this insightful travelogue, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and bestselling author of Balkan Ghosts and The Revenge of Geography, turns his perceptive eye to a region that for centuries has been a meeting point of cultures, trade, and ideas. He undertakes a journey around the Adriatic Sea, through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece, to reveal that far more is happening in the region than most news stories let on. Often overlooked, the Adriatic is in fact at the center of the most significant challenges of our time, including the rise of populist politics, the refugee crisis, and battles over the control of energy resources. And it is once again becoming a global trading hub that will determine Europe's relationship with the rest of the world as China and Russia compete for dominance in its ports.

Kaplan explores how the region has changed over his three decades of observing it as a journalist. He finds that to understand both the historical and contemporary Adriatic is to gain a window on the future of Europe as a whole, and he unearths a stark truth: The era of populism is an epiphenomenon--a symptom of the age of nationalism coming to an end. Instead, the continent is returning to alignments of the early modern era as distinctions between East and West meet and break down within the Adriatic countries and ultimately throughout Europe.

With a brilliant cross-pollination of history, literature, art, architecture, and current events, in Adriatic, Kaplan demonstrates that this unique region that exists at the intersection of civilizations holds revelatory truths for the future of global affairs.]]> 368 Robert D. Kaplan 0399591044 Tom LA 0 3.55 2022 Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age
author: Robert D. Kaplan
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read-soon, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[L'apocalisse di Giovanni: Commento Esegetico Spirituale]]> 13188014 212 Enzo Bianchi 8882270726 Tom LA 0 4.33 2000 L'apocalisse di Giovanni: Commento Esegetico Spirituale
author: Enzo Bianchi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read-soon, currently-reading
review:

]]> Pensieri 16081835 517 Blaise Pascal 8811365406 Tom LA 0 3.62 1670 Pensieri
author: Blaise Pascal
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1670
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read-soon, currently-reading
review:

]]> I Vangeli (Italian Edition) 36335118 430 Gianfranco Ravasi 8810962796 Tom LA 0 4.33 I Vangeli (Italian Edition)
author: Gianfranco Ravasi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read-soon, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Discovering Christianity: A guide for the curious]]> 227997075 'Rowan Williams offers a typically intelligent, attractive, and beguiling picture of what it means to be a Christian... When I read Williams I feel something coming to birth inside me, whispers from a shore I want to set out for.'Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark Cathedral, London


Internationally acclaimed theologian Rowan Williams invites you to explore with him the vital questions that go right to the heart of


How does Jesus reveal God?
Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
Why do Christians treasure the Bible?
What's the point of theology?


Rowan Williams' guide to the essentials of the faith will get you thinking about God in fresh and exciting ways. It will help you to grasp the way in which the best Christian theology is arrived at through the creative interplay of scripture, tradition and reason. And it will help you develop a broader and deeper appreciation of the positive difference Christianity continues to make in the world today.
Brief, engaging and profoundly simple, this book takes you to the heart of what Christianity is all about, offering food for thought for a lifetime.


Contents
1 What is Christianity?
2 What is faith?
3 What is theology?
4 Why Church?
5 Why scripture?
6 Why tradition?
7 Why reason?
8 Why does it matter?]]> 128 Rowan Williams 0281090637 Tom LA 4 4.11 Discovering Christianity: A guide for the curious
author: Rowan Williams
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
Listened to the audiobook, read by the otherworldly soothing voice of the author himself (don’t listen while driving or operating machinery!). I consider him to be one of my great intellectual heroes.
]]> Spatriati 57753568 Candore torna a raccontare le mille forme che può assumere il desiderio quando viene lasciato libero di manifestarsi. Senza timore di toccare le corde del romanticismo, senza pudore nell'indagare i dettagli più ruvidi dell'istinto e dei corpi, interroga il sesso e lo rivela per quello che è: una delle tante posture inventate dagli esseri umani per cercare di essere felici.]]> 288 Mario Desiati 8806247417 Tom LA 1
Che peccato! Il mio sangue pugliese e il fatto che anni fa me ne sono andato a vivere a Londra (per poi trasferirmi negli USA) mi hanno spinto a comprare questo romanzo immediatamente, appena ho letto una descrizione del contenuto.

Dal punto di vista tecnico, l’autore scrive come un angelo. Le descrizioni dei paesaggi pugliesi sono liriche e a volte me le sono rilette 5 volte prima di continuare. Tutti quei limoni. Quegli ulivi. Davvero splendido.

Peccato, perché purtroppo il romanzo non mi è piaciuto per niente. Ho anche guardato un paio di interviste a Desiati, che mi hanno confermato i miei sospetti: lui proprio la pensa così. Non è che ci presenta personaggi immaturi e bloccati alla fase della ribellione adolescenziale da una certa distanza critica e matura. Lui proprio abbraccia il relativismo moderno, simboleggiato dalle discoteche di Berlino, come se fosse un suo carissimo amico, e non il frutto della povertà di pensiero dei giorni nostri. Il sesso e il genere? Ma fluidissimi, ovviamente. Il che è ironico perché Desiati parla continuamente di stare attenti a non “adeguarsi al pensiero dominante�, mentre è esattamente quello che fa lui.

Capisco che lui per “pensiero dominante� intende magari quello che viene imposto da molti genitori (forse - sempre che non stia cavalcando lo zeitgeist da furbetto, il che sarebbe il peggio del peggio) ma quello a cui approda lui, e cioè l’anti-patriarcato, il gender-fluid e palle varie, è altrettanto dominante, anzi, DI PIÙ, solo a livello globale e non provinciale. Lo so bene perché vivo in California, da cui queste idee così povere e controproducenti provengono. Chi credete che le scrivano quelle sceneggiature orrende delle serie tv di Netflix? Sono tutti Californiani mai cresciuti. TUTTI i giovani californiani la pensano allo stesso modo, un modo di pensare ricopiato da moltissimi in Europa, incluso l’autore: sono tutti bi-sessuali, non-binari, e la loro religione è il virtue-signaling e il vittimismo.

Insomma, la libertĂ  vera consiste nella sessualitĂ  sfrenata e nella “distruzione del patriarcatoâ€�. Meno regole ci sono, meno determinatezza c’Ă�, meno disciplina c’Ă�, MEGLIO Ă. L’unica soluzione è quella tipica di Hollywood: “nessuno mi potrĂ  proibire di essere quello che sono!!â€�. Ma che vuol dire, cretinetti?? Iper-superficiale e vago al punto, purtroppo, di svuotarsi totalmente di significato.

Perdonatemi: MA DAVVERO IN ITALIA AVETE DECISO DI PENSARE CON LE TESTE DEGLI AMERICANI? MA SIETE RINCITRULLITI DEL TUTTO? MA VI RENDETE CONTO CHE L’AMERICA à UN TOZZO DI FECI DI CANE COME CULTURA, RISPETTO ALL’ITALIA??

Scusate. Dovevo sfogarmi. Lo so che non c’� niente da fare, ma mi fa schifo.

Insomma, il vero punto di arrivo dei due protagonisti è quello dell’indeterminatezza. E� proprio per questo che il concetto di libertà usato dall’autore fondamentalmente è il senso di libertà di chi sa soltanto che cosa rompere ma non ha la più pallida idea di che cosa costruire.

Ma dai. Se non costruisci, se rimani indeterminato, al massimo finisci nell’ante-inferno a svolazzare dietro lo stendardo con gli ignavi. Ma un adulto vero, e una persona davvero libera, non ci diventi. Dante lo sapeva bene già 700 anni fa, e non aveva tempo per quelli che non vogliono prendere alcuna posizione.

Dante. Petrarca. Boccaccio. Ariosto. Manzoni. Croce. Calvino. Ma no� macché : gender-fluid e anti-patriarcato.

Che modo di pensare da smidollati. E adesso dategli anche lo Strega, mi raccomando.]]> 3.23 2021 Spatriati
author: Mario Desiati
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2021/11/07
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
MEGLIO PRENDERE UNA POSIZIONE O FARE I TEENAGERS PER TUTTA LA VITA?

Che peccato! Il mio sangue pugliese e il fatto che anni fa me ne sono andato a vivere a Londra (per poi trasferirmi negli USA) mi hanno spinto a comprare questo romanzo immediatamente, appena ho letto una descrizione del contenuto.

Dal punto di vista tecnico, l’autore scrive come un angelo. Le descrizioni dei paesaggi pugliesi sono liriche e a volte me le sono rilette 5 volte prima di continuare. Tutti quei limoni. Quegli ulivi. Davvero splendido.

Peccato, perché purtroppo il romanzo non mi è piaciuto per niente. Ho anche guardato un paio di interviste a Desiati, che mi hanno confermato i miei sospetti: lui proprio la pensa così. Non è che ci presenta personaggi immaturi e bloccati alla fase della ribellione adolescenziale da una certa distanza critica e matura. Lui proprio abbraccia il relativismo moderno, simboleggiato dalle discoteche di Berlino, come se fosse un suo carissimo amico, e non il frutto della povertà di pensiero dei giorni nostri. Il sesso e il genere? Ma fluidissimi, ovviamente. Il che è ironico perché Desiati parla continuamente di stare attenti a non “adeguarsi al pensiero dominante�, mentre è esattamente quello che fa lui.

Capisco che lui per “pensiero dominante� intende magari quello che viene imposto da molti genitori (forse - sempre che non stia cavalcando lo zeitgeist da furbetto, il che sarebbe il peggio del peggio) ma quello a cui approda lui, e cioè l’anti-patriarcato, il gender-fluid e palle varie, è altrettanto dominante, anzi, DI PIÙ, solo a livello globale e non provinciale. Lo so bene perché vivo in California, da cui queste idee così povere e controproducenti provengono. Chi credete che le scrivano quelle sceneggiature orrende delle serie tv di Netflix? Sono tutti Californiani mai cresciuti. TUTTI i giovani californiani la pensano allo stesso modo, un modo di pensare ricopiato da moltissimi in Europa, incluso l’autore: sono tutti bi-sessuali, non-binari, e la loro religione è il virtue-signaling e il vittimismo.

Insomma, la libertĂ  vera consiste nella sessualitĂ  sfrenata e nella “distruzione del patriarcatoâ€�. Meno regole ci sono, meno determinatezza c’Ă�, meno disciplina c’Ă�, MEGLIO Ă. L’unica soluzione è quella tipica di Hollywood: “nessuno mi potrĂ  proibire di essere quello che sono!!â€�. Ma che vuol dire, cretinetti?? Iper-superficiale e vago al punto, purtroppo, di svuotarsi totalmente di significato.

Perdonatemi: MA DAVVERO IN ITALIA AVETE DECISO DI PENSARE CON LE TESTE DEGLI AMERICANI? MA SIETE RINCITRULLITI DEL TUTTO? MA VI RENDETE CONTO CHE L’AMERICA à UN TOZZO DI FECI DI CANE COME CULTURA, RISPETTO ALL’ITALIA??

Scusate. Dovevo sfogarmi. Lo so che non c’� niente da fare, ma mi fa schifo.

Insomma, il vero punto di arrivo dei due protagonisti è quello dell’indeterminatezza. E� proprio per questo che il concetto di libertà usato dall’autore fondamentalmente è il senso di libertà di chi sa soltanto che cosa rompere ma non ha la più pallida idea di che cosa costruire.

Ma dai. Se non costruisci, se rimani indeterminato, al massimo finisci nell’ante-inferno a svolazzare dietro lo stendardo con gli ignavi. Ma un adulto vero, e una persona davvero libera, non ci diventi. Dante lo sapeva bene già 700 anni fa, e non aveva tempo per quelli che non vogliono prendere alcuna posizione.

Dante. Petrarca. Boccaccio. Ariosto. Manzoni. Croce. Calvino. Ma no� macché : gender-fluid e anti-patriarcato.

Che modo di pensare da smidollati. E adesso dategli anche lo Strega, mi raccomando.
]]> Whalefall 62919162 327 Daniel Kraus 1665918160 Tom LA 0 to-read 3.66 2023 Whalefall
author: Daniel Kraus
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Il processo del secolo: Come e perché è stato assolto Andreotti]]> 35996857 281 Lino Jannuzzi 8804500107 Tom LA 3 2.50 Il processo del secolo: Come e perché è stato assolto Andreotti
author: Lino Jannuzzi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 2.50
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780: A Social Compact]]> 7067796 256 Ronald M. Peters Jr. 087023143X Tom LA 4 4.00 1978 The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780: A Social Compact
author: Ronald M. Peters Jr.
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:
Ha! Read this in 2000 for my final university dissertation.
]]> Stato in Luogo 42753314 122 Franco Arminio 8898716710 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.50 Stato in Luogo
author: Franco Arminio
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sacro minore 123259840
Il grande talento di Arminio è quello di scorgere la meraviglia dell’esistere nei più banali particolari e condividerla attraverso le sue brevi poesie. Lo fa anche questa volta, nel nuovo libro “Sacro minore� in cui descrive il sacro terreno, quello della nostra vita quotidiana, dei nostri gesti abituali, dei nostri corpi che si incontrano, dell'amore fatto di desiderio e di sesso. Un amore sacro che non appartiene solamente all’anima ma anche all’amore carnale, versi in cui l’amore confina con la morte e portano verso Dio. In conclusione, sacra è la vita nella sua dimensione biologica, in tutta la sua forza e in ogni sua circostanza.]]> 160 Franco Arminio 8806257641 Tom LA 5 to-read-soon 4.21 Sacro minore
author: Franco Arminio
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
Sacra è la verità, che solo la poesia può rispecchiare del tutto.
]]> <![CDATA[Io sono con te. Storia di Brigitte]]> 32754048 Io sono con te è un libro raro e necessario per molte ragioni: è la storia di un incontro e di un riconoscimento, di un calvario e una rinascita, la descrizione di un'Italia insieme inospitale e accoglientissima, politicamente inadeguata e piena di realtà e persone miracolose. Melania Mazzucco si è messa in gioco a ogni pagina come essere umano e come scrittrice, scegliendo una forma flessibile e nuova, esatta, personale, carica di un'emozione trattenuta e dirompente. Se in Vita aveva narrato l'epopea dell'emigrazione italiana, ora ribalta la prospettiva: guardando negli occhi questi uomini e queste donne, specchiandoci nelle loro storie, non potremo non riconoscere l'energia disperata che ci accomuna tutti, quando la vita ci ha travolti e tentiamo di rimetterci in piedi.]]> 264 Melania G. Mazzucco 8806232533 Tom LA 1
Che peccato non poter godere della sua meravigliosa arte senza la rottura di palle politica. L'"Angelo" rimane il suo più bel libro proprio perchè è così, libero.

A Melania - in Italia gli immigrati sono trattati con i guanti di velluto, perciò la tua scelta "necessaria" di questo argomento non è necessaria per niente. Sei comunista, va benissimo, però perché non te lo puoi tenere per te? Ti prego, torna a scrivere libri normali, senza far politica, ti scongiuro, te lo chiedo in ginocchio!]]> 3.93 2016 Io sono con te. Storia di Brigitte
author: Melania G. Mazzucco
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
Che sciagura che Melania Mazzucco abbia deciso di diventare una scrittrice-attivista-politica. Sembra che scelga i cavalli di battaglia più dementi della sinistra italiana (figli di coppie gay, agiografia del santo immigrato) come ingredienti base da usare per i suoi romanzi. E invece l'ultima, l'ultimissima cosa che vorrei sentire da lei - ma anche da un artista in generale - è proprio la sua opinione politica. Anche perché in genere è già conosciuta e ovvia, in quanto sconnessa dalla complessa realtà delle problematiche politiche e sociali, e basata su sentimentalismo, globalismo e idealismo - così come nel caso di molti cantanti, attori, Hollywood, il mondo dell'entertainment e della cultura. Tutti di sinistra in quanto totalmente avulsi dalla realtà.

Che peccato non poter godere della sua meravigliosa arte senza la rottura di palle politica. L'"Angelo" rimane il suo più bel libro proprio perchè è così, libero.

A Melania - in Italia gli immigrati sono trattati con i guanti di velluto, perciò la tua scelta "necessaria" di questo argomento non è necessaria per niente. Sei comunista, va benissimo, però perché non te lo puoi tenere per te? Ti prego, torna a scrivere libri normali, senza far politica, ti scongiuro, te lo chiedo in ginocchio!
]]> M. L'uomo della provvidenza 55099308 645 Antonio Scurati 8830102652 Tom LA 5
Spiccano, dal testo di questa parziale storia del nostro Paese, le porcate del barbaro Graziani, un infame che insieme a Badoglio commise una sfilza di crimini di guerra in Libia, che per fortuna il fascismo non è riuscito a cancellare.

Il capitolo su Quinto Navarra che fa aspettare Margherita Sarfatti per ore, verso la fine, è un capolavoro assoluto.]]> 3.97 2020 M. L'uomo della provvidenza
author: Antonio Scurati
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves:
review:
Bello, bellissimo anche questo secondo libro della serie, fedele ricostruzione di alcuni momenti cruciali nella vita di Mussolini, e soprattutto nella vita del fascismo. Come dicono altri lettori, il primo era più avvincente, ma soprattutto perché gli anni dal 1919 al 1926 sono stati più avvincenti (per questo tema) degli anni dal 1926 al 1932.

Spiccano, dal testo di questa parziale storia del nostro Paese, le porcate del barbaro Graziani, un infame che insieme a Badoglio commise una sfilza di crimini di guerra in Libia, che per fortuna il fascismo non è riuscito a cancellare.

Il capitolo su Quinto Navarra che fa aspettare Margherita Sarfatti per ore, verso la fine, è un capolavoro assoluto.
]]> <![CDATA[The One Hand and The Six Fingers]]> 209266797 The One Hand tells the story of Neo Novena detective, Ari Nasser―a grizzled homicide detective who’s about to retire with an enviable record, until a brutal murder occurs bearing all the hallmarks of the 'One Hand Killer'� which should be impossible since Ari already put him away not once but twice in years past.

In The Six Fingers, Neo Novena archaeology student, Johannes Vale has always been so very in control of his life. But when he commits a brutal murder using the M.O. of an historic and notorious serial killer, everything begins to spiral out of control� and Johannes doesn’t remember doing it.

What follows is a deadly cat-and-mouse game told through two intertwined narratives. Both men will stop at nothing to unravel the secrets and ciphers of this case- but each revelation only leads further into the dark heart of this future-metropolis.

For fans of Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Black Mirror, The One Hand and The Six Fingers is a thrilling graphic novel that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Two of the hottest writers in comics―Ram V and Dan Watters―have teamed up with artists Laurence Campbell and Sumit Kumar—to tell the most unique crime thriller, now collected in the manner it was intended to be read in―with the miniseries issues as alternating chapters!]]> 280 Ram V. 1534369716 Tom LA 2 3.95 2024 The One Hand and The Six Fingers
author: Ram V.
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:
Another good work by Ram V (and others), although weaker than usual. The drawings are ok, although not for me: they feel too detached, impersonal, looking like photocopies of pictures with a bit of drawing on top. Unfortunately, the story is too stretched out and relies too much on the final explanation. I didn’t find the first 70% of the book gripping.
]]> Sky Full of Elephants 207293815 In this exquisite speculative novel set in a world where white people no longer exist, college professor Charlie Brunton receives a call from his estranged daughter Sidney, setting off a chain of events as they journey across a truly “post-racial� America in search of answers.

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charles Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old who watched her white mother and step-family drown themselves in the lake behind their house.

Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across America headed for Alabama, where Sidney believes she may still have some family left. But neither Sidney or Charlie is prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.

When they enter the Kingdom of Alabama, everything Charlie and Sidney thought they knew about themselves, and the world, will be turned upside down. Brimming with heart and humor, Cebo Campbell’s astonishing debut novel is about the power of community and connection, about healing and self-actualization, and a reckoning with what it means to be Black in America, in both their world and ours.]]> 304 Cebo Campbell 1668034921 Tom LA 1 Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.�, Martin Luther King.

Evidently, Cebo Campbell disagrees with this quote.

This book tells of a USA where all white people have died (magically � no hard science-fictional explanation). Like the reviewer “Jeremy� says, once all the white folks have died, “black folks can laugh and sing and dance without fear of violence or reprisal�.

See, because that’s not something they can do today.

First, let’s get the surface stuff out the way: the book is not written very well, I have found � like many other readers � several gaping plot holes.

The focus on the daughter’s “internalized racism� is a clumsy way to fictionalize a social studies research paper, and it doesn’t work well.

Additionally, hinting in a not-so-subtle way that capitalism is a “white people thing�, like the author does, is nonsensical. Capitalism means open markets: what did hundreds of huge African tribes have for thousands of years before being colonized, if not open markets? And were they not trading in Black slaves far, far, far before any white colonist set foot on their soil? Ancient Egypt is a perfect example, but think of Kano and Salaga, or Timbuktu in Mali, a great open market where goods like gold, salt and slaves were traded. Not to mention the trade of white slaves, as well, even if that is a piece of history that no one talks about.

Now, on to the important part.

I am an Italian catholic and I’m 50 years old. I grew up in Italy, I lived in Germany, in the UK, and after 14 years living in the US, I’m now a US citizen.

I’m highly educated, I don’t like everyone but I sincerely love every single human being, without any hint of a difference.

People have hated me because of my faith. People have hated me because I’m Italian. People have hated me because they were in a horrible mood in that moment.

I do not care and I do not create any cultural narrative out of these behaviors. That’s how life goes. There are millions of reasons why our brothers and sisters may sometimes hate us, and being black may be one of them, just like being white may be one of them, or being blue or purple. But being black in 2024 U.S., in and of itself, is objectively and demonstrably not a problem anymore, no matter what Toni Morrison or Barack Obama or any other panderer would have you think. In fact, it’s largely because of people like Obama that it might “be a problem�. That kind of thinking is pure poison. But I’ll get back to this point later.

Going on incessantly about the past, like Cebo Campbell does (indirectly) with his book, has ZERO constructive consequences, but a lot of negative and toxic consequences � which, coincidentally, is a principle that applies perfectly to any individual’s life and past.

Remembering a historic tragedy is very important for everyone. But this is not what this whole cultural phenomenon is about, because this is not a simple look back to the past, like the memory of the holocaust can be: this pits present people against other present people. Therein lies the utter absurdity.

You know what would be really hard for me, if I was black today? It would be living in a society where they keep telling me that I should be angry, that I should be very angry, because I am a victim � it would be living in this society and not get at least a little bit angrier than what I would naturally be, just due to the constant media aggression.

The barrage of “Look at what they did to us�! “Look at how they treated US!�. “Are you gonna let THEM get away with that?� would probably get at least a little under my skin. Songs, movies, books, articles. Every. Single. Day.

Don’t you see how fake and divisive this attitude is? Don’t you see that there is no “us� and “them�?
Don’t you see that today black and white is not even a binary choice anymore, with millions of people being of mixed ethnicities?

Don’t you see that writing a book about “us� and “them� today is dangerous and divisive?

When I talk about mixed ethnicity people, that includes my son, by the way. He is not white and he is not black. He is a child of God, just like you and me, just like everyone else. Just like the rev. Martin Luther King wanted to see us all be and see ourselves.

Nothing else. Americans. And before that, children of God, with many differences and various skills.

If I’ve never for one second felt like a victim in my life, it’s not because I’m white. It’s because I’ve always known that feeling like a victim � in any circumstances, but especially when you are not one � is stupid. It’s very simple.

Corroborating the myth that being black in America today is a tougher life in and of itself is counterproductive. It’s fanning the flame of my Black brothers� anger. This anger can come from anywhere else, but now they have a fictional place to channel it: the struggle.

Don’t get me wrong: the “struggle� was real. Very real. I’ve read three long MLK biographies, and God, in his times the struggle was absolutely real.

Today it’s not anymore. Full stop. I don’t care how entitled one might feel to think that only they or Cebo Campbell can talk about how real the struggle is, because our world offers facts to counter every fallacious argument. The argument “You can’t talk about it because you’re not black� is contrary to the first amendment. Pretty fundamental stuff, folks, so do not use that argument.

A major fallacy in the modern discourse on Black struggle is the idea that “systemic barriers� are the sole cause of disparities, neglecting the role of individual choices, cultural factors, and the negative consequences of some social policies (i.e. welfare programs that can create dependency and hinder upward mobility within communities).

A constant and intense focus on these fallacies can hinder real progress for black Americans.

Another dangerous fallacy: the notion that the U.S. is a systemically racist or white supremacist society. The median incomes of Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Korean ancestry are higher than those of white Americans. Among male workers, Asian Indian males earn over $39k a year more than white males �.. a weird outcome if white supremacy were so pervasive.

Black family poverty has long been higher than white family poverty, but the poverty rate of black married-couple families is consistently below the national poverty rate. So: if black family poverty is caused by “systemic racism’�, do racists make an exception for blacks who are married? That doesn’t quite compute, does it?

I’m not even going to discuss affirmative action. The Supreme Court has said more than enough about it, in a very eloquent way.

I also read Barack Obama’s memoir, Dreams from My Father. Obama offers the example of a young black man who wanted to become a pilot but decided not to pursue it because he thought the Air Force would never let a black man fly.

Obama stops there, obviously, because he is simply not a deep thinker, and he loves the fallacy of “internalized barriers�, which is as stolid as the “internalized racism� that Campbell describes within the protagonist’s daughter.

Obama never acknowledges that the fact he references happened decades AFTER a whole squadron of black American fighter pilots flew in World War II. Decades.
Whoever indoctrinated this young man did him more harm than any racist could have, by keeping him from even trying to become a pilot. That is racism, too: twisting someone’s mind based on artificial and politicized concepts of racial identity.

By penetrating the psyche of the country with his ideology, Obama has done real damage to black people and to the US. No Obama would have meant no BLM, no victim ideology, no constantly fanning the flames of anger, and no “Sky Full of Elephants�.

That’s why I think this book is divisive, dangerous and ultimately racist, in a very literal sense: as MLK said, only light can drive out darkness, not other darkness. ]]> 3.82 2024 Sky Full of Elephants
author: Cebo Campbell
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves:
review:
�Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.�, Martin Luther King.

Evidently, Cebo Campbell disagrees with this quote.

This book tells of a USA where all white people have died (magically � no hard science-fictional explanation). Like the reviewer “Jeremy� says, once all the white folks have died, “black folks can laugh and sing and dance without fear of violence or reprisal�.

See, because that’s not something they can do today.

First, let’s get the surface stuff out the way: the book is not written very well, I have found � like many other readers � several gaping plot holes.

The focus on the daughter’s “internalized racism� is a clumsy way to fictionalize a social studies research paper, and it doesn’t work well.

Additionally, hinting in a not-so-subtle way that capitalism is a “white people thing�, like the author does, is nonsensical. Capitalism means open markets: what did hundreds of huge African tribes have for thousands of years before being colonized, if not open markets? And were they not trading in Black slaves far, far, far before any white colonist set foot on their soil? Ancient Egypt is a perfect example, but think of Kano and Salaga, or Timbuktu in Mali, a great open market where goods like gold, salt and slaves were traded. Not to mention the trade of white slaves, as well, even if that is a piece of history that no one talks about.

Now, on to the important part.

I am an Italian catholic and I’m 50 years old. I grew up in Italy, I lived in Germany, in the UK, and after 14 years living in the US, I’m now a US citizen.

I’m highly educated, I don’t like everyone but I sincerely love every single human being, without any hint of a difference.

People have hated me because of my faith. People have hated me because I’m Italian. People have hated me because they were in a horrible mood in that moment.

I do not care and I do not create any cultural narrative out of these behaviors. That’s how life goes. There are millions of reasons why our brothers and sisters may sometimes hate us, and being black may be one of them, just like being white may be one of them, or being blue or purple. But being black in 2024 U.S., in and of itself, is objectively and demonstrably not a problem anymore, no matter what Toni Morrison or Barack Obama or any other panderer would have you think. In fact, it’s largely because of people like Obama that it might “be a problem�. That kind of thinking is pure poison. But I’ll get back to this point later.

Going on incessantly about the past, like Cebo Campbell does (indirectly) with his book, has ZERO constructive consequences, but a lot of negative and toxic consequences � which, coincidentally, is a principle that applies perfectly to any individual’s life and past.

Remembering a historic tragedy is very important for everyone. But this is not what this whole cultural phenomenon is about, because this is not a simple look back to the past, like the memory of the holocaust can be: this pits present people against other present people. Therein lies the utter absurdity.

You know what would be really hard for me, if I was black today? It would be living in a society where they keep telling me that I should be angry, that I should be very angry, because I am a victim � it would be living in this society and not get at least a little bit angrier than what I would naturally be, just due to the constant media aggression.

The barrage of “Look at what they did to us�! “Look at how they treated US!�. “Are you gonna let THEM get away with that?� would probably get at least a little under my skin. Songs, movies, books, articles. Every. Single. Day.

Don’t you see how fake and divisive this attitude is? Don’t you see that there is no “us� and “them�?
Don’t you see that today black and white is not even a binary choice anymore, with millions of people being of mixed ethnicities?

Don’t you see that writing a book about “us� and “them� today is dangerous and divisive?

When I talk about mixed ethnicity people, that includes my son, by the way. He is not white and he is not black. He is a child of God, just like you and me, just like everyone else. Just like the rev. Martin Luther King wanted to see us all be and see ourselves.

Nothing else. Americans. And before that, children of God, with many differences and various skills.

If I’ve never for one second felt like a victim in my life, it’s not because I’m white. It’s because I’ve always known that feeling like a victim � in any circumstances, but especially when you are not one � is stupid. It’s very simple.

Corroborating the myth that being black in America today is a tougher life in and of itself is counterproductive. It’s fanning the flame of my Black brothers� anger. This anger can come from anywhere else, but now they have a fictional place to channel it: the struggle.

Don’t get me wrong: the “struggle� was real. Very real. I’ve read three long MLK biographies, and God, in his times the struggle was absolutely real.

Today it’s not anymore. Full stop. I don’t care how entitled one might feel to think that only they or Cebo Campbell can talk about how real the struggle is, because our world offers facts to counter every fallacious argument. The argument “You can’t talk about it because you’re not black� is contrary to the first amendment. Pretty fundamental stuff, folks, so do not use that argument.

A major fallacy in the modern discourse on Black struggle is the idea that “systemic barriers� are the sole cause of disparities, neglecting the role of individual choices, cultural factors, and the negative consequences of some social policies (i.e. welfare programs that can create dependency and hinder upward mobility within communities).

A constant and intense focus on these fallacies can hinder real progress for black Americans.

Another dangerous fallacy: the notion that the U.S. is a systemically racist or white supremacist society. The median incomes of Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Korean ancestry are higher than those of white Americans. Among male workers, Asian Indian males earn over $39k a year more than white males �.. a weird outcome if white supremacy were so pervasive.

Black family poverty has long been higher than white family poverty, but the poverty rate of black married-couple families is consistently below the national poverty rate. So: if black family poverty is caused by “systemic racism’�, do racists make an exception for blacks who are married? That doesn’t quite compute, does it?

I’m not even going to discuss affirmative action. The Supreme Court has said more than enough about it, in a very eloquent way.

I also read Barack Obama’s memoir, Dreams from My Father. Obama offers the example of a young black man who wanted to become a pilot but decided not to pursue it because he thought the Air Force would never let a black man fly.

Obama stops there, obviously, because he is simply not a deep thinker, and he loves the fallacy of “internalized barriers�, which is as stolid as the “internalized racism� that Campbell describes within the protagonist’s daughter.

Obama never acknowledges that the fact he references happened decades AFTER a whole squadron of black American fighter pilots flew in World War II. Decades.
Whoever indoctrinated this young man did him more harm than any racist could have, by keeping him from even trying to become a pilot. That is racism, too: twisting someone’s mind based on artificial and politicized concepts of racial identity.

By penetrating the psyche of the country with his ideology, Obama has done real damage to black people and to the US. No Obama would have meant no BLM, no victim ideology, no constantly fanning the flames of anger, and no “Sky Full of Elephants�.

That’s why I think this book is divisive, dangerous and ultimately racist, in a very literal sense: as MLK said, only light can drive out darkness, not other darkness.
]]> <![CDATA[Being Human: Bodies, Minds, Persons]]> 38902949 125 Rowan Williams 0802876560 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.08 Being Human: Bodies, Minds, Persons
author: Rowan Williams
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tale of the Anti-Christ 675066 23 Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov 1558181628 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.31 1900 Tale of the Anti-Christ
author: Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1900
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Confessioni di una coppia scambista al figlio morente]]> 60576337 159 Alessandro Gori 8831807137 Tom LA 3 Fra tutti i raccontini, ce ne sono di splendidi e di non.
“Fin quando il cuculo, stolidamente, cabrò�.
]]> 3.39 2022 Confessioni di una coppia scambista al figlio morente
author: Alessandro Gori
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves:
review:
Simpatico. Molto creativo, anche se neanche un po� allegro, nè particolarmente sano. C’� da dire che l’umorismo migliore, secondo me, nasce all’incrocio tra equilibrio psicologico e benessere fisiologico. Entrambi elementi mi sembrano scarseggiare nell’autore, soprattutto il primo.
Fra tutti i raccontini, ce ne sono di splendidi e di non.
“Fin quando il cuculo, stolidamente, cabrò�.

]]> <![CDATA[Allegro ma non troppo. Con Le leggi fondamentali della stupiditĂ  umana]]> 4590493 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Un "divertissement", un guizzo anarchico dell'intelligenza. à così che si possono definire queste pagine nelle quali Cipolla abbandona gli austeri panni dello studioso e, giocando sul filo del paradosso e dell'assurdo, costruisce due brevi saggi: il primo, una ilare parodia della storia economica e sociale del Medioevo; il secondo, una sorta di scherzosa teoria generale della stupidità umana.]]> 83 Carlo M. Cipolla 8815019804 Tom LA 3 3.96 1976 Allegro ma non troppo. Con Le leggi fondamentali della stupidità umana
author: Carlo M. Cipolla
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1976
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[La realtà non è come ci appare: La struttura elementare delle cose]]> 20617550 242 Carlo Rovelli 8860306418 Tom LA 4
Un riassunto appassionato della storia della fisica dall’antica Grecia fino ad oggi. Molto stimolante e interessante per uno come me che ha studiato fisica solo a scuola.

Una cosa in particolare che mi ha colpito, da grande ammiratore della Divina Commedia, è l’accenno che Rovelli fa all’ipotesi (avanzata negli anni �70) che Dante avesse già teorizzato la corretta conformazione dell’universo, e cioè come una “tre-sfera� (oggetto geometrico di cui io non avevo neanche mai sentito parlare). à in effetti possibile che Dante abbia azzeccato il concetto nell’ultimo canto del Paradiso perché il suo maestro Brunetto Latini faceva accenni a una simile struttura nei suoi scritti. Se sapete l’inglese e volete “nerd out�, qui c’� un bel saggio sull’argomento -

Alcuni hanno commentato che questo libro è scritto molto bene. Precisiamo: dal punto di vista della passione che l’autore è riuscito a far trasparire dal linguaggio, sono assolutamente d’accordo: molto appassionato, chiaro e incisivo. Dal punto di vista dell’italiano, un po� meno, dato che il libro è zeppo delle tipiche “brutture� lessicali che commette un italiano che parla in inglese per lavoro (esempio : �... il futuro è genuinamente imprevedibile�, o “una descrizione spettacolarmente buona della natura�). Cose orribili. Lo so perché vivo in America da anni e anche il mio italiano soffre di simili cadute di stile.

Infine, il tono del libro precipita davvero dalle stelle alle stalle ogni volta che Rovelli ritiene necessario tirare una cannonata contro la religione - che ovviamente non è il suo campo - e contro la quale ha un grosso pregiudizio. Che il cattolicesimo sia compatibile con la scienza è un fatto, basterebbe studiare, guardare alla posizione ufficiale del Vaticano, alla teologia dell’ultimo secolo e a quei cattolici che hanno contribuito ai grandi passi avanti della scienza come Lemaitre. Ma lui preferisce insultare il papa sul tema dell’infallibilità, che fraintende come molti, e usa la tipica offesa: “Ognuno può fare quello che vuole della sua intelligenza e credere a tutte le favole che vuole�, che vuol dire “Se hai fede in Dio, sei un mezzo coglione�. Tutto ciò a riprova del fatto che uno può essere allo stesso tempo molto dotto e profondamente ignorante. 

Poi quando ho tempo scriverò qualche riflessione sul rapporto “gente con menti più scientifiche - Asperger - incapacità di capire la polisemia e la ricchezza della religione�, argomento a cui l’autore fa riferimento in una nota, ma in maniera molto sommaria.

�

Wonderful summary of the history of physics from ancient Greece to today. Very stimulating and interesting for someone like me who only studied physics at school.

One thing in particular that struck me, as a great lover of the Divine Comedy, is the mention that Rovelli makes to the hypothesis (advanced in the '70s) that Dante had already theorized the correct conformation of the universe, namely as a " three-sphere " (geometric object of which I had never even heard of). It is in fact possible that Dante had guessed the concept in the last canto of Paradise because his master Brunetto Latini made references to such a structure in his writings. If you want to "nerd out", here is a nice essay on the subject -

Some have commented that this book is very well written. From the point of view of the passion that the author has managed to make clear through the language, I absolutely agree: very passionate, clear and incisive. From the Italian point of view, a little 'less, since the book is full of typical "ugly expressions" that an Italian who often speaks in English for work tends to use (example: "... the future is genuinely unpredictable", or "a spectacularly good description of nature"). I know this because I've been living in America for years and my Italian suffers from English influences as well.

Finally, the tone of the book falls from the stars to really low-brow every time that Rovelli considers it necessary to throw a punch against religion - which obviously is not his field, and against which he has a great prejudice.

That Catholicism is compatible with science is a fact, it would suffice to look at the official position of the Vatican, the theology of the last century and those Catholics who have contributed to the great strides of science like Lemaitre. But he prefers to insult the Pope and use the typical offense: "Everyone can do what he wants of his intelligence and believe all the fairy tales they want."

Proof of the fact that one can be both very learned and very dumb at the same time.

When I have time I will write some reflections on the relationship "people with more scientific minds - Asperger - poor ability to understand polysemy and the richness of religion", an argument to which the author refers in a note, although in a very simplistic way.]]> 4.30 2014 La realtà non è come ci appare: La struttura elementare delle cose
author: Carlo Rovelli
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/19
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves:
review:
English version below �

Un riassunto appassionato della storia della fisica dall’antica Grecia fino ad oggi. Molto stimolante e interessante per uno come me che ha studiato fisica solo a scuola.

Una cosa in particolare che mi ha colpito, da grande ammiratore della Divina Commedia, è l’accenno che Rovelli fa all’ipotesi (avanzata negli anni �70) che Dante avesse già teorizzato la corretta conformazione dell’universo, e cioè come una “tre-sfera� (oggetto geometrico di cui io non avevo neanche mai sentito parlare). à in effetti possibile che Dante abbia azzeccato il concetto nell’ultimo canto del Paradiso perché il suo maestro Brunetto Latini faceva accenni a una simile struttura nei suoi scritti. Se sapete l’inglese e volete “nerd out�, qui c’� un bel saggio sull’argomento -

Alcuni hanno commentato che questo libro è scritto molto bene. Precisiamo: dal punto di vista della passione che l’autore è riuscito a far trasparire dal linguaggio, sono assolutamente d’accordo: molto appassionato, chiaro e incisivo. Dal punto di vista dell’italiano, un po� meno, dato che il libro è zeppo delle tipiche “brutture� lessicali che commette un italiano che parla in inglese per lavoro (esempio : �... il futuro è genuinamente imprevedibile�, o “una descrizione spettacolarmente buona della natura�). Cose orribili. Lo so perché vivo in America da anni e anche il mio italiano soffre di simili cadute di stile.

Infine, il tono del libro precipita davvero dalle stelle alle stalle ogni volta che Rovelli ritiene necessario tirare una cannonata contro la religione - che ovviamente non è il suo campo - e contro la quale ha un grosso pregiudizio. Che il cattolicesimo sia compatibile con la scienza è un fatto, basterebbe studiare, guardare alla posizione ufficiale del Vaticano, alla teologia dell’ultimo secolo e a quei cattolici che hanno contribuito ai grandi passi avanti della scienza come Lemaitre. Ma lui preferisce insultare il papa sul tema dell’infallibilità, che fraintende come molti, e usa la tipica offesa: “Ognuno può fare quello che vuole della sua intelligenza e credere a tutte le favole che vuole�, che vuol dire “Se hai fede in Dio, sei un mezzo coglione�. Tutto ciò a riprova del fatto che uno può essere allo stesso tempo molto dotto e profondamente ignorante. 

Poi quando ho tempo scriverò qualche riflessione sul rapporto “gente con menti più scientifiche - Asperger - incapacità di capire la polisemia e la ricchezza della religione�, argomento a cui l’autore fa riferimento in una nota, ma in maniera molto sommaria.

�

Wonderful summary of the history of physics from ancient Greece to today. Very stimulating and interesting for someone like me who only studied physics at school.

One thing in particular that struck me, as a great lover of the Divine Comedy, is the mention that Rovelli makes to the hypothesis (advanced in the '70s) that Dante had already theorized the correct conformation of the universe, namely as a " three-sphere " (geometric object of which I had never even heard of). It is in fact possible that Dante had guessed the concept in the last canto of Paradise because his master Brunetto Latini made references to such a structure in his writings. If you want to "nerd out", here is a nice essay on the subject -

Some have commented that this book is very well written. From the point of view of the passion that the author has managed to make clear through the language, I absolutely agree: very passionate, clear and incisive. From the Italian point of view, a little 'less, since the book is full of typical "ugly expressions" that an Italian who often speaks in English for work tends to use (example: "... the future is genuinely unpredictable", or "a spectacularly good description of nature"). I know this because I've been living in America for years and my Italian suffers from English influences as well.

Finally, the tone of the book falls from the stars to really low-brow every time that Rovelli considers it necessary to throw a punch against religion - which obviously is not his field, and against which he has a great prejudice.

That Catholicism is compatible with science is a fact, it would suffice to look at the official position of the Vatican, the theology of the last century and those Catholics who have contributed to the great strides of science like Lemaitre. But he prefers to insult the Pope and use the typical offense: "Everyone can do what he wants of his intelligence and believe all the fairy tales they want."

Proof of the fact that one can be both very learned and very dumb at the same time.

When I have time I will write some reflections on the relationship "people with more scientific minds - Asperger - poor ability to understand polysemy and the richness of religion", an argument to which the author refers in a note, although in a very simplistic way.
]]> Savage Son (Terminal List #3) 49700206 In this third high-octane thriller in the “seriously good� (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Past Tense) Terminal List series, former Navy SEAL James Reece must infiltrate the Russian mafia and turn the hunters into the hunted.

Deep in the wilds of Siberia, a woman is on the run, pursued by a man harboring secrets—a man intent on killing her.

A traitorous CIA officer has found refuge with the Russian mafia with designs on ensuring a certain former Navy SEAL sniper is put in the ground.

Half a world away, James Reece is recovering from brain surgery in the Montana wilderness, slowly putting his life back together with the help of investigative journalist Katie Buranek and his longtime friend and SEAL teammate Raife Hastings. Unbeknownst to them, the Russian mafia has set their sights on Reece in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

In his most visceral and heart-pounding thriller yet, Jack Carr explores the darkest instincts of humanity through the eyes of a man who has seen both the best and the worst of it.]]> 416 Jack Carr Tom LA 2
The protagonist can’t even grab a cup of coffee without “…dominating the shit out of that coffee cup. The cup felt powerless in the mighty grip of the iron hand that had been hardened by countless battles and had become a weapon of war in itself�. Jee� almost like that, every paragraph.

No wonder the first praise on the back cover is by Joe Rogan� not someone who’s confident around books, but someone with a teenage boy’s passion for violence and machismo.

When the protagonist’s girlfriend asks him: “What were you thinking about when you got quiet out by the fire?� he replies, looking out towards the sunset with Clint Eastwood eyes (and here I’m quoting verbatim, not making it up): “What I always think about when the sun sets: that somewhere the enemy is out there planning, getting ready to hit us again, and that there are a select few getting ready to take the fight to them�.

Wowzer.

Also, a lot of hunting. The author loves hunting.

The action scenes are good. But only those ones, and there aren’t as many as I had hoped.]]> 4.49 2020 Savage Son (Terminal List #3)
author: Jack Carr
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:
Not good. A technical problem is the pacing, which I found surprisingly slow. I was hoping for much more action. But more subjectively, I thought the narrating voice so unbearable, and the main character so dull, that by page 120 I found myself cheering for the Russian mafia.

The protagonist can’t even grab a cup of coffee without “…dominating the shit out of that coffee cup. The cup felt powerless in the mighty grip of the iron hand that had been hardened by countless battles and had become a weapon of war in itself�. Jee� almost like that, every paragraph.

No wonder the first praise on the back cover is by Joe Rogan� not someone who’s confident around books, but someone with a teenage boy’s passion for violence and machismo.

When the protagonist’s girlfriend asks him: “What were you thinking about when you got quiet out by the fire?� he replies, looking out towards the sunset with Clint Eastwood eyes (and here I’m quoting verbatim, not making it up): “What I always think about when the sun sets: that somewhere the enemy is out there planning, getting ready to hit us again, and that there are a select few getting ready to take the fight to them�.

Wowzer.

Also, a lot of hunting. The author loves hunting.

The action scenes are good. But only those ones, and there aren’t as many as I had hoped.
]]> Il gioco degli dèi 44596370 152 Paolo Maurensig 8806240749 Tom LA 0 to-read 3.53 2006 Il gioco degli dèi
author: Paolo Maurensig
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> M. Il figlio del secolo 41731319 841 Antonio Scurati 8845298132 Tom LA 5 favorites
A simply outstanding work. “M� is Benito Mussolini. The book is presented as a biography of Mussolini, but I would say that, more accurately, using a quick, intense, elegant style, Scurati takes us through the origins of fascism in Italy (1919-1924).

This is the first of a series of 4 or even 5 books, each of them quite chunky, at about 850 pages. The chapters, however, are brief and energetic. I also loved the excerpts from original documents such as letters or public acts between each chapter. It’s a device that sinks the text even more into historic reality.

Those years in Italy were an explosive cauldron of violence that seems almost unimaginable today. Violence that was nothing but a spill-over from the Great War. Socialists on one side (galvanized by the Russian revolution) and war veterans on the other, brought together by Mussolini’s recent creation, called “fascism�.

Every war awakens man's most bestial and violent instincts, but the end of war does not reabsorb them; on the contrary.

Fascism and Nazism are both undeniably children of the First World War. Those five or six assholes who in 1914, after a long period of prosperity and peace, decided to start the war, are responsible for all the tragedies and devastation of the twentieth century � “indirectly�, you say? I’d say more directly than indirectly.

Anyway, Mussolini comes across with all his great vices and virtues: he was quite an exceptional man in terms of charisma, intelligence, shrewdness and courage. And he was gifted with bull-like strength. What he lacked, unfortunately, was any shred of moral and spiritual strength. In that respect, he was totally blind and deaf.

In fact, not surprisingly, the only book from which he drew enormous inspiration was Machiavelli's “The Prince,� namely the manifesto of the absolute and ruthless absence of morality.

Today, people like to think of history as being made up of “good guys� versus “bad guys,� just like in movies. TV has told people what to think about all the major events in history, who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. And most people, sadly, think exactly in that way.

Humanizing Mussolini, who of course was first and foremost a man, and doing it in a fair, honest and truthful way as Scurati has done � as well as humanizing any other historical figure � is a necessary operation for anyone who does not want to reach the end of his days having squandered his God-given gift of intelligence.




—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�


Un’opera semplicemente eccezionale. Uno stile rapido, intenso, elegante. Personalmente, ho amato l’introduzione di brani da documenti originali come lettere o atti pubblici fra un capitolo e l’altro. E� un accorgimento che affonda il testo ancora di più nella realtà. Gli anni dal 1919 al 1924 in Italia sono stati un vero e proprio calderone esplosivo, di una violenza che oggi non è quasi neanche immaginabile. Violenza che ovviamente non era altro che uno straripamento dalla guerra. Perché ogni guerra risveglia gli istinti più bestiali e violenti dell’uomo, ma la fine della guerra non li riassopisce, anzi. Fascismo e nazismo sono entrambi figli della prima guerra mondiale. Quei quattro o cinque coglioni che nel 1914, dopo un periodo di crescita, benessere e pace, hanno deciso di entrare in guerra sono più direttamente che indirettamente responsabili per tutte le tragedie e le devastazioni del ventesimo secolo.

Mussolini era un uomo molto particolare, di grande carattere, intelligenza, scaltrezza e coraggio. E con una forza da toro. Quello che gli mancava, purtroppo, era una forza morale e spirituale. Da quel punto di vista, era totalmente cieco e sordo. E infatti, non a caso, l’unico libro in cui aveva trovato enorme ispirazione era proprio “Il principe� di Machiavelli, e cioè il manifesto della assoluta e spietata assenza di moralità.

Oggi alla gente piace pensare alla storia come se fosse fatta di “buoni� contro “cattivi�, esattamente come alla televisione, che ha rimpiazzato il cervello della maggior parte della popolazione.

Umanizzare Mussolini, che ovviamente fu prima di tutto un uomo, farlo in maniera corretta, onesta e veritiera come ha fatto Scurati � così come umanizzare qualsiasi altro personaggio storico � è un’operazione necessaria per chiunque non voglia arrivare alla fine dei suoi giorni avendo sprecato il dono dell’intelligenza fattogli da Dio.]]> 4.18 2018 M. Il figlio del secolo
author: Antonio Scurati
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: favorites
review:
(in italiano sotto)

A simply outstanding work. “M� is Benito Mussolini. The book is presented as a biography of Mussolini, but I would say that, more accurately, using a quick, intense, elegant style, Scurati takes us through the origins of fascism in Italy (1919-1924).

This is the first of a series of 4 or even 5 books, each of them quite chunky, at about 850 pages. The chapters, however, are brief and energetic. I also loved the excerpts from original documents such as letters or public acts between each chapter. It’s a device that sinks the text even more into historic reality.

Those years in Italy were an explosive cauldron of violence that seems almost unimaginable today. Violence that was nothing but a spill-over from the Great War. Socialists on one side (galvanized by the Russian revolution) and war veterans on the other, brought together by Mussolini’s recent creation, called “fascism�.

Every war awakens man's most bestial and violent instincts, but the end of war does not reabsorb them; on the contrary.

Fascism and Nazism are both undeniably children of the First World War. Those five or six assholes who in 1914, after a long period of prosperity and peace, decided to start the war, are responsible for all the tragedies and devastation of the twentieth century � “indirectly�, you say? I’d say more directly than indirectly.

Anyway, Mussolini comes across with all his great vices and virtues: he was quite an exceptional man in terms of charisma, intelligence, shrewdness and courage. And he was gifted with bull-like strength. What he lacked, unfortunately, was any shred of moral and spiritual strength. In that respect, he was totally blind and deaf.

In fact, not surprisingly, the only book from which he drew enormous inspiration was Machiavelli's “The Prince,� namely the manifesto of the absolute and ruthless absence of morality.

Today, people like to think of history as being made up of “good guys� versus “bad guys,� just like in movies. TV has told people what to think about all the major events in history, who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. And most people, sadly, think exactly in that way.

Humanizing Mussolini, who of course was first and foremost a man, and doing it in a fair, honest and truthful way as Scurati has done � as well as humanizing any other historical figure � is a necessary operation for anyone who does not want to reach the end of his days having squandered his God-given gift of intelligence.




—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�


Un’opera semplicemente eccezionale. Uno stile rapido, intenso, elegante. Personalmente, ho amato l’introduzione di brani da documenti originali come lettere o atti pubblici fra un capitolo e l’altro. E� un accorgimento che affonda il testo ancora di più nella realtà. Gli anni dal 1919 al 1924 in Italia sono stati un vero e proprio calderone esplosivo, di una violenza che oggi non è quasi neanche immaginabile. Violenza che ovviamente non era altro che uno straripamento dalla guerra. Perché ogni guerra risveglia gli istinti più bestiali e violenti dell’uomo, ma la fine della guerra non li riassopisce, anzi. Fascismo e nazismo sono entrambi figli della prima guerra mondiale. Quei quattro o cinque coglioni che nel 1914, dopo un periodo di crescita, benessere e pace, hanno deciso di entrare in guerra sono più direttamente che indirettamente responsabili per tutte le tragedie e le devastazioni del ventesimo secolo.

Mussolini era un uomo molto particolare, di grande carattere, intelligenza, scaltrezza e coraggio. E con una forza da toro. Quello che gli mancava, purtroppo, era una forza morale e spirituale. Da quel punto di vista, era totalmente cieco e sordo. E infatti, non a caso, l’unico libro in cui aveva trovato enorme ispirazione era proprio “Il principe� di Machiavelli, e cioè il manifesto della assoluta e spietata assenza di moralità.

Oggi alla gente piace pensare alla storia come se fosse fatta di “buoni� contro “cattivi�, esattamente come alla televisione, che ha rimpiazzato il cervello della maggior parte della popolazione.

Umanizzare Mussolini, che ovviamente fu prima di tutto un uomo, farlo in maniera corretta, onesta e veritiera come ha fatto Scurati � così come umanizzare qualsiasi altro personaggio storico � è un’operazione necessaria per chiunque non voglia arrivare alla fine dei suoi giorni avendo sprecato il dono dell’intelligenza fattogli da Dio.
]]> <![CDATA[Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life]]> 219406973 How our image of the Renaissance’s most famous artist is a modern myth

Leonardo da Vinci (1452�1519) never signed a painting, and none of his supposed self-portraits can be securely ascribed to his hand. He revealed next to nothing about his life in his extensive writings, yet countless pages have been written about him that assign him an genius, entrepreneur, celebrity artist, outsider. Addressing the ethical stakes involved in studying past lives, Stephen J. Campbell shows how this invented Leonardo has invited speculation from figures ranging from art dealers and curators to scholars, scientists, and biographers, many of whom have filled in the gaps of what can be known of Leonardo’s life with claims to decode secrets, reveal mysteries of a vanished past, or discover lost masterpieces of spectacular value.

In this original and provocative book, Campbell examines the strangeness of Leonardo’s words and works, and the distinctive premodern world of artisans and thinkers from which he emerged. Far from being a solitary genius living ahead of his time, Leonardo inhabited a vibrant network of artistic, technological, and literary exchange. By investigating the politics and cultural tensions of the era as well as the most recent scholarship on Leonardo’s contemporaries, workshop, and writings, Campbell places Leonardo back into the milieu that shaped him and was shaped by him. He shows that it is in the gaps and contradictions of what we know of Leonardo’s life that a less familiar and far more historically significant figure appears.]]> 315 Stephen J. Campbell 0691266220 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.00 Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life
author: Stephen J. Campbell
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Tom LA 2 EVERYTHING. Or, to be precise, a bit of everything with astounding randomness.

The book's initial chapters are its strongest feature. They also mislead you into thinking that the book is going in a certain direction (anthropology and evolution), while the direction that it actually takes is a completely different one. Too bad.

I found the brief portion about history in relation to happiness interesting, or at least original, because I had never heard that perspective before.

Like all sociological and philosophical writers, however, Harari wants to sound completely detached from his object of study but fails miserably, and like many others who write on such broad topics, he ends up serving up his personal views and opinions as if they were perfectly objective assessments.

Example: he is steeped in women's rights as if they were part of an "objectively" right "imagined order". Or in the portion about sexuality, where "open mindness" is presented as the non-refutable objectively best approach to sex.

In other words: every type of mental order is "imagined" (he really means "deluded") except for his own , which can be summed up in scientism and liberalism.

Among other "imagined realities that are not imagined because imagined by the author" , Harari keeps banging on the necessity for the global unification of humankind. I also love the concept, but so did John Lennon (not a great realist) and so does a 10 y.o. who knows nothing about history. "Imagine all the people sharing all the world" is not a sound foreign policy.

He says that the great unifiers of mankind are 1) money 2) empires 3) religion. In this order. And that they are all imagined.

Politheists are intrinsically open-minded, therefore cool guys, because they never wanted to convert anyone. In line with the relativist zeitgeist of our era, he keeps using the word "open minded" as an objectively positive quality for people.

Time to remind Harari of the great Chesterton line: “Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out!�.

The last chapters present futuristic scenarios that SF readers have been very familiar with since the '50s - but for Harari, they are excitingly fresh and original.

He seems to be unaware of the non-originality of these scenarios, and shows his abyssal ignorance in the SF field in more than one occasion. For example, when he says "science fiction describes developments of our present society, only with more advanced technologies", which is probably less than 50% of SF literature. Also "Nobody foresaw the internet" (!) Wow. Just wow. That's an "F-" in Science Fiction class, professor Harari.

Religion. Throughout the book, Harari doesn't demonstrate a real understanding of religion, aside from the formal and technical aspects of it. For example, in line with western mainstream pop thinking, to him Buddhism is the most interesting of all religions, because "it's the one focusing the most on happiness". God, what a horribly superficial and conventional and stereotypical statement! He goes on to idealize Buddhism, which "gives profound serenity by stopping the pursuit of feelings". I don't need to add anything here for anyone who has a fair knowledge of Christianity or Judaism or Islam. Clearly, he doesn't.

I could go on for hours and highlight every instance where Harari presents totally subjective and arguable points as if they were not, but l won’t.

Instead, I will briefly point out the worst thing about this book : that is, how the author spent his time trying to destroy ideas and "imagined things", illusions, while making zero efforts to be constructive.

Here is the thing: among educated people, today, stripping sense and meaning out of anything is the easiest thing to do. Just ask ANY teenager. What is really difficult, on the other hand, is to BUILD. To believe. To develop. To create hope. All things that this book does not do for one second, ... although it could have done, and without breaking out of the endless boundaries that it gave itself (“to talk about everything�).

The very last sentence of the book perfectly sums up this pessimistic point of view: "Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods (human beings) who don't know what they want? ".

So to sum up, a weird, pessimistic, sometimes engaging, but fundamentally flawed and overhyped book.]]> 4.34 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2017/06/18
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
In this book, professor Harari crammed EVERYTHING. Or, to be precise, a bit of everything with astounding randomness.

The book's initial chapters are its strongest feature. They also mislead you into thinking that the book is going in a certain direction (anthropology and evolution), while the direction that it actually takes is a completely different one. Too bad.

I found the brief portion about history in relation to happiness interesting, or at least original, because I had never heard that perspective before.

Like all sociological and philosophical writers, however, Harari wants to sound completely detached from his object of study but fails miserably, and like many others who write on such broad topics, he ends up serving up his personal views and opinions as if they were perfectly objective assessments.

Example: he is steeped in women's rights as if they were part of an "objectively" right "imagined order". Or in the portion about sexuality, where "open mindness" is presented as the non-refutable objectively best approach to sex.

In other words: every type of mental order is "imagined" (he really means "deluded") except for his own , which can be summed up in scientism and liberalism.

Among other "imagined realities that are not imagined because imagined by the author" , Harari keeps banging on the necessity for the global unification of humankind. I also love the concept, but so did John Lennon (not a great realist) and so does a 10 y.o. who knows nothing about history. "Imagine all the people sharing all the world" is not a sound foreign policy.

He says that the great unifiers of mankind are 1) money 2) empires 3) religion. In this order. And that they are all imagined.

Politheists are intrinsically open-minded, therefore cool guys, because they never wanted to convert anyone. In line with the relativist zeitgeist of our era, he keeps using the word "open minded" as an objectively positive quality for people.

Time to remind Harari of the great Chesterton line: “Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out!�.

The last chapters present futuristic scenarios that SF readers have been very familiar with since the '50s - but for Harari, they are excitingly fresh and original.

He seems to be unaware of the non-originality of these scenarios, and shows his abyssal ignorance in the SF field in more than one occasion. For example, when he says "science fiction describes developments of our present society, only with more advanced technologies", which is probably less than 50% of SF literature. Also "Nobody foresaw the internet" (!) Wow. Just wow. That's an "F-" in Science Fiction class, professor Harari.

Religion. Throughout the book, Harari doesn't demonstrate a real understanding of religion, aside from the formal and technical aspects of it. For example, in line with western mainstream pop thinking, to him Buddhism is the most interesting of all religions, because "it's the one focusing the most on happiness". God, what a horribly superficial and conventional and stereotypical statement! He goes on to idealize Buddhism, which "gives profound serenity by stopping the pursuit of feelings". I don't need to add anything here for anyone who has a fair knowledge of Christianity or Judaism or Islam. Clearly, he doesn't.

I could go on for hours and highlight every instance where Harari presents totally subjective and arguable points as if they were not, but l won’t.

Instead, I will briefly point out the worst thing about this book : that is, how the author spent his time trying to destroy ideas and "imagined things", illusions, while making zero efforts to be constructive.

Here is the thing: among educated people, today, stripping sense and meaning out of anything is the easiest thing to do. Just ask ANY teenager. What is really difficult, on the other hand, is to BUILD. To believe. To develop. To create hope. All things that this book does not do for one second, ... although it could have done, and without breaking out of the endless boundaries that it gave itself (“to talk about everything�).

The very last sentence of the book perfectly sums up this pessimistic point of view: "Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods (human beings) who don't know what they want? ".

So to sum up, a weird, pessimistic, sometimes engaging, but fundamentally flawed and overhyped book.
]]> 100 Great Catholic Poems 200174257 Yet, when it comes to Catholic poetry itself, the song too often remains unsung. Many devout believers recoil from poetry, even when it is deeply Catholic. Many poetry lovers overlook Catholic poetry, even when it is truly great. And passionate readers are left with few resources from which to draw inspiration―even as the number of great Catholic poems continues to grow.
This groundbreaking collection is designed to change that. Edited by acclaimed poet and author Sally Read, it includes a carefully curated collection of poetry with brief essays to introduce each selection; a detailed introduction and glossary of poetic terms; and a wide range of poetic voices―from giants like Dante and Shakespeare, to mystical saints like Hildegard of Bingen and John of the Cross, to modern masters like Gerard Manley Hopkins and Oscar Wilde, to contemporary female poets like Denise Levertov and Anne Porter. What emerges is truly an unparalleled collection spanning twenty countries and twenty centuries.
Whether Catholic or non-Catholic, a poetry skeptic or a poetry lover, readers will glean from these pages a deepened appreciation of the history of poetry, the life of the Church, and the powerful ways in which each strengthens the other.]]> 488 Sally Read 1685780741 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.00 100 Great Catholic Poems
author: Sally Read
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> White Noise 28251250
White Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, his fourth wife, Babette, and four ultra­modern offspring as they navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. When an industrial accident unleashes an "airborne toxic event," a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the "white noise" engulfing the Gladneys—radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings—pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous.

Part of the Penguin Orange Collection, a limited-run series of twelve influential and beloved American classics in a bold series design offering a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback

Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition]]> 320 Don DeLillo 0143129554 Tom LA 5 favorites
I know that it has received a massive dose of praise and critical attention since its publication in 1985, and it’s often included in anglophone countries� school curricula, so I’m not going to try and delve into all the important themes that this book meditates on.

It’s... just... magnificent. You know that “POP� sensation that you feel in your brain whenever you’re reading a book and you encounter a particularly witty and profound passage, maybe a few times in every chapter? White Noise produces an average of 6 or 7 of those “POPs� with every page. It was one of the most mentally stimulating experiences I had this year.

I wish there was a way to measure brain power... For example, how many light bulbs can your brain switch on in a second, if you concentrate really hard. Because that measure would be through the roof with DeLillo. This book itself would come with that figure written on its cover: “Brain Power: 36 per sec.�, to distinguish it from YA books, which would fare around the 2 or 3 BP per sec. And that’s fine, I’m not dissing YA, I’m only saying that the brain energy you need to write a complete series of those books might be just enough to power half a sentence of DeLillo’s White Noise. (Nah, I actually am dissing YA. It’s crap).

This doesn’t mean it’s a “difficult� book. Only that it fully deserves - I would say it needs - to be read a little slower than your average book.

For me, almost every paragraph and almost every sentence has been an experience. An actual, memorable experience, like seeing a stunning painting in a museum for the first time. How can you just rush through and move on? You have to give it the proper time. And more often that’s to respect the sense of awe and beauty that each sentence elicits, rather than for the need to think deeply about its meaning.

And it’s also very FUNNY. Especially the first half, in my opinion, is written with an unbelievable sense of comedy and humor.

On a personal note, it took me way back to my Italian high school years, when the type of hyper-witty irony utilized by DeLillo basically defined my whole existence. So in a sense I feel like through White Noise I almost rediscovered myself, and this is why it’s skyrocketed straight to my top-10-ever list.

As an aside, here is a spectacular piece of trivia: DeLillo’s original title for “White Noise� (1985) was “Panasonic,� but you have to burrow into his correspondence from 1984 to discover how upset DeLillo was when the Japanese electronics manufacturer that owns Panasonic declined his request to use the name.

â€� â€Panasonicâ€� as a title is crucial for a number of reasons,â€� DeLillo wrote to his then editor, Elisabeth Sifton. He went on, “The novel is filled with the sounds of people’s voices, with sirens, loudspeakers, bullhorns, kitchen appliances, with radio and TV transmissions, with references to beams, rays, sound waves, etc. Jack, listening to people talk on the telephone and musing on his own death, thinks â€all sounds, all souls.â€� Again the notion of pan-sonus connected to a fear of death. There is still another instance in which Greek roots are important. Jack associates the god Pan with his fear of death.â€�

Finally, I want to make another personal note, this time about the way in which DeLillo handles the central theme of death. It’s wonderful, and it’s so full of truth. However, DeLillo wrote the book while suffering from a sort of pessimistic nihilism that doesn’t lend itself to any ray of hope. In short, his worldview was (I don’t know if it still is) pretty dark: God doesn’t exist, religion is a dumb delusion, even religious people (the nuns in the novel) are pretending to believe, everything is crappy because we are aware of our mortality and people can only pretend that’s not the case.

As a catholic, I don’t share this Weltanschauung in the least. So I find it always a bit of a letdown when I discover extremely deep and intelligent authors who haven’t been able to resolve their existential issues with something hopeful - not necessarily Christianity, but a positive outlook on human existence. This is why it is such a different type of pleasure reading Dante or Manzoni or Chesterton: those extremely rare examples of very deep AND very positive authors. I fully understand that this is a very personal thing.

Now I’m on to finishing Purity, by Jonathan Franzen, which is a very different flavor, and yet such a wonderful book as well. But I feel like I should go and get myself a copy of Underworld tomorrow and read that one first.

What to read next, what to keep as to be read, and what to never read. These are the real tragedies of life.]]> 3.88 1985 White Noise
author: Don DeLillo
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/31
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: favorites
review:
I’m glad I’m not a writer, because if I was one, after reading White Noise I would give up immediately and throw away my typewriter without any hesitation. This novel is... stunning.

I know that it has received a massive dose of praise and critical attention since its publication in 1985, and it’s often included in anglophone countries� school curricula, so I’m not going to try and delve into all the important themes that this book meditates on.

It’s... just... magnificent. You know that “POP� sensation that you feel in your brain whenever you’re reading a book and you encounter a particularly witty and profound passage, maybe a few times in every chapter? White Noise produces an average of 6 or 7 of those “POPs� with every page. It was one of the most mentally stimulating experiences I had this year.

I wish there was a way to measure brain power... For example, how many light bulbs can your brain switch on in a second, if you concentrate really hard. Because that measure would be through the roof with DeLillo. This book itself would come with that figure written on its cover: “Brain Power: 36 per sec.�, to distinguish it from YA books, which would fare around the 2 or 3 BP per sec. And that’s fine, I’m not dissing YA, I’m only saying that the brain energy you need to write a complete series of those books might be just enough to power half a sentence of DeLillo’s White Noise. (Nah, I actually am dissing YA. It’s crap).

This doesn’t mean it’s a “difficult� book. Only that it fully deserves - I would say it needs - to be read a little slower than your average book.

For me, almost every paragraph and almost every sentence has been an experience. An actual, memorable experience, like seeing a stunning painting in a museum for the first time. How can you just rush through and move on? You have to give it the proper time. And more often that’s to respect the sense of awe and beauty that each sentence elicits, rather than for the need to think deeply about its meaning.

And it’s also very FUNNY. Especially the first half, in my opinion, is written with an unbelievable sense of comedy and humor.

On a personal note, it took me way back to my Italian high school years, when the type of hyper-witty irony utilized by DeLillo basically defined my whole existence. So in a sense I feel like through White Noise I almost rediscovered myself, and this is why it’s skyrocketed straight to my top-10-ever list.

As an aside, here is a spectacular piece of trivia: DeLillo’s original title for “White Noise� (1985) was “Panasonic,� but you have to burrow into his correspondence from 1984 to discover how upset DeLillo was when the Japanese electronics manufacturer that owns Panasonic declined his request to use the name.

â€� â€Panasonicâ€� as a title is crucial for a number of reasons,â€� DeLillo wrote to his then editor, Elisabeth Sifton. He went on, “The novel is filled with the sounds of people’s voices, with sirens, loudspeakers, bullhorns, kitchen appliances, with radio and TV transmissions, with references to beams, rays, sound waves, etc. Jack, listening to people talk on the telephone and musing on his own death, thinks â€all sounds, all souls.â€� Again the notion of pan-sonus connected to a fear of death. There is still another instance in which Greek roots are important. Jack associates the god Pan with his fear of death.â€�

Finally, I want to make another personal note, this time about the way in which DeLillo handles the central theme of death. It’s wonderful, and it’s so full of truth. However, DeLillo wrote the book while suffering from a sort of pessimistic nihilism that doesn’t lend itself to any ray of hope. In short, his worldview was (I don’t know if it still is) pretty dark: God doesn’t exist, religion is a dumb delusion, even religious people (the nuns in the novel) are pretending to believe, everything is crappy because we are aware of our mortality and people can only pretend that’s not the case.

As a catholic, I don’t share this Weltanschauung in the least. So I find it always a bit of a letdown when I discover extremely deep and intelligent authors who haven’t been able to resolve their existential issues with something hopeful - not necessarily Christianity, but a positive outlook on human existence. This is why it is such a different type of pleasure reading Dante or Manzoni or Chesterton: those extremely rare examples of very deep AND very positive authors. I fully understand that this is a very personal thing.

Now I’m on to finishing Purity, by Jonathan Franzen, which is a very different flavor, and yet such a wonderful book as well. But I feel like I should go and get myself a copy of Underworld tomorrow and read that one first.

What to read next, what to keep as to be read, and what to never read. These are the real tragedies of life.
]]> <![CDATA[Dante's Divine Comedy: A Biography]]> 210319452 The life and times of Dante’s soaring poetic allegory of the soul’s redemptive journey toward God

Written during his exile from Florence in the early 1300s, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy describes the poet’s travels through hell, purgatory, and paradise, exploring the state of the human soul after death. His poema sacro, sacred poem, profoundly influenced Renaissance writers and artists such as Giovanni Boccaccio and Sandro Botticelli and was venerated by modern critics including Erich Auerbach and Harold Bloom. Dante’s “Divine Comedy� narrates the remarkable reception of Dante’s masterpiece, one of the most consequential religious books ever written.

Tracing the many afterlives of Dante’s epic poem, Joseph Luzzi shows how it left its mark on the work of such legendary authors as John Milton, Mary Shelley, and James Joyce while serving as a source of inspiration for writers like Primo Levi and Antonio Gramsci as they faced the most extreme forms of political oppression. He charts how the dialogue between religious and secular ideas in The Divine Comedy has shaped issues ranging from changing conceptions of women’s identity and debates about censorship to the role of canonical literature in popular culture.

An intimate portrait of a work that has challenged and inspired generations of readers, Dante’s “Divine Comedy� reveals how Dante’s strikingly original and controversial vision of the afterlife can help us define our spiritual beliefs, better understand ourselves, and navigate the complexities of modern life.]]> 232 Joseph Luzzi 0691156778 Tom LA 0 to-read 3.94 Dante's Divine Comedy: A Biography
author: Joseph Luzzi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two]]> 177025226 Recently, the Wall Street Journal called Michael Swanwick “the finest world-builder since Tolkien.� His first two published stories in 1980 were both Nebula Award finalists. In the decades since, he has won the Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, World Fantasy, and five Hugo Awards. He also has the pleasant distinction of having lost more of these awards than any other fiction writer.

In a literary generation that includes William Gibson, Connie Willis, Bruce Sterling, Nancy Kress, James Patrick Kelly, and John Kessel, Swanwick stands out. Not only as the author of such outstanding novels as Stations of the Tide and the Iron Dragon trilogy but as possibly the finest and most prolific short fiction writer of his time.

The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two not only matches the brilliance of the previous collection but surpasses it in invention and literary brilliance. These exemplary works are among the best short fiction of our time, whether it be genre or mainstream.

If you doubt, read this book and be convinced. It contains more than three dozen stories ranging from hard science fiction to extreme fantasy. They include the heartwarming “The Scarecrow’s Boyâ€� and the harrowing “Huginn and Muninn and What Came Next.â€� The adventures of Postutopian con artists Darger and Surplus continue in “There was an Old Woman…â€� and those of °­˛ą±čľ±łŮä˛Ô±ô±đłÜłŮ˛Ô˛ą˛ÔłŮ Franz-Karl Ritter begin in “The Mongolian Wizard.â€� An adolescent girl follows her father to Hell in “Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown.â€� New York City is revealed to be built upon mist and illusion in “Cloud.â€� And Trickster steals everything there is in “Universe Box.â€� From the hellish surface of Venus in “Tin Marshâ€� to the shifting lands of Chaos in “The Last Days of Old Night,â€� these are the works of a man whose “towering creativity,â€� Gene Wolfe wrote, “seems so effortless…so effortless, and so immense.â€�

The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two captures the dazzling variety of an acknowledged master of fantasy and science fiction.]]> 689 Michael Swanwick 1645241130 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.67 The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two
author: Michael Swanwick
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Gods of Atheism 62793200
Fr. Vincent Miceli breaks new ground in this fascinating analysis of seventeen Enlightenment theologians and philosophers who contributed to the rise of atheism. He explores their efforts and unfortunate successes in convincing mankind to deny the existence of God, and he brilliantly demonstrates how atheism has succeeded by creating mythical gods to stand in the place of the true God. What Fr. Miceli shows over and over is that each tenet of atheism doesn’t deny the existence of a Higher Power; it simply replaces the true Power with a false power.

Fr. Miceli will help you spot those “practical atheists� of our day � those who, despite calling themselves Christians, actively water down Christianity and narcissistically reduce God to a reflection of their own personal desires.

You’ll also learn how the devil tempts us against the Faith and how this leads to infidelity and eventually to habitual denials of God. Fr. Miceli gives important examples, such as how Feuerbach’s overthrowing of the transcendent set the stage for the communist theories of Marx and Engels and how the influence of philosophers such as Camus, who disregarded prayer and repentance, has corrupted man’s understanding of social justice.

There is no better book than The Gods of Atheism to help you understand how and why our society has fallen into such a state of religious indifference and corruption � and how to navigate, and even thrive in, this post-Christian culture with unwavering faith in the one true God.]]> 593 Fr. Vincent Miceli S.J. 1644136910 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.00 The Gods of Atheism
author: Fr. Vincent Miceli S.J.
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> Status Anxiety 6943783 9 Alain de Botton 0786172886 Tom LA 4
First, a gentle reminder to everyone who approaches a "philosophical" book like this one: all this rationalizing of reality can be helpful sometimes, but it is often overestimated, especially by academics. Even though it should be obvious, people tend to forget that reality stays exactly the same, with or without philosophical analysis. The immense respect that our society gives to the rich and "officially successful" doesn't change an inch. After philosophizing, you tend to feel like you have set the world straight, you have changed it for the better, or at least you feel like you can change it. However, philosophy achieves little more than providing perspective, or what could be with low-brow terminology described as "shooting the shit" - especially a certain dominant strain of philosophy that limits itself to a left-brain worldview, a rationalistic one.

The book can be summarized as follows: we are all anxious about our sense of status in the world. Today's problem is our egalitarianism. We no longer believe that people who are worse off are “unfortunates�, as that was the old term for them. Instead, they are now “losers�. It is their fault. So we fear failure more than ever, because it is our fault.

This is the flip side of meritocracy, which we consider a good thing, but which is really a tyranny of expectations. Also, we envy everybody who does better, at least in our eyes.

De Botton sets out five causes of status anxiety (lovelessness, snobbery, expectation, meritocracy, dependence) and provides what he believes are five cures for the ailment (philosophy, art, politics, religion and "bohemia").

From the start, this set up my hopes quite high, because other books on sociological topics (i.e. Zygmunt Bauman's books on consumerism) do not do anything more than analyzing a problem, which leads everybody sane to the ultimate question: "So the heck what?". At least, I said to myself, De Botton made the effort to offer some solutions to the problem he presented. While that is true, I will explain why I didn’t find his solutions satisfactory, and why - overall - I believe this is a rationalistic and therefore unrewarding kind of book (of course, very personal opinion here).

But first, I will complete the positive part of my review: some reviewers arrogantly blame the author for being "pop", for lowering the fine abstractions of philosophy to the level of corny self-help manuals. They are wrong. De Botton is a deep and erudite thinker, certainly more than capable of writing a brick-heavy dissertation on any philosopher, but he also wants to reach out to many readers, who cares whether that is for a high concept of sharing wisdom with the masses, or for a desire to sell as many books as possible, or for both reasons? It’s actually quite hard (I think) for a philosopher to express himself in such straightforward terms as De Botton does.

Now, the problems I have with his presented "solutions": the book concludes by recommending that we simply spread our risks and take advantage of the vast variety of ways in which success and failure can be defined. If we are depressed by our uselessness, then we should simply change our reference points. I found this stance too weak, commonsensical and melancholic. “Get into saber fencing and you can be one of the best!� strikes me as a joyless and limited perspective.

But what I found annoying is the transparency of the author's personal preferences, hidden behind an appearance of total objectivity and utter absence of any opinion. And this is a very typical problem with philosophy and in general with people who present "purely rational" ideas (in sociology or psychology, they never are, because the purely rational or the purely objective simply do not exist).

Let me explain: De Botton chose an academic career path in a world (ours) where they will often tell you "he who can, does; he who cannot, teaches". Where, in fact, academic success is still relatively low in the broad economic pecking order, and it is considered nowhere near the highest graces of success in business, and, in particular, success in making tons of money. So it's not such a wild guess to say that, as a very competitive individual, De Botton has probably always been bothered by rich businessmen, lawyers and bankers who often get more respect and love from society than philosophers and professors. And if he hasn't, at least he does a lot in the book to build a huge damn case against these rich lawyers and bankers, they who achieved the success "commonly recognized" as success. He keeps going at them. Can he be totally objective about it?

Another problem: in the chapter "religion", he treats faith as "just another way to cope with anxiety", absolutely interchangeable with "philosophy" or with politics or with "being a Punk". I guess De Botton likes too much his own atheist or non-religious perspective, to be able to speak about religion with any type of real understanding. He keeps referring to Christianity and Christian values without ever giving the slightest hint of whether he thinks it's all great or it is all a load of crap. I find this type of fake detachment to be cowardly: you are not talking about minerals and rocks or about a food recipe. You chose to talk about the most important topics of human existence, of which you, Alain De Botton, are fully a part, therefore posing with such a detached attitude is equivalent to positioning yourself on a higher ground. It comes across as arrogant and, at times, frustrating ("so what?"). It gives the impression of a very cold scientist who is looking at his experiment or his study, not because he cares about any of the people involved in the study, but purely because he enjoys the study itself. Where is his heart, in all this philosophical talk? Where is the humanity, if not in the comfort of detachment? Aside from his love for art and literature, no other sign of his soul transpires. Nada. And while this "forcing the emotions out" might be the very distinctive sign of the philosopher's "profession", I find it useless and dehumanizing in a book like this, that’s intended for the masses.

Disembodied objectivity does. not. exist. Sorry. We all have a body.

The chapter on religion is not even about religion. It is about the concept of death. In one sentence at the end of the section, De Botton gives an imprecise interpretation of the concept of God. So is it fair to present it as a solution at all, when you have such a limited and biased perspective on it?

The chapter on Bohemians is the one where De Botton's "objective detachment" most clearly fails, because he LOVES this solution so much, that he cannot keep his cool anymore. After a great eulogy of Henry Thoreau, he goes on to say that the delightful punks across all the Earth, the haters of the bourgeoisie, have actually understood the secret of life, found the Holy Grail, or something along those lines.

Then again, why "Bohemians"?? Why choose this peculiar definition to end a list of very general and wide categories, like philosophy, politics, religion? I am confused. It's like saying: "Here's the 4 things I'm going to talk about: sport, food, wheather, and cheerleaders' choreography".

What about the hundreds of other similar movements, like Grunge, Punk, whatever else? Why not "vegetarianism", then, why leave that one out?

Anyway, in this chapter, he aptly and perhaps unconsciously offers the most valid proof of the fact that nobody is immune from our basic instinct of trying to climb on top of each other's heads like monkeys. Why? Because for De Botton the very best and highest man is, at the end of the day, the one who reads and thinks and loves art and writes all the time. Yep. And, oh! guess what De Botton does all day long?

But I don't want to be unfair. I truly enjoyed the book, very much. At times, De Botton's deep passion for history, literature and art jumps at you in such a genuine form, that is so inspiring and almost moving. His love for quoting famous works of the past and the present, the clear delight he takes in doing that, the way he chooses really interesting "pearls", anecdots and quotes, is not something I see much as a trick, but rather as a sign of his deep true love for these things. Like the love of a dedicated collector. Therein lies, in my opinion, the real beauty of this book.

And this is ultimately why I would recommend it and why I liked reading it.

Finally, I have to say that I listened to the audiobook. I think the reader is a very good one (I heard his voice before, in some books about Pacific Ocean travel) but he should have toned down his own sense of humor, because at times he gives a sense of arrogant sarcasm to De Botton's voice that does not make it sound good at all, and you are left wondering if it was really intended to sound like that.]]> 3.67 2004 Status Anxiety
author: Alain de Botton
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/30
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:
"Status Anxiety" by Alain De Botton is a sparkly book that, for the most part, I enjoyed immensely. However, like other readers, I have some problems with it.

First, a gentle reminder to everyone who approaches a "philosophical" book like this one: all this rationalizing of reality can be helpful sometimes, but it is often overestimated, especially by academics. Even though it should be obvious, people tend to forget that reality stays exactly the same, with or without philosophical analysis. The immense respect that our society gives to the rich and "officially successful" doesn't change an inch. After philosophizing, you tend to feel like you have set the world straight, you have changed it for the better, or at least you feel like you can change it. However, philosophy achieves little more than providing perspective, or what could be with low-brow terminology described as "shooting the shit" - especially a certain dominant strain of philosophy that limits itself to a left-brain worldview, a rationalistic one.

The book can be summarized as follows: we are all anxious about our sense of status in the world. Today's problem is our egalitarianism. We no longer believe that people who are worse off are “unfortunates�, as that was the old term for them. Instead, they are now “losers�. It is their fault. So we fear failure more than ever, because it is our fault.

This is the flip side of meritocracy, which we consider a good thing, but which is really a tyranny of expectations. Also, we envy everybody who does better, at least in our eyes.

De Botton sets out five causes of status anxiety (lovelessness, snobbery, expectation, meritocracy, dependence) and provides what he believes are five cures for the ailment (philosophy, art, politics, religion and "bohemia").

From the start, this set up my hopes quite high, because other books on sociological topics (i.e. Zygmunt Bauman's books on consumerism) do not do anything more than analyzing a problem, which leads everybody sane to the ultimate question: "So the heck what?". At least, I said to myself, De Botton made the effort to offer some solutions to the problem he presented. While that is true, I will explain why I didn’t find his solutions satisfactory, and why - overall - I believe this is a rationalistic and therefore unrewarding kind of book (of course, very personal opinion here).

But first, I will complete the positive part of my review: some reviewers arrogantly blame the author for being "pop", for lowering the fine abstractions of philosophy to the level of corny self-help manuals. They are wrong. De Botton is a deep and erudite thinker, certainly more than capable of writing a brick-heavy dissertation on any philosopher, but he also wants to reach out to many readers, who cares whether that is for a high concept of sharing wisdom with the masses, or for a desire to sell as many books as possible, or for both reasons? It’s actually quite hard (I think) for a philosopher to express himself in such straightforward terms as De Botton does.

Now, the problems I have with his presented "solutions": the book concludes by recommending that we simply spread our risks and take advantage of the vast variety of ways in which success and failure can be defined. If we are depressed by our uselessness, then we should simply change our reference points. I found this stance too weak, commonsensical and melancholic. “Get into saber fencing and you can be one of the best!� strikes me as a joyless and limited perspective.

But what I found annoying is the transparency of the author's personal preferences, hidden behind an appearance of total objectivity and utter absence of any opinion. And this is a very typical problem with philosophy and in general with people who present "purely rational" ideas (in sociology or psychology, they never are, because the purely rational or the purely objective simply do not exist).

Let me explain: De Botton chose an academic career path in a world (ours) where they will often tell you "he who can, does; he who cannot, teaches". Where, in fact, academic success is still relatively low in the broad economic pecking order, and it is considered nowhere near the highest graces of success in business, and, in particular, success in making tons of money. So it's not such a wild guess to say that, as a very competitive individual, De Botton has probably always been bothered by rich businessmen, lawyers and bankers who often get more respect and love from society than philosophers and professors. And if he hasn't, at least he does a lot in the book to build a huge damn case against these rich lawyers and bankers, they who achieved the success "commonly recognized" as success. He keeps going at them. Can he be totally objective about it?

Another problem: in the chapter "religion", he treats faith as "just another way to cope with anxiety", absolutely interchangeable with "philosophy" or with politics or with "being a Punk". I guess De Botton likes too much his own atheist or non-religious perspective, to be able to speak about religion with any type of real understanding. He keeps referring to Christianity and Christian values without ever giving the slightest hint of whether he thinks it's all great or it is all a load of crap. I find this type of fake detachment to be cowardly: you are not talking about minerals and rocks or about a food recipe. You chose to talk about the most important topics of human existence, of which you, Alain De Botton, are fully a part, therefore posing with such a detached attitude is equivalent to positioning yourself on a higher ground. It comes across as arrogant and, at times, frustrating ("so what?"). It gives the impression of a very cold scientist who is looking at his experiment or his study, not because he cares about any of the people involved in the study, but purely because he enjoys the study itself. Where is his heart, in all this philosophical talk? Where is the humanity, if not in the comfort of detachment? Aside from his love for art and literature, no other sign of his soul transpires. Nada. And while this "forcing the emotions out" might be the very distinctive sign of the philosopher's "profession", I find it useless and dehumanizing in a book like this, that’s intended for the masses.

Disembodied objectivity does. not. exist. Sorry. We all have a body.

The chapter on religion is not even about religion. It is about the concept of death. In one sentence at the end of the section, De Botton gives an imprecise interpretation of the concept of God. So is it fair to present it as a solution at all, when you have such a limited and biased perspective on it?

The chapter on Bohemians is the one where De Botton's "objective detachment" most clearly fails, because he LOVES this solution so much, that he cannot keep his cool anymore. After a great eulogy of Henry Thoreau, he goes on to say that the delightful punks across all the Earth, the haters of the bourgeoisie, have actually understood the secret of life, found the Holy Grail, or something along those lines.

Then again, why "Bohemians"?? Why choose this peculiar definition to end a list of very general and wide categories, like philosophy, politics, religion? I am confused. It's like saying: "Here's the 4 things I'm going to talk about: sport, food, wheather, and cheerleaders' choreography".

What about the hundreds of other similar movements, like Grunge, Punk, whatever else? Why not "vegetarianism", then, why leave that one out?

Anyway, in this chapter, he aptly and perhaps unconsciously offers the most valid proof of the fact that nobody is immune from our basic instinct of trying to climb on top of each other's heads like monkeys. Why? Because for De Botton the very best and highest man is, at the end of the day, the one who reads and thinks and loves art and writes all the time. Yep. And, oh! guess what De Botton does all day long?

But I don't want to be unfair. I truly enjoyed the book, very much. At times, De Botton's deep passion for history, literature and art jumps at you in such a genuine form, that is so inspiring and almost moving. His love for quoting famous works of the past and the present, the clear delight he takes in doing that, the way he chooses really interesting "pearls", anecdots and quotes, is not something I see much as a trick, but rather as a sign of his deep true love for these things. Like the love of a dedicated collector. Therein lies, in my opinion, the real beauty of this book.

And this is ultimately why I would recommend it and why I liked reading it.

Finally, I have to say that I listened to the audiobook. I think the reader is a very good one (I heard his voice before, in some books about Pacific Ocean travel) but he should have toned down his own sense of humor, because at times he gives a sense of arrogant sarcasm to De Botton's voice that does not make it sound good at all, and you are left wondering if it was really intended to sound like that.
]]> <![CDATA[Vita d'un uomo. 106 poesie (1914-1960)]]> 41582598 237 Giuseppe Ungaretti 8804670274 Tom LA 4 4.38 Vita d'un uomo. 106 poesie (1914-1960)
author: Giuseppe Ungaretti
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories]]> 19180289 394 Gene Wolfe Tom LA 0 4.23 1980 The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories
author: Gene Wolfe
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: currently-reading, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Faith and Religion in a Secular Society]]> 63367564 --from the foreword Faith and Religion in a Secular Society makes the same bet as Pope Francis that, in the face of the phenomena of secularization, religious indifference, and institutional weakening, it is not by preaching about or idealizing a bygone past that Christianity can expect to regain in Europe, because it risks isolating and separating even more than it is from a culture that no longer waits. The salvation of the Church and the safeguarding of her universal mission depend rather on its ability to facilitate a culture of encounter with all those who want to humanize the modern, pluralist, and secular society, while also asserting its freedom of expression. It is this pastoral option that Joseph De Kesel is already experimenting with in deeply secularized Belgium, which, like France, was once a land of Christianity. Cardinal Josef De Kesel is the Archbishop of Mechelen Brussels and Primate of Belgium since 2015. He was elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016. He is a member of the Roman Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.]]> 168 Cardinal Jozef De Kesel 0809156229 Tom LA 4
Un saggio breve ma incisivo. Un incoraggiamento ai cristiani a prendere atto della realtà di oggi, senza pippe o piagnistei sul fatto che la cultura secolarizzata si è imposta su tutto il resto. Anzi, vedendo questa realtà come un’occasione per un approccio piu� sincero alla fede, proprio perché non istituzionalizzato.
E ad abbandonare velleitĂ  di ricreare una societĂ  del tutto cristiana.

Questo mi ricorda che io stesso mi trovo spesso a covare sentimenti negativi tipo: “Che brutta società� quando alla fin fine dal punto di vista sociale tutto cambia perché nulla cambi, e le verità eterne rimangono le stesse.]]> 3.67 Faith and Religion in a Secular Society
author: Cardinal Jozef De Kesel
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:
In italiano: � Cristiani in un mondo che non lo è + �

Un saggio breve ma incisivo. Un incoraggiamento ai cristiani a prendere atto della realtà di oggi, senza pippe o piagnistei sul fatto che la cultura secolarizzata si è imposta su tutto il resto. Anzi, vedendo questa realtà come un’occasione per un approccio piu� sincero alla fede, proprio perché non istituzionalizzato.
E ad abbandonare velleitĂ  di ricreare una societĂ  del tutto cristiana.

Questo mi ricorda che io stesso mi trovo spesso a covare sentimenti negativi tipo: “Che brutta società� quando alla fin fine dal punto di vista sociale tutto cambia perché nulla cambi, e le verità eterne rimangono le stesse.
]]> <![CDATA[Unspoken Sermons (Sea Harp Timeless series): Series I, II, and III (Complete and Unabridged)]]> 62952622 Be swept into the presence of God.



It is not enough for the Christ-follower to hold a set of beliefs about Jesus, to cling tightly to doctrine, or interpretation, or knowledge. The transformative power of the Gospel is accessed through faith in Jesus, through union with God, and through a real experience of His love and nearness.



George MacDonald's Unspoken Sermons are a series of written (but never publicly preached) sermons that guide the reader into a deeper relationship with God through profound encounters with Jesus Christ.



George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a 19th century Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister, most famous for his published allegorical fairy tales and novels. MacDonald was read and admired by many well-known theologians, including G.K. Chesterton, Oswald Chambers, and C.S. Lewis, who pointed to MacDonald as an inspirer and guide for their own faith and writings. Lewis said of MacDonald, "I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself."



Through this collection of remarkable sermons, the reader will discover:





A magnificent perspective on Christianity
A sincere hunger for spiritual truth
A deeper understanding of the Christian faith
A clearer sense of God's will
The very presence of the Living God


The insights available in these pages speak directly to the heart, as a guide towards a deep, intimate, life-changing encounter with the indwelling presence of the living God.]]> 498 George MacDonald 0768471710 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.50 1866 Unspoken Sermons (Sea Harp Timeless series): Series I, II, and III (Complete and Unabridged)
author: George MacDonald
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1866
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> Trattatello in laude di Dante 9270043

Leonardo Bruni’s Life of Dante, extracts from Giovanni Villani’s Florentine Chronicles and Filippo Villani’s Life of Dante, as well as documents preserved in a manuscript of Boccaccio are combined in this impressive volume, and together they provide a wealth of insight and information into Dante’s unique character and life. They address the author’s susceptibility to the torments of passionate love, his involvement in politics, his scholastic enthusiasms,Ěýmilitary experience, and the stories behind the greatest heights of his poetic achievements. Not only are these accounts invaluable for their subject matter, they are also seminal examples of early biographical writing. Also included in this expansive collection is a biography of Boccaccio himself.

]]> 136 Giovanni Boccaccio 8811585864 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.54 1360 Trattatello in laude di Dante
author: Giovanni Boccaccio
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1360
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pura anarchia (Italian Edition)]]> 202591917 151 Woody Allen 8834616545 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.57 Pura anarchia (Italian Edition)
author: Woody Allen
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.57
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[La Bibbia in un frammento: 200 porte all'Antico e al Nuovo Testamento]]> 19257529 355 Gianfranco Ravasi 8852043608 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.67 2013 La Bibbia in un frammento: 200 porte all'Antico e al Nuovo Testamento
author: Gianfranco Ravasi
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> La strada di San Giovanni 16039768 Cinque scritti postumi sul tema della memoria.

Contiene:
La strada di San Giovanni
Autobiografia di uno spettatore
Ricordo di una battaglia
La poubelle agréée
Dall'opaco]]> 110 Italo Calvino 8804399589 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.59 1990 La strada di San Giovanni
author: Italo Calvino
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Il passato è un morto senza cadavere]]> 219396237 576 Antonio Manzini 8838946965 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.36 Il passato è un morto senza cadavere
author: Antonio Manzini
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World]]> 58955313
In his international bestseller, The Master and his Emissary, McGilchrist demonstrated that each brain hemisphere provides us with a radically different 'take' on the world, and used this insight to deliver a fresh understanding of the main turning points in the history of Western civilisation.

Twice before, in ancient Greece and Rome, the perception that evolved in the left hemisphere, which empowered us to manipulate the world, had ultimately come to eclipse the much more sophisticated take of the right hemisphere, which enabled us to understand it.

On each occasion this heralded the collapse of a civilisation. And now it was happening for a third, and possibly last, time.

In this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces - ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today.

Who are we? What is the world?

How can we understand consciousness, matter, space and time?

Is the cosmos without purpose or value?

Can we really neglect the sacred and divine?

In doing so, he argues that we have become enslaved to an account of things dominated by the brain's left hemisphere, one that blinds us to an awe-inspiring reality that is all around us, had we but eyes to see it.

He suggests that in order to understand ourselves and the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination, not just one or two; that they are in any case far from being in conflict; and that the brain's right hemisphere plays the most important part in each.

And he shows us how to recognise the 'signature' of the left hemisphere in our thinking, so as to avoid making decisions that bring disaster in their wake. Following the paths of cutting-edge neurology, philosophy and physics, he reveals how each leads us to a similar vision of the world, one that is both profound and beautiful - and happens to be in line with the deepest traditions of human wisdom.

It is a vision that returns the world to life, and us to a better way of living in it: one we must embrace if we are to survive.]]> 1500 Iain McGilchrist 1914568060 Tom LA 5 to-read-soon
I’ve just finished the first of the two volumes, and while I love the central theme of the book, I’m going to ignore it here, and I’m going to comment on the most crucial point (for a book that is essentially about epistemology and, therefore, truth), which is the author’s existential stance: he refuses to embrace christianity or any other religious tradition. He refuses to accept the divine and eternal as it’s been developed by the Western tradition.

As he stated in various interviews, he is unable to accept the existence of an absolute and immutable truth.

In my own words, Dr. McGilchrist’s inability to accept the existence of “an absolute, eternal truth�, after all the marvelous and profound points he makes in the book, looks like a conceptual error made after having described exactly this type of error multiple times in his book. On one hand, if you try to take an inhumanly detached (left brain) perspective, you might be tempted to fall into the ovidian view that life is nothing but a pot of boiling substances where everything keeps transforming into something else, in an incessant dance of forming and exploding bubbles. On a more fundamentally human level, God as the ground of all existence is an inescapable reality, and trusting Him fully is not only a matter of choice, but a matter of necessity. Even more for someone with the abyssal profundity of Dr. McGilchrist.

Our hearts are restless, and they can only rest when they rest in God. The fire of hell is nothing but this restlessness, when left unresolved (“unsaved�).

I know it’s difficult to square up the primacy of God with today’s globalized culture where we have multiple religions to choose from, as if we were doing some existential grocery shopping. But it’s really not that difficult once you see the points of convergence in all the major religions, and you reflect on your own place in history, as an integral part of a specific culture and tradition � in my case and in the author’s case, the Western tradition. That culture IS you.

Now I’m going to let the wise, erudite and insightful Archbishop Rowan Williams say the same thing, only much more elegantly, as he wrote the best review I’ve read of this book (on the Los Angeles Review of Books):

� Is commitment to a specific concrete religious tradition somehow inappropriate in the context of the whole argument? Surely not, given the powerful emphasis on the role of time and community in our thinking. Without this, are we not back with the benign vagueness of spiritualities of self-cultivation? If process is fundamental to finite reality, does this not in fact imply that it cannot be ascribed to infinite reality without making the latter an expanded version of the former?

When religious traditions like classical Catholic and Orthodox Christianity and Buddhism deny that the ultimate is subject to change, they are simply saying that the most fundamental agency of all cannot be conceived as in any sense “sharing� a world with what derives from it. Its generative energy is not in need of augmentation or modification from other agents, even if the record of its engagement with or exposure within finite reality is a story of diverse and developing perspectives over time. I suspect also that the account of Buddhist nonduality would need some polishing in further dialogue with practicing Buddhists: it is precisely a way of saying what McGilchrist is close to saying at many points � that neither unity as we usually conceive it nor plurality as we usually conceive it is an appropriate category for thinking what is abidingly real. There is no weakening in Buddhism of the reality of choice, no simple blurring of boundaries, but a central imperative to live without the myth of an enclosed self-subsistent ego. From that myth, Buddhists claim, flows all human evil.

Similarly, in the tradition that sees evil as privation, the point is not that evil is somehow less “real� in its effect and cost than we might think. On the contrary, its force derives from the fact that it is desired with the same energy as the good is desired, because it is a misidentified good, not because it has some “evil� essence. Genocide, torture, or child abuse happen because people who are lethally and hideously deceived think that they will attain some deeply desirable good (security, satisfaction, assurance, peace) through actions that are in fact destructive of themselves and others. If evil’s origins are in delusion, not in some evil power or element in things, this does not mean it is any less serious.

As McGilchrist has shown in his own magisterial argument, it is precisely the fatal skewing of perception which misreads the environment we inhabit that sets us out on our self-destructive path. The pages dealing with these metaphysical questions are tantalizing just because of the force and coherence of the rest of the work. It is no disrespect, I hope, to McGilchrist’s genius to say that these sections sometimes feel more careless or scattergun in their effect than the body of the argument.�]]> 4.77 2021 The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World
author: Iain McGilchrist
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.77
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
One of the most prodigious and important books of the last 50 years.

I’ve just finished the first of the two volumes, and while I love the central theme of the book, I’m going to ignore it here, and I’m going to comment on the most crucial point (for a book that is essentially about epistemology and, therefore, truth), which is the author’s existential stance: he refuses to embrace christianity or any other religious tradition. He refuses to accept the divine and eternal as it’s been developed by the Western tradition.

As he stated in various interviews, he is unable to accept the existence of an absolute and immutable truth.

In my own words, Dr. McGilchrist’s inability to accept the existence of “an absolute, eternal truth�, after all the marvelous and profound points he makes in the book, looks like a conceptual error made after having described exactly this type of error multiple times in his book. On one hand, if you try to take an inhumanly detached (left brain) perspective, you might be tempted to fall into the ovidian view that life is nothing but a pot of boiling substances where everything keeps transforming into something else, in an incessant dance of forming and exploding bubbles. On a more fundamentally human level, God as the ground of all existence is an inescapable reality, and trusting Him fully is not only a matter of choice, but a matter of necessity. Even more for someone with the abyssal profundity of Dr. McGilchrist.

Our hearts are restless, and they can only rest when they rest in God. The fire of hell is nothing but this restlessness, when left unresolved (“unsaved�).

I know it’s difficult to square up the primacy of God with today’s globalized culture where we have multiple religions to choose from, as if we were doing some existential grocery shopping. But it’s really not that difficult once you see the points of convergence in all the major religions, and you reflect on your own place in history, as an integral part of a specific culture and tradition � in my case and in the author’s case, the Western tradition. That culture IS you.

Now I’m going to let the wise, erudite and insightful Archbishop Rowan Williams say the same thing, only much more elegantly, as he wrote the best review I’ve read of this book (on the Los Angeles Review of Books):

� Is commitment to a specific concrete religious tradition somehow inappropriate in the context of the whole argument? Surely not, given the powerful emphasis on the role of time and community in our thinking. Without this, are we not back with the benign vagueness of spiritualities of self-cultivation? If process is fundamental to finite reality, does this not in fact imply that it cannot be ascribed to infinite reality without making the latter an expanded version of the former?

When religious traditions like classical Catholic and Orthodox Christianity and Buddhism deny that the ultimate is subject to change, they are simply saying that the most fundamental agency of all cannot be conceived as in any sense “sharing� a world with what derives from it. Its generative energy is not in need of augmentation or modification from other agents, even if the record of its engagement with or exposure within finite reality is a story of diverse and developing perspectives over time. I suspect also that the account of Buddhist nonduality would need some polishing in further dialogue with practicing Buddhists: it is precisely a way of saying what McGilchrist is close to saying at many points � that neither unity as we usually conceive it nor plurality as we usually conceive it is an appropriate category for thinking what is abidingly real. There is no weakening in Buddhism of the reality of choice, no simple blurring of boundaries, but a central imperative to live without the myth of an enclosed self-subsistent ego. From that myth, Buddhists claim, flows all human evil.

Similarly, in the tradition that sees evil as privation, the point is not that evil is somehow less “real� in its effect and cost than we might think. On the contrary, its force derives from the fact that it is desired with the same energy as the good is desired, because it is a misidentified good, not because it has some “evil� essence. Genocide, torture, or child abuse happen because people who are lethally and hideously deceived think that they will attain some deeply desirable good (security, satisfaction, assurance, peace) through actions that are in fact destructive of themselves and others. If evil’s origins are in delusion, not in some evil power or element in things, this does not mean it is any less serious.

As McGilchrist has shown in his own magisterial argument, it is precisely the fatal skewing of perception which misreads the environment we inhabit that sets us out on our self-destructive path. The pages dealing with these metaphysical questions are tantalizing just because of the force and coherence of the rest of the work. It is no disrespect, I hope, to McGilchrist’s genius to say that these sections sometimes feel more careless or scattergun in their effect than the body of the argument.�
]]> <![CDATA[Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China]]> 9756 491 Peter Hessler 0060826592 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.25 2006 Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China
author: Peter Hessler
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
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]]> Il convivio 3421586 492 Dante Alighieri 8884022266 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.84 1307 Il convivio
author: Dante Alighieri
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1307
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
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]]> A History of Reading 53085 �that string of confused, alien ciphers�shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. Noted essayist Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the 6000-year-old conversation between words and that magician without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel lingers over reading as seduction, as rebellion, as obsession, and goes on to trace the never-before-told story of the reader's progress from clay tablet to scroll, codex to CD-ROM.]]> 372 Alberto Manguel 0140166548 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.01 1996 A History of Reading
author: Alberto Manguel
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine]]> 838215 An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, reprinted from the 1878 edition, “is rightly regarded as one of the most seminal theological works ever to be written,� states Ian Ker in his foreword to this sixth edition. “It remains,� Ker continues, "the classic text for the theology of the development of doctrine, a branch of theology which has become especially important in the ecumenical era.�

John Henry Cardinal Newman begins the Essay by defining how true developments in doctrine occur. He then delivers a sweeping consideration of the growth of doctrine in the Catholic Church from the time of the Apostles to his own era. He demonstrates that the basic “rule� under which Christianity proceeded through the centuries is to be found in the principle of development, and he emphasizes that throughout the entire life of the Church this principle has been in effect and safeguards the faith from any corruption.]]> 480 John Henry Newman 026800921X Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.46 1845 An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine
author: John Henry Newman
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1845
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World]]> 28256439 The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.]]> 272 Peter Wohlleben 1771642483 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.06 2015 The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
author: Peter Wohlleben
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> Light from Light 58834611
In Light from Light: A Theological Reflection on the Nicene Creed, one of the Church’s leading thinkers invites skeptics and seekers to discover the intellectual richness of the Catholic faith. Walking through the ancient Nicene Creed, Bishop Robert Barron offers readers a clear and compelling explanation of the basics of the faith for a new generation, especially those who have wandered away.]]> 190 Robert Barron Tom LA 0 4.53 Light from Light
author: Robert Barron
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)]]> 10818853 Ěý
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This book is intended for mature audiences.]]> 356 E.L. James 1612130291 Tom LA 0 to-read 3.68 2011 Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)
author: E.L. James
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Her Deadly Game (Keera Duggan, #1)]]> 60593682 A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.]]> 396 Robert Dugoni 1662500173 Tom LA 5 4.43 2023 Her Deadly Game (Keera Duggan, #1)
author: Robert Dugoni
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
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review:
Really solid legal thriller. A colleague in Seattle told me he knows Dugoni and suggested I pick up one of his books. Grateful that I did! To me, peak-Grisham remains unbeatable, especially due to his natural caustic humor and story-telling skills, but this is a great novel. Strong characters, good pacing and an interesting plot.
]]> <![CDATA[Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician]]> 79644 640 Christoph Wolff 0393322564 Tom LA 1
Nothing. Not even the bones of previous climbers to give the faint and remote idea of vital signs. Everything on this mountain is lifeless.

If I wasn’t so disappointed, I’d simply say this work is as dry as a phone book (like many other readers said), but, for crying out loud, this is a book about one of greatest musical geniuses in history! Music! As in “the heavenly vibrations that make our soul sing�. Have you ever heard it? It's astonishing music!

Nothing. All that Wolff cares about is to get as many dates, names and facts as accurate as possible, with the obsessive pettiness of an autistic librarian. Page after page, chapter after chapter, the reader can’t help but feel like a barely standing Rocky Balboa, under the violent barrage of facts that Ivan Drago / Christoph Wolff relentlessly punches him with: KA-POW! KA-POW!

�There should be little doubt that Bach visited the famous organist Wilhelm Pinkerpergerstoffen on April 12th of 1708 at 2.13 pm, and not on May 27th or May 28th as it’s sometimes reported, because if we subtract the number of days that it took him to cross the distance between Karschwatz and Sontranch-Grabfeld that subsequent summer from the age of his 13th child, divide that by the number of notes in his first prelude in C sharp, as it’s recorded in a letter found in the Geseimhauptstadtpepperpimpenvehllernen museum archives in 1897, and then multiply that result by the times Bach paid his real estate taxes in 1709, it’s simply impossible that the visit could have taken place any later than mid-April. Also, as we all remember, 1708 was a leap year.�

I’m. Not. Joking.

This is how the book goes. On and on and on.

To the point that I’m flabbergasted by the 5 stars reviews, and even skeptical: have those reviewers actually read the book? Or just skimmed through it? Because no one who is not insane can “love� this arid chain of facts, this monochromatic nightmare, this avalanche of saharan sand that, for its inspirational value, could only be compared to the “Proterozoic geology of Western North America and Siberia� by Paul K. Link.

Look, I get it, ok? I see that, from a historiography point of view, this might be an important book, because it’s the most comprehensive biography of Bach by the man known for being “the foremost expert on Bach in the galaxy�.

But �. who the heck is this book written for? It’s crystal clear that it’s not for a regular person who happens to love Bach, “regular� being the key word here.

You could be forgiven if you wrote a biography in this robotic style if the subject matter was such an intense rollercoaster per se, that you could not take away any soul from it even if you tried. Example: Martin Luther King’s life. David Garrow did that with his “Bearing the cross�, in which the data-dump style is compensated by the adventurous nature of MLK’s time on this Earth.

But here we’re talking about a pious German composer of the 18th century who, though a towering and indisputable genius, did almost NOTHING in his life aside from studying, reading, composing and teaching music. So, dumping cold data onto the page as if it was fresh concrete is absolutely not the way to handle this material, unless you do it as an academic work for people who have no real interest in Bach’s music, and all they care about is to compete on “who gets that detail right� (which is exactly what this book sounds like).

I don’t even know how I managed to read through this to the end.

Should it not be clear yet, I do not recommend this book, unless you are the google algorithm, or an AI engine.

Read the John Gardiner biography instead, it’s a hundred times better, and at least it’s got some soul.

Or, for another suggestion, recently I was very lucky to find “The Cello suites� by Eric Siblin, a book not only full of soul, but also generous enough to condensate the Wolff biography in a very readable and concise manner.

P.S. Or, even better, the historic fiction “The Great Passion�: great book.]]> 4.20 2000 Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician
author: Christoph Wolff
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
I wanted to be fair to the author, so, before publishing a 1 star review, I climbed my way up to the very top of this gargantuan rock of a book, to see if � in any minuscule crevices of the mountain � I could find a blade of grass, a tiny tuft of moss or even any lichens.

Nothing. Not even the bones of previous climbers to give the faint and remote idea of vital signs. Everything on this mountain is lifeless.

If I wasn’t so disappointed, I’d simply say this work is as dry as a phone book (like many other readers said), but, for crying out loud, this is a book about one of greatest musical geniuses in history! Music! As in “the heavenly vibrations that make our soul sing�. Have you ever heard it? It's astonishing music!

Nothing. All that Wolff cares about is to get as many dates, names and facts as accurate as possible, with the obsessive pettiness of an autistic librarian. Page after page, chapter after chapter, the reader can’t help but feel like a barely standing Rocky Balboa, under the violent barrage of facts that Ivan Drago / Christoph Wolff relentlessly punches him with: KA-POW! KA-POW!

�There should be little doubt that Bach visited the famous organist Wilhelm Pinkerpergerstoffen on April 12th of 1708 at 2.13 pm, and not on May 27th or May 28th as it’s sometimes reported, because if we subtract the number of days that it took him to cross the distance between Karschwatz and Sontranch-Grabfeld that subsequent summer from the age of his 13th child, divide that by the number of notes in his first prelude in C sharp, as it’s recorded in a letter found in the Geseimhauptstadtpepperpimpenvehllernen museum archives in 1897, and then multiply that result by the times Bach paid his real estate taxes in 1709, it’s simply impossible that the visit could have taken place any later than mid-April. Also, as we all remember, 1708 was a leap year.�

I’m. Not. Joking.

This is how the book goes. On and on and on.

To the point that I’m flabbergasted by the 5 stars reviews, and even skeptical: have those reviewers actually read the book? Or just skimmed through it? Because no one who is not insane can “love� this arid chain of facts, this monochromatic nightmare, this avalanche of saharan sand that, for its inspirational value, could only be compared to the “Proterozoic geology of Western North America and Siberia� by Paul K. Link.

Look, I get it, ok? I see that, from a historiography point of view, this might be an important book, because it’s the most comprehensive biography of Bach by the man known for being “the foremost expert on Bach in the galaxy�.

But �. who the heck is this book written for? It’s crystal clear that it’s not for a regular person who happens to love Bach, “regular� being the key word here.

You could be forgiven if you wrote a biography in this robotic style if the subject matter was such an intense rollercoaster per se, that you could not take away any soul from it even if you tried. Example: Martin Luther King’s life. David Garrow did that with his “Bearing the cross�, in which the data-dump style is compensated by the adventurous nature of MLK’s time on this Earth.

But here we’re talking about a pious German composer of the 18th century who, though a towering and indisputable genius, did almost NOTHING in his life aside from studying, reading, composing and teaching music. So, dumping cold data onto the page as if it was fresh concrete is absolutely not the way to handle this material, unless you do it as an academic work for people who have no real interest in Bach’s music, and all they care about is to compete on “who gets that detail right� (which is exactly what this book sounds like).

I don’t even know how I managed to read through this to the end.

Should it not be clear yet, I do not recommend this book, unless you are the google algorithm, or an AI engine.

Read the John Gardiner biography instead, it’s a hundred times better, and at least it’s got some soul.

Or, for another suggestion, recently I was very lucky to find “The Cello suites� by Eric Siblin, a book not only full of soul, but also generous enough to condensate the Wolff biography in a very readable and concise manner.

P.S. Or, even better, the historic fiction “The Great Passion�: great book.
]]> <![CDATA[Cold War: An International History]]> 17981323 352 Carole Fink 0813347955 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.68 2013 Cold War: An International History
author: Carole Fink
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine]]> 33864676 The momentous new book from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag and Iron Curtain.

In 1932-33, nearly four million Ukrainians died of starvation, having been deliberately deprived of food. It is one of the most devastating episodes in the history of the twentieth century. With unprecedented authority and detail, Red Famine investigates how this happened, who was responsible, and what the consequences were. It is the fullest account yet published of these terrible events.

The book draws on a mass of archival material and first-hand testimony only available since the end of the Soviet Union, as well as the work of Ukrainian scholars all over the world. It includes accounts of the famine by those who survived it, describing what human beings can do when driven mad by hunger. It shows how the Soviet state ruthlessly used propaganda to turn neighbours against each other in order to expunge supposedly 'anti-revolutionary' elements. It also records the actions of extraordinary individuals who did all they could to relieve the suffering.

The famine was rapidly followed by an attack on Ukraine's cultural and political leadership - and then by a denial that it had ever happened at all. Census reports were falsified and memory suppressed. Some western journalists shamelessly swallowed the Soviet line; others bravely rejected it, and were undermined and harassed. The Soviet authorities were determined not only that Ukraine should abandon its national aspirations, but that the country's true history should be buried along with its millions of victims. Red Famine, a triumph of scholarship and human sympathy, is a milestone in the recovery of those memories and that history. At a moment of crisis between Russia and Ukraine, it also shows how far the present is shaped by the past.]]> 496 Anne Applebaum 0771009305 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.37 2017 Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine
author: Anne Applebaum
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise]]> 33776060 Now with a new afterword by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI!

In a time when technology penetrates our lives in so many ways and materialism exerts such a powerful influence over us, Cardinal Robert Sarah presents a bold book about the strength of silence. The modern world generates so much noise, he says, that seeking moments of silence has become both harder and more necessary than ever before.

Silence is the indispensable doorway to the divine, explains the cardinal in this profound conversation with Nicolas Diat. Within the hushed and hallowed walls of the La Grande Chartreux, the famous Carthusian monastery in the French Alps, Cardinal Sarah addresses the following questions: Can those who do not know silence ever attain truth, beauty, or love? ĚýDo not wisdom, artistic vision, and devotion spring from silence, where the voice of God is heard in the depths of the human heart?

After the international success ofĚýGod or Nothing, Cardinal Sarah seeks to restore to silence its place of honor and importance. "Silence is more important than any other human work," he says, "for it expresses God. The true revolution comes from silence; it leads us toward God and others so as to place ourselves humbly and generously at their service."]]> 249 Robert Sarah 1621641910 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.39 2016 The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
author: Robert Sarah
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe]]> 57355365 A lively and magisterial popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages, showing the beauty and communion that flourished alongside the dark brutality—a brilliant reflection of humanity itself.

The word “medievalâ€� conjures images of the “Dark Ages”—centuries of ignorance, superstition, stasis, savagery, and poor hygiene. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors.Ěý

The Bright Ages takes us through ten centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them. We look with fresh eyes on the Fall of Rome, Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Crusades, and the Black Death, but also to the multi-religious experience of Iberia, the rise of Byzantium, and the genius of Hildegard and the power of queens. We begin under a blanket of golden stars constructed by an empress with Germanic, Roman, Spanish, Byzantine, and Christian bloodlines and end nearly 1,000 years later with the poet Dante—inspired by that same twinkling celestial canopy—writing an epic saga of heaven and hell that endures as a masterpiece of literature today.ĚýĚý

The Bright Ages reminds us just how permeable our manmade borders have always been and of what possible worlds the past has always made available to us. The Middle Ages may have been a world “lit only by fireâ€� but it was one whose torches illuminated the magnificent rose windows of cathedrals, even as they stoked the pyres of accused heretics.ĚýĚý

The Bright Ages is illustrated throughout with high-resolution images.Ěý]]> 307 Matthew Gabriele 0062980890 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.58 2021 The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe
author: Matthew Gabriele
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> SOMMA DI TEOLOGIA/1 167842853 0 Thomas Aquinas 8831106503 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 0.0 1274 SOMMA DI TEOLOGIA/1
author: Thomas Aquinas
name: Tom LA
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1274
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Vita d'un uomo - Tutte le poesie]]> 839551 905 Giuseppe Ungaretti 8804360216 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.46 1966 Vita d'un uomo - Tutte le poesie
author: Giuseppe Ungaretti
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Commenti ai Vangeli. Ediz. plastificata]]> 91504119 a 0 Pope Benedict XVI 8872982944 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 0.0 Commenti ai Vangeli. Ediz. plastificata
author: Pope Benedict XVI
name: Tom LA
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> Locus desperatus 210482516 136 Michele Mari 8858445244 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.26 Locus desperatus
author: Michele Mari
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.26
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> Giochi sacri 9688510 1184 Vikram Chandra 8804560568 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.59 2006 Giochi sacri
author: Vikram Chandra
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]> 24113 777 Douglas R. Hofstadter 0465026567 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.29 1979 Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens]]> 199318371
Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.

In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.

How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.

A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.

Read by David Mitchell.

Listening length: 11 hours and 39 minutes.]]> 433 David Mitchell Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.12 2023 Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens
author: David Mitchell
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Reflections on the Psalms 121706 151 C.S. Lewis Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.91 1958 Reflections on the Psalms
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1958
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holiness through Work: Commemorating the Encyclical Laborem Exercens]]> 59813384 This book is a timely contribution to the field of scholarship that focuses on Catholic Social Thought and is ideally suited for graduate studies and the reader interested in more serious questions in Christian theology.Ěý

Giulio Maspero, "The Bible and the Fathers of the Church on Work"
Patricia Ranft, "Work Theology in the High Middle Ages"
Angela Franks, "John Paul II's Metaphysics of Labor"
Deborah Savage, "Confronting a Technocratic Women's Work and the Church's Social Vision"
Martin Schlag, "Contemplation at A Theological Conversation Between John Paul II and Josemaría Escrivá"
Richard Turnbull, "Laborem A Protestant Appreciation"
Michael Naughton, "Good Insights from the Subjective Dimension of Work"
Christopher Michaelson, "Subjects and Objects in Meaningful Work"
Javier Ignacio Pinto Garay and Alvaro Pezoa Bissieres, "The Worker and the The Dignity of Work and Business Ethics in Global Corporate Practices"
Gonzalo Flores-Castro Lingán, "The Real Making the Encyclical Laborem Exercens Operational"
Geoffrey C. Friesen, "Laborem Exercens and the Subjective Dimension of Work in Economics and Finance"Ěý]]> 230 Martin Schlag 1587313200 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 0.0 Holiness through Work: Commemorating the Encyclical Laborem Exercens
author: Martin Schlag
name: Tom LA
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation]]> 3047398
The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation uses the art of illustrated storytelling to breathe life into our nation's cornerstone principles. Simply put, it is the most enjoyable and groundbreaking way to read the governing document of the United States. Spirited and visually witty, it roves article by article, amendment by amendment, to get at the meaning, background, and enduring relevance of the law of the land.

What revolutionary ideas made the Constitution's authors dare to cast off centuries of rule by kings and queens? Why do we have an electoral college rather than a popular vote for president and vice president? How did a document that once sanctioned slavery, denied voting rights to women, and turned a blind eye to state governments running roughshod over the liberties of minorities transform into a bulwark of protection for all?

The United States Constitution answers all of these questions. Sure to surprise, challenge, and provoke, it is hands down the most memorable introduction to America's founding document.]]> 160 Jonathan Hennessey 0809094703 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.92 2008 The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation
author: Jonathan Hennessey
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation]]> 13653941 Ěý
Most of us can recall “Four score and seven years ago,� but much of what we know about Abraham Lincoln’s oration has been forgotten after high school.
Ěý
Using Lincoln’s words as a keystone, and drawing from first-person accounts, The Gettysburg Address shows us the events through the eyes of those who lived through the events of the War, from soldiers to slaves.
Ěý
Writer Jonathan Hennessey and illustrator Aaron McConnell illuminate history with vibrant, detailed graphics and captions that deliver a fresh understanding of this vital speech.]]> 224 Jonathan Hennessey 0061969761 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.25 2012 The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation
author: Jonathan Hennessey
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Act of War (Scot Harvath, #13)]]> 18775336
#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor delivers his most frightening and pulse-pounding thriller ever!
After a CIA agent mysteriously dies overseas, his top asset surfaces with a startling and terrifying claim. There’s just one problem� no one knows if she can be trusted. But when six exchange students go missing, two airplane passengers trade places, and one political-asylum seeker is arrested, a deadly chain of events is set in motion.

With the United States facing an imminent and devastating attack, America’s new president must turn to covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath to help carry out two of the most dangerous operations in the country’s history. Code-named “Gold Dust� and “Blackbird,� they are shrouded in absolute secrecy as either of them, if discovered, will constitute an act of war.

]]> 358 Brad Thor 1476717125 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.14 2014 Act of War (Scot Harvath, #13)
author: Brad Thor
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey]]> 2177870 371 Perri Knize 0743276388 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.86 2008 Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey
author: Perri Knize
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Compass to Fulfillment: Passion and Spirituality in Life and Business]]> 6280984 Kazuo Inamori The international bestseller A Compass to Fulfillment is a spiritual business guide particularly relevant to our present day and age. Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera and KDDI, weaves together his Buddhist faith and personal experience to create a life/business philosophy based on the simplest but most profound of human do the right thing, always. Inamori credits his and his companies� extraordinary success to the daily practice of this timeless truth. In A Compass to Fulfillment , the author helps you develop your own personal philosophy for success ]]> 160 Kazuo Inamori 0071615091 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.31 2004 A Compass to Fulfillment: Passion and Spirituality in Life and Business
author: Kazuo Inamori
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Passages of the Bible: Engaging Scripture with Benedict XVI and St. Thomas Aquinas]]> 18060057
Following the lead of Pope Benedict XVI, in Dark Passages of the Bible Matthew Ramage weds the historical-critical approach with a theological reading of Scripture based in the patristic-medieval tradition. Whereas these two approaches are often viewed as mutually exclusive or even contradictory, Ramage insists that the two are mutually enriching and necessary for doing justice to the Bible’s most challenging texts.

Ramage applies Benedict XVI's hermeneutical principles to three of the most theologically problematic areas of the Bible: its treatment of God’s nature, the nature of good and evil, and the afterlife. Teasing out key hermeneutical principles from the work of Thomas Aquinas, Ramage analyzes each of these themes with an eye to reconciling texts whose presence would seem to violate the doctrines of biblical inspiration and inerrancy. At the same time, Ramage directly addresses the problems of concrete biblical texts in light of both patristic and modern exegetical methods.]]> 312 Matthew J. Ramage 0813221560 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.18 2013 Dark Passages of the Bible: Engaging Scripture with Benedict XVI and St. Thomas Aquinas
author: Matthew J. Ramage
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> Tre volte a Gerusalemme 56129245 288 Fernando Gentilini 8893950847 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.29 Tre volte a Gerusalemme
author: Fernando Gentilini
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Medioevo. Storia di voci, racconto di immagini]]> 40546176 Mariateresa Fumagalli Beonio Brocchieri, “Il Sole 24 Ore�

Per raccontare un’epoca Chiara Frugoni e Alessandro Barbero hanno privilegiato sculture, affreschi, mosaici e miniature del tempo, attribuendo loro lo statuto di fonte e insegnandoci il gusto per il dettaglio rivelatore. Carlo Grande, “La Stampa�

Ascoltare e vedere il Medioevo, attraverso i suoi testi e i suoi affreschi, mosaici, miniature, sculture. Un modo nuovo di raccontare mille anni di storia dell'Occidente.]]> 350 Alessandro Barbero 8858119290 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.23 1999 Medioevo. Storia di voci, racconto di immagini
author: Alessandro Barbero
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> Il cuoco dell'imperatore 59348869 752 Raffaele Nigro 8834607902 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 4.23 Il cuoco dell'imperatore
author: Raffaele Nigro
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> Itaca per sempre 2400525 196 Luigi Malerba 8804453257 Tom LA 0 to-read, to-read-soon 3.62 1997 Itaca per sempre
author: Luigi Malerba
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: to-read, to-read-soon
review:

]]> <![CDATA[William Wilberforce: A Biography]]> 605019 Stephen Tomkins 0745952321 Tom LA 4
�By 1700, the average Briton consumed 4 lbs of sugar a year. By the time of the abolition campaign, it was 12 lbs, and would increase to 18 lbs by the end of the century (in 2002, that figure was 65 lbs). Much of it was for coffee, drinking chocolate and, above all, tea which was becoming ubiquitous; but Britain also became famous for its puddings, pies, tarts, trifles and ices. What had been an aristocratic luxury only a century before had become an everyday essential. We are told it profits a man nothing if he gains the world and loses his soul, but Britain sold its soul for sweet tea�.

Wilberforce’s fight was deeply rooted in his christian faith, and as lazy as it is for anyone today to note how “obviously good� such a cause is, it was not obviously good in his times � pretty much nowhere in the world.

That’s why his abolitionist proposals in Parliament were constantly beaten, year after year. The stamina of this guy was the stuff of marathon runners. Opponents� arguments were plenty: “If we give up the slave trade, the French will take over�. “If we abolish slavery, our economy will tank, people won’t be able to pay their mortgages!�. “If we give up the slave trade, we’ll just encourage the rebellion of slaves and there will be more war�. It was not a walk in the park, for Wilberforce, but he finally got there after about 20 years of constant political battle.

The slave trade was abolished by the US at the same time, and from that moment, all the other European countries followed, within a relatively short time.

Stephen Tomkins condenses a very complex history in about 230 pages. It’s great that one of his main sources is Wilberforce’s own personal journal, which gives us a window into his mind and soul. And it’s great that, at the beginning of each chapter, Tomkins includes a few paragraphs from the many witnesses� descriptions of the treatment of slaves in the “West Indies� and on board the slavers� ships.

I didn’t find the writing particularly engaging, although this is a secondary issue. It’s a bit clunky and dry. The author often throws around names of British politicians and influential people that he introduced very quickly in only one sentence 5 chapters before, giving for granted that the reader knows who he is talking about.

But again, no big deal. This is a very important biography. Very important history, very well researched.

The abolition of slavery. The end of infanticide. The end of human sacrifice. The end of widespread euthanasia (although this one is making a fantastically successful comeback in Canada and in some other “progressive� countries). The Civil Rights movement against racism. All these things found their profound roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition and values.

They do not stem from the Enlightenment, like many secular professors like Stephen Pinker like to self-satisfactorily think. That would be like saying that an Olympic athlete’s physical shape is due to the exercise that he did in the last couple of weeks.

They also do not stem from “well, you know, kindness and goodness, and from just being a decent person�, like a plethora of atheists like to say. This is a very superficial stance. None of these principles was “obvious� at the time of Jesus. Not even one.

Bless the soul of William Wilberforce, and bless the countless people that he saved from a horrific fate.

More than anything, bless the souls of the millions of slaves who suffered the worst possible pain and humiliation at the hand of their fellow man.


God of the poor and friendless,
Shall this unequalled wrong,
This agony, be endless?
How long, O Lord, how long
Shall man set, on his brother
The iron heal of sin,
The Holy ghost to smother�
To crush the God within!]]> 3.67 2007 William Wilberforce: A Biography
author: Stephen Tomkins
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:
William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) was probably the most prominent British abolitionist, fighting to abolish the slave trade and slavery for most of his life.

�By 1700, the average Briton consumed 4 lbs of sugar a year. By the time of the abolition campaign, it was 12 lbs, and would increase to 18 lbs by the end of the century (in 2002, that figure was 65 lbs). Much of it was for coffee, drinking chocolate and, above all, tea which was becoming ubiquitous; but Britain also became famous for its puddings, pies, tarts, trifles and ices. What had been an aristocratic luxury only a century before had become an everyday essential. We are told it profits a man nothing if he gains the world and loses his soul, but Britain sold its soul for sweet tea�.

Wilberforce’s fight was deeply rooted in his christian faith, and as lazy as it is for anyone today to note how “obviously good� such a cause is, it was not obviously good in his times � pretty much nowhere in the world.

That’s why his abolitionist proposals in Parliament were constantly beaten, year after year. The stamina of this guy was the stuff of marathon runners. Opponents� arguments were plenty: “If we give up the slave trade, the French will take over�. “If we abolish slavery, our economy will tank, people won’t be able to pay their mortgages!�. “If we give up the slave trade, we’ll just encourage the rebellion of slaves and there will be more war�. It was not a walk in the park, for Wilberforce, but he finally got there after about 20 years of constant political battle.

The slave trade was abolished by the US at the same time, and from that moment, all the other European countries followed, within a relatively short time.

Stephen Tomkins condenses a very complex history in about 230 pages. It’s great that one of his main sources is Wilberforce’s own personal journal, which gives us a window into his mind and soul. And it’s great that, at the beginning of each chapter, Tomkins includes a few paragraphs from the many witnesses� descriptions of the treatment of slaves in the “West Indies� and on board the slavers� ships.

I didn’t find the writing particularly engaging, although this is a secondary issue. It’s a bit clunky and dry. The author often throws around names of British politicians and influential people that he introduced very quickly in only one sentence 5 chapters before, giving for granted that the reader knows who he is talking about.

But again, no big deal. This is a very important biography. Very important history, very well researched.

The abolition of slavery. The end of infanticide. The end of human sacrifice. The end of widespread euthanasia (although this one is making a fantastically successful comeback in Canada and in some other “progressive� countries). The Civil Rights movement against racism. All these things found their profound roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition and values.

They do not stem from the Enlightenment, like many secular professors like Stephen Pinker like to self-satisfactorily think. That would be like saying that an Olympic athlete’s physical shape is due to the exercise that he did in the last couple of weeks.

They also do not stem from “well, you know, kindness and goodness, and from just being a decent person�, like a plethora of atheists like to say. This is a very superficial stance. None of these principles was “obvious� at the time of Jesus. Not even one.

Bless the soul of William Wilberforce, and bless the countless people that he saved from a horrific fate.

More than anything, bless the souls of the millions of slaves who suffered the worst possible pain and humiliation at the hand of their fellow man.


God of the poor and friendless,
Shall this unequalled wrong,
This agony, be endless?
How long, O Lord, how long
Shall man set, on his brother
The iron heal of sin,
The Holy ghost to smother�
To crush the God within!
]]> Love & Vermin 60012325 The long awaited first collection by Will McPhail, with over 150 cartoons, including his New Yorker classics and new gems.

With his shrewd eye for mundane absurdities and hysterically astute drawings of animals, Will McPhail is the New Yorker’s most distinctive cartoonist. His cartoons delight in the everyday anxieties of modern life, skewer contemporary politics, and cut to the core of the most bizarre human behaviors.

Now, in McPhail’s first collection, new cartoons mix with old favorites: mischievous mice and opportunistic pigeons offer portals into McPhail’s crackling curiosity, while Lady No-Kids� adventures continue with high-flying glee. With chapters ranging from the contemporary to the universal, and a classic black and white interior that evokes the timelessness of the craft, Love & Vermin proves why Will McPhail is one of the most cherished cartoonists of his generation.]]> 256 Will McPhail 0358346223 Tom LA 4
He wisely gets the ideologically-charged cartoons out of his system in the first 20 pages (maybe an editor’s suggestion) so that people who disagree with his woke stuff can go on to read the rest and, hopefully, forget it.]]> 4.37 2022 Love & Vermin
author: Will McPhail
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:
A delightful New Yorker cartoons collection. What a gorgeous drawing style. Love the big eyes, Love the soft lines and the way he draws animals.

He wisely gets the ideologically-charged cartoons out of his system in the first 20 pages (maybe an editor’s suggestion) so that people who disagree with his woke stuff can go on to read the rest and, hopefully, forget it.
]]> Against the Fall of Night 33841
Mankind has reached the heights of civilization. Men live thousands of years in perfect freedom and leisure—their wants are attended to by ingenious machines—peace and culture flourish in ways undreamed of in our time. And yet ... mankind is dying. The price of peace has been the loss of the needed human qualities of curiosity and drive—they have been bred out of the human race. So when young Alvin of Diaspar began asking questions, he was looked on as a dangerous freak, a throwback. But Alvin kept asking, kept looking, kept seeking out the truth ...

... and what he found offered his people a dreadful choice—battle and destruction, or a new and richer destiny!]]> 208 Arthur C. Clarke 1596871229 Tom LA 0 to-read 3.98 1953 Against the Fall of Night
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Distraction 977390
But Oscar has a skeleton in his closet. His only ally: Dr. Greta Penninger, a gifted neurologist at the bleeding edge of the neural revolution. Together they're out to spread a very dangerous idea whose time has come. And so have their enemies: every technofanatic, government goon, and laptop assassin in America. Oscar and Greta might not survive to change the world, but they'll put a new spin on it.

]]> 532 Bruce Sterling 0553576399 Tom LA 0 to-read 3.59 1998 Distraction
author: Bruce Sterling
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the Mind Fields: Exploring the new science of neuropsychoanalysis]]> 25956337 220 Casey Schwartz 0307911535 Tom LA 3
I agree with this premise. I found this book fascinating for the most part, however I'm not sure if it's a book I would recommend.

First, I don't think I am fully in line with the author's basic opinions. Based on the examples she brings, she is right in suggesting that neurobiology can often make the mistake of forgetting the person, the mind, the human being behind the neurons, the synapses, the proteins etc. and that the approach of psychoanalysis can sometimes help scientists get a more holistic approach to the patient. However, through her intense love for Freud, she far overestimates the value of psychoanalysis per se, which is today - as it should be - dying a slow death. Freud had some great intuitions, yes, but without having any scientific instruments at his disposal, he jumped to conclusions that in many cases were wrong or horribly wrong. A bit like the ancient people who said "the Earth looks flat, therefore it's flat". It wasn't their fault they were wrong. But they should not have jumped to conclusions.

For example, in "The interpretation of dreams", Freud went completely off a tangent and gave dreams a symbolic value they very rarely have. For the most part, dreams are just what they are: incoherent mental bubbles or "farts".

In my opinion, today psychology and psychoanalysis should not even be around anymore. We should get rid of them altogether, place them in a museum, next to the telegraph and the Commodore 64. After 100 years, there is still no conclusive proof that they can guarantee a "cure" for a patient, aside from the random successes that they can have, usually related to very specific and superficial issue (i.e. fear of blades, or fear of dogs).

Neurobiology is the present and the future of our understanding of the brain.

It's all about the tools. Research instruments are getting more and more powerful, so give it another 10-20 years, and neurobiology will finally hammer that last nail into the coffin of psychoanalysis.

Hopefully. Because not one or two, but SIX friends of mine who went to psychiatrists � when they related their experiences to me � told me the same exact story where their shortcomings had been neatly rationalized as “other people’s fault� (including a guy who cheated on his wife), and none of them had moved an inch from where they were before.

It’s not even funny, it’s a double-con, where it’s possible that sometimes neither one of the two parties involved is aware of the fraudulent nature of the business. One walks away thinking he’s a great doctor, the other walks away guilt-free, thinking he has zero personal responsibility and accountability. Or medicated. Or both.

In short, I’ve never seen any proof that therapy actually works any better than “talking to anyone at all�.

Therefore, I find the author's stance unbalanced when she sees psychoanalysis and neurobiology simply as two equally strong scientific disciplines with a communication issue. Yes, the mind is only one (and why have two separate fields trying to explain the same thing?) but NO, the two fields are not equally strong or important. Psychoanalysis is almost a corpse, and it carries with itself so much engrained ignorance and prejudice, while neurobiology is a little kid buzzing with energy, opportunities, and most importantly, a fresh and open mind. Schwartz never really acknowledges this huge difference.

Plus, why would you need Freud in order to have a more human approach to your patients and their minds? You just need to take a more human approach. That can come from anywhere, not only from Freud: literature, music, personal experience, or - even more importantly - religion.

From the formal perspective, the book is very well written and you can often feel the author's passion coming through, but I have to say, the structure is a bit messy. This work contains something like 4 or 5 different books, all of them cobbled together. While the various chapters are all vaguely about the same topic, it seems like Schwartz couldn't make up her mind on what kind of book she was actually writing: a memoir, a travelogue, an essay, a series of short biographies? This book is all of these things patched together, and glued together by autobiographical notes that don't seem to matter for the book, or to go anywhere.

While researching the material for a non-fiction book, many authors travel, interview specialists, talk with professionals in a specific field. But then what they do in the book is they provide the results of that research, not the actual description of themselves working on researching. Why would the readers care about that, unless the writer is an eye-witness to moments of great historic importance? Unfortunately, for the most part of the book, that is what the author decided to do, and in my opinion this does not work well, because 1) it slows down the book; 2) it adds little or nothing to the subject matter - which is the only reason why you are reading the book, and 3) it gives you the idea that some greatly important epiphany or discovery is going to come out of that conversation or that piece of research, while in fact nothing much really happens, only a few examples of patients whose problems were helped by analysts who were open minded and cared for the human side.]]> 3.43 2015 In the Mind Fields: Exploring the new science of neuropsychoanalysis
author: Casey Schwartz
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2015/11/15
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:
Science journalist Casey Schwartz's "In the Mind Fields" introduces us to a small group of mental health professionals who have made a compelling case that psychoanalysis and neurobiology should converge and support each other, maybe become one thing whenever possible. For them, Freud should not be relegated to a footnote. These critics acknowledge the value of brain research, but they also think that there is still a huge value in psychiatry. Just as 20th century Freudianism erred by being too brainless, they argue, 21st century neuroscience runs the risk of becoming too mindless.

I agree with this premise. I found this book fascinating for the most part, however I'm not sure if it's a book I would recommend.

First, I don't think I am fully in line with the author's basic opinions. Based on the examples she brings, she is right in suggesting that neurobiology can often make the mistake of forgetting the person, the mind, the human being behind the neurons, the synapses, the proteins etc. and that the approach of psychoanalysis can sometimes help scientists get a more holistic approach to the patient. However, through her intense love for Freud, she far overestimates the value of psychoanalysis per se, which is today - as it should be - dying a slow death. Freud had some great intuitions, yes, but without having any scientific instruments at his disposal, he jumped to conclusions that in many cases were wrong or horribly wrong. A bit like the ancient people who said "the Earth looks flat, therefore it's flat". It wasn't their fault they were wrong. But they should not have jumped to conclusions.

For example, in "The interpretation of dreams", Freud went completely off a tangent and gave dreams a symbolic value they very rarely have. For the most part, dreams are just what they are: incoherent mental bubbles or "farts".

In my opinion, today psychology and psychoanalysis should not even be around anymore. We should get rid of them altogether, place them in a museum, next to the telegraph and the Commodore 64. After 100 years, there is still no conclusive proof that they can guarantee a "cure" for a patient, aside from the random successes that they can have, usually related to very specific and superficial issue (i.e. fear of blades, or fear of dogs).

Neurobiology is the present and the future of our understanding of the brain.

It's all about the tools. Research instruments are getting more and more powerful, so give it another 10-20 years, and neurobiology will finally hammer that last nail into the coffin of psychoanalysis.

Hopefully. Because not one or two, but SIX friends of mine who went to psychiatrists � when they related their experiences to me � told me the same exact story where their shortcomings had been neatly rationalized as “other people’s fault� (including a guy who cheated on his wife), and none of them had moved an inch from where they were before.

It’s not even funny, it’s a double-con, where it’s possible that sometimes neither one of the two parties involved is aware of the fraudulent nature of the business. One walks away thinking he’s a great doctor, the other walks away guilt-free, thinking he has zero personal responsibility and accountability. Or medicated. Or both.

In short, I’ve never seen any proof that therapy actually works any better than “talking to anyone at all�.

Therefore, I find the author's stance unbalanced when she sees psychoanalysis and neurobiology simply as two equally strong scientific disciplines with a communication issue. Yes, the mind is only one (and why have two separate fields trying to explain the same thing?) but NO, the two fields are not equally strong or important. Psychoanalysis is almost a corpse, and it carries with itself so much engrained ignorance and prejudice, while neurobiology is a little kid buzzing with energy, opportunities, and most importantly, a fresh and open mind. Schwartz never really acknowledges this huge difference.

Plus, why would you need Freud in order to have a more human approach to your patients and their minds? You just need to take a more human approach. That can come from anywhere, not only from Freud: literature, music, personal experience, or - even more importantly - religion.

From the formal perspective, the book is very well written and you can often feel the author's passion coming through, but I have to say, the structure is a bit messy. This work contains something like 4 or 5 different books, all of them cobbled together. While the various chapters are all vaguely about the same topic, it seems like Schwartz couldn't make up her mind on what kind of book she was actually writing: a memoir, a travelogue, an essay, a series of short biographies? This book is all of these things patched together, and glued together by autobiographical notes that don't seem to matter for the book, or to go anywhere.

While researching the material for a non-fiction book, many authors travel, interview specialists, talk with professionals in a specific field. But then what they do in the book is they provide the results of that research, not the actual description of themselves working on researching. Why would the readers care about that, unless the writer is an eye-witness to moments of great historic importance? Unfortunately, for the most part of the book, that is what the author decided to do, and in my opinion this does not work well, because 1) it slows down the book; 2) it adds little or nothing to the subject matter - which is the only reason why you are reading the book, and 3) it gives you the idea that some greatly important epiphany or discovery is going to come out of that conversation or that piece of research, while in fact nothing much really happens, only a few examples of patients whose problems were helped by analysts who were open minded and cared for the human side.
]]> <![CDATA[The Accomplice (Eddie Flynn, #7)]]> 60189904
The Sandman killings have been solved. Daniel Miller murdered fourteen people before he vanished. His wife, Carrie, now faces trial as his accomplice. The FBI, the District Attorney, the media and everyone in America believe she knew and helped cover up her husband's crimes.

THE LAWYER

Eddie Flynn won't take a case unless his client is innocent. Now, he has to prove to a jury, and the entire world, that Carrie Miller was just another victim of the Sandman. She didn't know her husband's dark side and she had no part in the murders. But so far, Eddie and his team are the only ones who believe her.

THE FORMER FBI AGENT

Gabriel Lake used to be a federal agent, before someone tried to kill him. Now, he's an investigator with a vendetta against the Sandman. He's the only one who can catch him, because he believes that everything the FBI knows about serial killers is wrong.

THE KILLER

With his wife on trial, the Sandman is forced to come out of hiding to save her from a life sentence. He will kill to protect her and everyone involved in the case is a target.

Even Eddie Flynn...]]> 352 Steve Cavanagh Tom LA 0 to-read 4.47 2022 The Accomplice (Eddie Flynn, #7)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law]]> 200229817
Over just the last few decades, laws in this nation have exploded in number; they are increasingly complex; and the punishments they carry are increasingly severe. Some of these laws come from our elected representatives, but many now come from agency officials largely insulated from democratic accountability.?

In Over Ruled, Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze explore these developments and the human toll so much law can carry for ordinary Americans. At its heart, this is a book of stories—about fishermen in Florida, families in Montana, monks in Louisiana, a young Internet entrepreneur in Massachusetts, and many others who have found themselves trapped unex­pectedly in a legal maze.

Some law is essential to our lives and our freedoms. But too much law can place those very same freedoms at risk and even undermine respect for law itself. And often those who feel the cost most acutely are those without wealth, power, and status.

Deeply researched and superbly written, Over Ruled is one of the most significant books of the year. It is a must-read for every citizen concerned about the erosion of our constitutional system, and its insights will be key to the preservation of our liberties for generations to come.]]> 304 Neil Gorsuch 0063238470 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.16 Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law
author: Neil Gorsuch
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Storey Mountain (Word on Fire Classics)]]> 52793290 528 Thomas Merton Tom LA 5
The answer is a contemplative life. A very difficult life to live (even for a monk! As Thomas Merton explains) in these chaotic, empty, hyper-technological, disordered, stressful, immature, empty, always-too-busy, empty, empty, empty times. ]]> 4.55 1948 The Seven Storey Mountain (Word on Fire Classics)
author: Thomas Merton
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1948
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/25
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
Impossible to understate the power and the importance of this 1948 book. Thomas Merton’s autobiography is not only the story of a flawed man who converted and decided to become a Trappist monk. It’s a crystal-clear look into our own soul, and above all, it asks a question: how can we integrate all the conflicting parts of ourselves? How can we make the fighter in us, the lover in us, the artist in us, the leader in us, the writer in us, the reader in us � how can we make them all coexist in peace?

The answer is a contemplative life. A very difficult life to live (even for a monk! As Thomas Merton explains) in these chaotic, empty, hyper-technological, disordered, stressful, immature, empty, always-too-busy, empty, empty, empty times.
]]> <![CDATA[Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense]]> 36950137 Author of the New York Times bestseller Useful Idiots and popular columnist Mona Charen takes a close, reasoned look at the aggressive feminist agenda undermining the success and happiness of men and women across the country

In this smart, deeply necessary critique, Mona Charen unpacks the ways feminism fails us at home, in the workplace, and in our personal relationships--by promising that we can have it all, do it all, and be it all. Here, she upends the feminist agenda and the liberal conversation surrounding women's issues by asking tough and crucial questions, such as:
* Did women's full equality require the total destruction of the nuclear family?
* Did it require a sexual revolution that would dismantle traditions of modesty, courtship, and fidelity that had characterized relations between the sexes for centuries?
* Did it cause the broken dating culture and the rape crisis on our college campuses?
* Did it require war between the sexes that would deem men the "enemy" of women?
* Have the strides of feminism made women happier in their home and work life. (The answer is No.)

Sex Matters tracks the price we have paid for denying sex differences and stoking the war of the sexes--family breakdown, declining female happiness, aimlessness among men, and increasing inequality. Marshaling copious social science research as well as her own experience as a professional as well as a wife and mother, Mona Charen calls for a sexual ceasefire for the sake of women, men, and children.]]> 320 Mona Charen 0451498399 Tom LA 4 stupid as hell. This is what men are, as a sweeping generalization, when it comes to relationships: idiots. I've always, deeply believed that, and seen it with my own eyes (with many exceptions, of course) in the Italian, German, British and American realities.

Modern feminism, Mona Charen reminds us, wants to take that precise characteristic of men - the unbridled will of power - and make it the main driver of women's life too, while de-valuing traditional family values and femininity.

"The sexual revolution could never have succeeded without the imprimatur of feminists, who endorsed it as a part of women’s liberation. The challenge for today’s women who seek fulfillment without abandoning what is essential to their sexual identity is to liberate feminism from its insistence on standards that pit women against their natures and men and women against each other."

Charen wants to make sure we don’t forget that "sex matters". Men and women are fundamentally different in many ways that she catalogs in her book, and pretending otherwise has resulted in a havoc that she maps out in detail.

The book (I listened to the audiobook) is an indictment of modern feminism, its second wave in particular. Second wavers, she argues, “were determined to change what women wanted altogether.� They were "radical, unhappy, and, ironically, enslaved to the ideas of two nineteenth-century dead, white, European males, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. The worldview of second-wave feminists was completely wrong about women, history, and human nature—and it left a lot of wreckage in its wake."

These feminists insisted on a new set of standards for women, ones that seemed strangely masculine despite all the talk about patriarchy.

In pathologizing femaleness, to use the author's words, second-wave feminists set future generations up to fail. She writes: "Of the major second-wave feminists, none had a lifelong successful marriage. Few were mothers. The conventional script of marriage, work, home, children, and grandchildren (something most women hope for) was not their goal. They seemed determined to persuade American women that these things were traps and snares."

Nowadays, for the mainstream culture both in the US and in Europe, girls are encouraged to engage in careless sex when in reality, as Charen reminds us, they are hardwired to care (in fact, women more so than men - which, obviously, does not justify any careless behavior on the side of men). They are encouraged to disdain marriage and delay children, when they by nature long for monogamy and commitment and find deep satisfaction in domestic life. And unlike men, they aren’t biologically set up to wait forever for a family.

Charen delves into the biological and physiological realities that set the sexes apart, and documents the extensive damage that denying these differences has done to both men and women.

She talks about her own countercultural choices like opting to stay home and prioritizing family or embracing the pro-life position when it was a total cultural anathema.

As a European living in the US, I'd like to say that I don't understand why modern feminism has been so intensely politicized, to the point that being a woman on the left side of the political spectrum typically means you will support modern feminism in one shape or another. Or even to the point that today you cannot be feminist and be conservative at the same time. But I think I do understand why.

The crisis of the family as the basic molecule of society, today, has many different causes. But how much can the family be helped by a movement that wants to "empower" women, "take the power" from men, and get women "into the corridors of power"? Is ”being vengeful and aggressive� going to help anybody?

Example. Being a CEO today is already, in itself, a job for sociopaths even for men - hold on, I know I'm using a term inappropriately here (sociopaths), but I hope you get what I mean with this hyperbole: I'm referring to men who commit their entire life, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to self-realization and to the domination of others. In the past, you could do that and get away with less work. Today, aside from a few exceptions, that's impossible: if you want to be a CEO or even a Managing Director pretty much anywhere (especially in the US) you need to TRASH any other aspect of your life. And many men are willing to do that - which I find creepy.

Now, some extremely rare women might be hard-wired to dominate others as well, and that's ok. But why would you fight to make sure that exactly 50% of these crazy CEO roles are covered by women? Why? Following what twisted logic of imaginary biological equality and misguided sense of fairness?

Sorry about the long-winded review. In a nutshell, Charen's book reminds us that when it comes to feminism, the pendulum has swung far too far.]]> 3.72 Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense
author: Mona Charen
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.72
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2019/02/14
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:
When I was growing up in Italy, it didn't take me long to realize that women were the real resource, the real "gold" of society - more realistic, more care-oriented than men, and especially (on average) FAR more mature. Men tend to see every interaction and relationship in terms of power, and that's nature, yes, but it's also stupid as hell. This is what men are, as a sweeping generalization, when it comes to relationships: idiots. I've always, deeply believed that, and seen it with my own eyes (with many exceptions, of course) in the Italian, German, British and American realities.

Modern feminism, Mona Charen reminds us, wants to take that precise characteristic of men - the unbridled will of power - and make it the main driver of women's life too, while de-valuing traditional family values and femininity.

"The sexual revolution could never have succeeded without the imprimatur of feminists, who endorsed it as a part of women’s liberation. The challenge for today’s women who seek fulfillment without abandoning what is essential to their sexual identity is to liberate feminism from its insistence on standards that pit women against their natures and men and women against each other."

Charen wants to make sure we don’t forget that "sex matters". Men and women are fundamentally different in many ways that she catalogs in her book, and pretending otherwise has resulted in a havoc that she maps out in detail.

The book (I listened to the audiobook) is an indictment of modern feminism, its second wave in particular. Second wavers, she argues, “were determined to change what women wanted altogether.� They were "radical, unhappy, and, ironically, enslaved to the ideas of two nineteenth-century dead, white, European males, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. The worldview of second-wave feminists was completely wrong about women, history, and human nature—and it left a lot of wreckage in its wake."

These feminists insisted on a new set of standards for women, ones that seemed strangely masculine despite all the talk about patriarchy.

In pathologizing femaleness, to use the author's words, second-wave feminists set future generations up to fail. She writes: "Of the major second-wave feminists, none had a lifelong successful marriage. Few were mothers. The conventional script of marriage, work, home, children, and grandchildren (something most women hope for) was not their goal. They seemed determined to persuade American women that these things were traps and snares."

Nowadays, for the mainstream culture both in the US and in Europe, girls are encouraged to engage in careless sex when in reality, as Charen reminds us, they are hardwired to care (in fact, women more so than men - which, obviously, does not justify any careless behavior on the side of men). They are encouraged to disdain marriage and delay children, when they by nature long for monogamy and commitment and find deep satisfaction in domestic life. And unlike men, they aren’t biologically set up to wait forever for a family.

Charen delves into the biological and physiological realities that set the sexes apart, and documents the extensive damage that denying these differences has done to both men and women.

She talks about her own countercultural choices like opting to stay home and prioritizing family or embracing the pro-life position when it was a total cultural anathema.

As a European living in the US, I'd like to say that I don't understand why modern feminism has been so intensely politicized, to the point that being a woman on the left side of the political spectrum typically means you will support modern feminism in one shape or another. Or even to the point that today you cannot be feminist and be conservative at the same time. But I think I do understand why.

The crisis of the family as the basic molecule of society, today, has many different causes. But how much can the family be helped by a movement that wants to "empower" women, "take the power" from men, and get women "into the corridors of power"? Is ”being vengeful and aggressive� going to help anybody?

Example. Being a CEO today is already, in itself, a job for sociopaths even for men - hold on, I know I'm using a term inappropriately here (sociopaths), but I hope you get what I mean with this hyperbole: I'm referring to men who commit their entire life, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to self-realization and to the domination of others. In the past, you could do that and get away with less work. Today, aside from a few exceptions, that's impossible: if you want to be a CEO or even a Managing Director pretty much anywhere (especially in the US) you need to TRASH any other aspect of your life. And many men are willing to do that - which I find creepy.

Now, some extremely rare women might be hard-wired to dominate others as well, and that's ok. But why would you fight to make sure that exactly 50% of these crazy CEO roles are covered by women? Why? Following what twisted logic of imaginary biological equality and misguided sense of fairness?

Sorry about the long-winded review. In a nutshell, Charen's book reminds us that when it comes to feminism, the pendulum has swung far too far.
]]> <![CDATA[Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel]]> 55298400
Stephen Budiansky’s Journey to the Edge of Reason is the first biography to fully draw upon Gödel’s voluminous letters and writings—including a never-before-transcribed shorthand diary of his most intimate thoughts—to explore Gödel’s profound intellectual friendships, his moving relationship with his mother, his troubled yet devoted marriage, and the debilitating bouts of paranoia that ultimately took his life. It also offers an intimate portrait of the scientific and intellectual circles in prewar Vienna, a haunting account of Gödel’s and Jewish intellectuals� flight from Austria and Germany at the start of the Second World War, and a vivid re-creation of the early days of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, where Gödel and Einstein both worked.

Eloquent and insightful, Journey to the Edge of Reason is a fully realized portrait of the odd, brilliant, and tormented man who has been called the greatest logician since Aristotle, and illuminates the far-reaching implications of Gödel’s revolutionary ideas for philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and man’s place in the cosmos.]]> 368 Stephen Budiansky 1324005440 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.03 Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel
author: Stephen Budiansky
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Four Quartets 223133528
While containing some of the most musical and unforgettable passages in 20th-century poetry, its four parts, 'Burnt Norton', 'East Coker', 'The Dry Salvages' and 'Little Gidding', present a rigorous meditation on the spiritual, philosophical and personal themes which preoccupied the author.

It was the way in which a private voice was heard to speak for the concerns of an entire generation, in the midst of war and doubt, that confirmed it as an enduring masterpiece.]]> 1 T.S. Eliot Tom LA 0 to-read 5.00 1943 Four Quartets
author: T.S. Eliot
name: Tom LA
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1943
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last Temptation of Christ 18303838 The internationally renowned novel about the life and death of Jesus Christ.

Hailed as a masterpiece by critics worldwide, The Last Temptation of Christ is a monumental reinterpretation of the Gospels that brilliantly fleshes out Christ’s Passion. This literary rendering of the life of Jesus Christ has courted controversy since its publication by depicting a Christ far more human than the one seen in the Bible. He is a figure who is gloriously divine but earthy and human, a man like any other—subject to fear, doubt, and pain.

In elegant, thoughtful prose Nikos Kazantzakis, one of the greats of modern literature, follows this Jesus as he struggles to live out God’s will for him, powerfully suggesting that it was Christ’s ultimate triumph over his flawed humanity, when he gave up the temptation to run from the cross and willingly laid down his life for mankind, that truly made him the venerable redeemer of men.

“Spiritual dynamite.� �San Francisco Chronicle

“A searing, soaring, shocking novel.� �Time ]]> 513 Nikos Kazantzakis 1439144583 Tom LA 3
Most people who hear about "The last temptation of Christ" immediately think of the 1988 Scorsese movie with Willem Dafoe as Jesus - and other equally atrociously miscast actors - a film that was meant to come across as scandalous and provocative, in the typical Hollywood low-brow fashion.

I never saw the movie and probably never will. That is a very good thing if you're going to read the book, because this is a very complex and beautiful work, that Hollywood would never be able to do justice to.

I loved many parts of the book. The language is very poetic, and I found that NK was great at reproducing the spiritual fervor of the time in Palestine, the social acceptance of visions, miracles, prophecies, and overall a very intense and palpable spiritual reality.

In short, all that we have lost today in the West.

Someone will argue "we’ve lost it for good and for bad", but my opinion is that it is only for the bad. Our loss. We have shrunk from a large, human dimension to the dimension of things. Anyway, that's a different topic (see some modern scientist who states that everyone in ancient times suffered from a form of schizofrenia. Fascinating theory, although probably wrong. Sounds more like a way to formalize the mental state of modern westerners as "healthy and better", which is obviously extremely arguable).

Back to the book. Is NK's Jesus a credible, authentic, realistic Jesus ?

Definitely not.

I will summarize here the opinion of Lord Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and one of my intellectual heroes.

In this video he says that, in his view, from a classical Christian theology perspective, NK gets some things right about Jesus and some other things not so right.

Lord Williams says: "One of the things that make us human is that we can allow the divine light to flood us and fill us, or as some theologians say, we can grow into the divine image. So I think Kazantzakis is right in saying that it's not a question of just one eccentric individual who lived centuries ago, but it is about the destiny of humanity, it is about how humanity itself grows into that divine image. Where NK.'s view is more at odds with a classical Christian view (and perhaps more indebted to a 19th century religious perspective) is that he tends to merge the divinity / humanity tension with the flesh / spirit tension, which historically and theologically is not correct".

Still Lord Williams about this book: "They said NK tried to portray a Jesus who was more human and relatable than the one in the Gospel. I think for a Christian Jesus must be "like us" enough to understand what he meant, what he was all about, and "different enough" to spring from the trap of a humanity that's turned on itself. However, the paradox in NK's narrative is that Jesus is this extraordinarily unusual, tormented and unique individual. To try and make out his psychology in the novel is very hard work, I'm not at all sure if I understand quite what the enormous gear shifts in the story are all about. In some ways, in trying so hard to make Jesus more "human", he created a Jesus at least as difficult and remote as the Jesus of the classical theology".

And this: "The notion that Jesus is in a state of constant inner flux about his identity and mission ... I'm not so sure. In the gospel, the tension comes from someone who knows who he is and again and again he needs to confront the cost and the consequences of that. But that's very different from the unceasing struggle of NK's Jesus to find a place to stand."

I very much agree with these comments.

In this book, Jesus is not just someone who has a doubt here and there, and therefore is more "relatable", as many have said. He is a man in constant, unceasing spiritual pain, scared of his own shadow and insecure about pretty much everything. He lives a life of torment, and even during his short public career, he is constantly shocked in front of the miracles he can make, always reluctant with regards to his mission.

The communion of Jesus with God is portrayed as a curse (almost a mental illness) rather than a loving relationship. Rather than Jesus being highly educated in the Scriptures as he must have been, and a confident leader, God seems to be using this poor, sickly and bizarre fool as a mere instrument for his plans.

So, Jesus as a person comes across as a mentally unstable man who's gifted with deep sensitivity and extraordinary intuition, but has no confidence at all about what he is doing and no real idea where he is going.

Despite what the Hollywood movie tried to imply, the real "last temptation" of Christ in this narrative is not sex, but domesticity. While on the cross, Jesus dreams of being old, married and with kids and grandkids, as his final temptation.

Another issue I have with this work is that Mary is presented as a very embittered woman, a mother with a heart closed on itself, constantly thinking about her own misfortunes rather than the good of Joseph and Jesus. Such a huge difference between this Mary and the one shown in Mel Gibson's "The Passion", who unflinchingly supports her son until the very last moments of his life.

Also, while Jesus of the gospels simply warned the rich about the fact that it will be difficult for them to enter the kingdom of God, NK's Jesus keeps referring to them as enemies, as people without any hope.

As for the movie, Scorsese wanted to bring this peculiar Christ to his audience in his modern guise, as an unsettling, tortured Jesus, unsure whether his inner voices are divine or demonic, and torn between his love of the flesh and his need for the spirit. Like he demonstrated with his latest movie "Silence" as well, Scorsese seems to be drawn towards extremely contrived versions of Christianity, that seem to lack spontaneity and heart. And, of course, for him there needs to be sex and violence, which doesn’t elevate his work, but rather, unfortunately, it often lowers it to mud.

In any case, if you are accustomed to Jesus as he is portrayed in the gospels, Kazantzakis' Jesus will be shocking. He is a troubled young man, attacked by pains that mimic bird's claws, nagged by his mother, and disappointed in his father.

But most striking is how passive and inept he is and how constantly unsure he is of his divine calling. And without Judas he would be lost (?!). Yes, one of the many inventions of NK is the role of Judas in the story of Jesus. Judas is the strongest apostle, the only one who is able to give strength and courage to Jesus, and in many instances he turns out to be the one who actually leads Jesus. Quite a weird, interesting take.

Don't get me wrong - this is undoubtedly a powerful, poetic, wonderful novel.

There are many scenes that draw you in with their sheer power and intensity, and I think anyone can enjoy this work, no matter where their heart is in terms of spiritual matters.

But the Jesus portrayed here has probably more to do with NK's personality than with Jesus Christ.

p.s. NK did not believe in any traditional God, nor did he believe in a spiritual afterlife. As a catholic reader, I think I could feel that this book was written by someone who was not religious. This transpires especially from NK's incredible effort to build this monument of a novel to the "historic man" Jesus of Nazareth, and to squeeze all the layers of meaning of the Gospel into the life of an individual using the tools of historical research. This effort does not make sense, and it shouldn't make a lot of sense to a catholic. Like Joseph Ratzinger said, "Jesus was entirely man, but he was also one thing with God. Starting with the 1950's, in many writings the hiatus between the "historic Jesus" and the "Jesus Christ of Catholicism" became wider and wider. But what meaning can Faith have, if the "real" Jesus was in fact so different from how he is described in the gospels? In trying to study and analyze in the most subtle ways the "historic Jesus", scholars ended up in a foggy mist, losing sight of Jesus Christ as he is proclaimed by the Church."

In other words, the evangelists described Jesus and the facts that took place in his life, but they also went beyond the historicity of those facts, therefore allowing Jesus to live not only in our physical dimension, and to have an eternal presence and eternal life, not only a "human" life. Christian faith is based upon an intimate relationship with God and with Jesus. If you limit Jesus only to the historic perspective, which is quite vague because we don't have a lot of available data, you risk undermining this relationship and having the faithful reach for something that is very elusive. The reality of Jesus Christ, his presence in the Church today, goes beyond and is much broader than the life of the "historic" Jesus.]]> 4.23 1955 The Last Temptation of Christ
author: Nikos Kazantzakis
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1955
rating: 3
read at: 2017/09/30
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883 - 1957) was one of the greatest Greek writers of the last century. In 1957, he lost the Nobel prize to Albert Camus by one vote. One vote!! Ugh!

Most people who hear about "The last temptation of Christ" immediately think of the 1988 Scorsese movie with Willem Dafoe as Jesus - and other equally atrociously miscast actors - a film that was meant to come across as scandalous and provocative, in the typical Hollywood low-brow fashion.

I never saw the movie and probably never will. That is a very good thing if you're going to read the book, because this is a very complex and beautiful work, that Hollywood would never be able to do justice to.

I loved many parts of the book. The language is very poetic, and I found that NK was great at reproducing the spiritual fervor of the time in Palestine, the social acceptance of visions, miracles, prophecies, and overall a very intense and palpable spiritual reality.

In short, all that we have lost today in the West.

Someone will argue "we’ve lost it for good and for bad", but my opinion is that it is only for the bad. Our loss. We have shrunk from a large, human dimension to the dimension of things. Anyway, that's a different topic (see some modern scientist who states that everyone in ancient times suffered from a form of schizofrenia. Fascinating theory, although probably wrong. Sounds more like a way to formalize the mental state of modern westerners as "healthy and better", which is obviously extremely arguable).

Back to the book. Is NK's Jesus a credible, authentic, realistic Jesus ?

Definitely not.

I will summarize here the opinion of Lord Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and one of my intellectual heroes.

In this video he says that, in his view, from a classical Christian theology perspective, NK gets some things right about Jesus and some other things not so right.

Lord Williams says: "One of the things that make us human is that we can allow the divine light to flood us and fill us, or as some theologians say, we can grow into the divine image. So I think Kazantzakis is right in saying that it's not a question of just one eccentric individual who lived centuries ago, but it is about the destiny of humanity, it is about how humanity itself grows into that divine image. Where NK.'s view is more at odds with a classical Christian view (and perhaps more indebted to a 19th century religious perspective) is that he tends to merge the divinity / humanity tension with the flesh / spirit tension, which historically and theologically is not correct".

Still Lord Williams about this book: "They said NK tried to portray a Jesus who was more human and relatable than the one in the Gospel. I think for a Christian Jesus must be "like us" enough to understand what he meant, what he was all about, and "different enough" to spring from the trap of a humanity that's turned on itself. However, the paradox in NK's narrative is that Jesus is this extraordinarily unusual, tormented and unique individual. To try and make out his psychology in the novel is very hard work, I'm not at all sure if I understand quite what the enormous gear shifts in the story are all about. In some ways, in trying so hard to make Jesus more "human", he created a Jesus at least as difficult and remote as the Jesus of the classical theology".

And this: "The notion that Jesus is in a state of constant inner flux about his identity and mission ... I'm not so sure. In the gospel, the tension comes from someone who knows who he is and again and again he needs to confront the cost and the consequences of that. But that's very different from the unceasing struggle of NK's Jesus to find a place to stand."

I very much agree with these comments.

In this book, Jesus is not just someone who has a doubt here and there, and therefore is more "relatable", as many have said. He is a man in constant, unceasing spiritual pain, scared of his own shadow and insecure about pretty much everything. He lives a life of torment, and even during his short public career, he is constantly shocked in front of the miracles he can make, always reluctant with regards to his mission.

The communion of Jesus with God is portrayed as a curse (almost a mental illness) rather than a loving relationship. Rather than Jesus being highly educated in the Scriptures as he must have been, and a confident leader, God seems to be using this poor, sickly and bizarre fool as a mere instrument for his plans.

So, Jesus as a person comes across as a mentally unstable man who's gifted with deep sensitivity and extraordinary intuition, but has no confidence at all about what he is doing and no real idea where he is going.

Despite what the Hollywood movie tried to imply, the real "last temptation" of Christ in this narrative is not sex, but domesticity. While on the cross, Jesus dreams of being old, married and with kids and grandkids, as his final temptation.

Another issue I have with this work is that Mary is presented as a very embittered woman, a mother with a heart closed on itself, constantly thinking about her own misfortunes rather than the good of Joseph and Jesus. Such a huge difference between this Mary and the one shown in Mel Gibson's "The Passion", who unflinchingly supports her son until the very last moments of his life.

Also, while Jesus of the gospels simply warned the rich about the fact that it will be difficult for them to enter the kingdom of God, NK's Jesus keeps referring to them as enemies, as people without any hope.

As for the movie, Scorsese wanted to bring this peculiar Christ to his audience in his modern guise, as an unsettling, tortured Jesus, unsure whether his inner voices are divine or demonic, and torn between his love of the flesh and his need for the spirit. Like he demonstrated with his latest movie "Silence" as well, Scorsese seems to be drawn towards extremely contrived versions of Christianity, that seem to lack spontaneity and heart. And, of course, for him there needs to be sex and violence, which doesn’t elevate his work, but rather, unfortunately, it often lowers it to mud.

In any case, if you are accustomed to Jesus as he is portrayed in the gospels, Kazantzakis' Jesus will be shocking. He is a troubled young man, attacked by pains that mimic bird's claws, nagged by his mother, and disappointed in his father.

But most striking is how passive and inept he is and how constantly unsure he is of his divine calling. And without Judas he would be lost (?!). Yes, one of the many inventions of NK is the role of Judas in the story of Jesus. Judas is the strongest apostle, the only one who is able to give strength and courage to Jesus, and in many instances he turns out to be the one who actually leads Jesus. Quite a weird, interesting take.

Don't get me wrong - this is undoubtedly a powerful, poetic, wonderful novel.

There are many scenes that draw you in with their sheer power and intensity, and I think anyone can enjoy this work, no matter where their heart is in terms of spiritual matters.

But the Jesus portrayed here has probably more to do with NK's personality than with Jesus Christ.

p.s. NK did not believe in any traditional God, nor did he believe in a spiritual afterlife. As a catholic reader, I think I could feel that this book was written by someone who was not religious. This transpires especially from NK's incredible effort to build this monument of a novel to the "historic man" Jesus of Nazareth, and to squeeze all the layers of meaning of the Gospel into the life of an individual using the tools of historical research. This effort does not make sense, and it shouldn't make a lot of sense to a catholic. Like Joseph Ratzinger said, "Jesus was entirely man, but he was also one thing with God. Starting with the 1950's, in many writings the hiatus between the "historic Jesus" and the "Jesus Christ of Catholicism" became wider and wider. But what meaning can Faith have, if the "real" Jesus was in fact so different from how he is described in the gospels? In trying to study and analyze in the most subtle ways the "historic Jesus", scholars ended up in a foggy mist, losing sight of Jesus Christ as he is proclaimed by the Church."

In other words, the evangelists described Jesus and the facts that took place in his life, but they also went beyond the historicity of those facts, therefore allowing Jesus to live not only in our physical dimension, and to have an eternal presence and eternal life, not only a "human" life. Christian faith is based upon an intimate relationship with God and with Jesus. If you limit Jesus only to the historic perspective, which is quite vague because we don't have a lot of available data, you risk undermining this relationship and having the faithful reach for something that is very elusive. The reality of Jesus Christ, his presence in the Church today, goes beyond and is much broader than the life of the "historic" Jesus.
]]> <![CDATA[Well, This Is Me: A Cartoon Collection from the New Yorker's Asher Perlman]]> 199797462 The perfect gift for every single person on the planet.

Well, This Is Me is the debut cartoon collection from Asher Perlman (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert), who NPR’s Scott Simon calls “one of today’s great New Yorker cartoonists.� A blend of Asher’s classics and never-before-seen material, this collection gives the people what they want: universal health care. Okay, not that, but something almost as important: a delightful book, chock-full of over 150 cartoons about everything from a dog’s encounter with a genie to the Tin Man’s trip to Jiffy Lube.

Conveniently broken up into thematic chapters, Well, This Is Me: A Cartoon Collection from The New Yorker’s Asher Perlman explores traditional comedy playgrounds, like travel and work, as well as more lighthearted subjects, like death and dying. Point is: this book has a little something for everyone. Even you, Kristen.]]> 192 Asher Perlman 152489205X Tom LA 5 4.35 2024 Well, This Is Me: A Cartoon Collection from the New Yorker's Asher Perlman
author: Asher Perlman
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
Just hilarious. Every single one of them.
]]> <![CDATA[Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana]]> 208150580 370 Carlo Emilio Gadda 884593764X Tom LA 4
Sono molto grato ai miei genitori perché abbiamo sempre avuto libri in casa. Elettrizzato da una curiosità vivissima fin da piccolo, stavo spesso là a guardarli sugli scaffali e mi spulciavo i titoli, mi nutrivo del loro potere evocativo. Uno di questi titoli era proprio “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana�. Non ne sapevo nulla, ma un titolo così� quasi già crea il libro. E� un titolo più che perfetto per questo romanzo, è l’unico titolo possibile, il titolo “è� il romanzo.

Nel suo “Lezioni Americane�, Italo Calvino scrive che Gadda �cercò per tutta la vita di rappresentare il mondo come un garbuglio, o groviglio, o gomitolo, di rappresentarlo senza attenuarne affatto l'inestricabile complessità, o per meglio dire la presenza simultanea degli elementi più eterogenei che concorrono a determinare ogni evento�.

E infatti così è il romanzo. Motivo per cui a tanti non piace: lo trovano pesante, come un piatto troppo ricco, troppo burro, troppo sugo, troppe spezie, troppo tutto. Ma il punto è che questo lavoro è talmente rutilante, genialoide, barocco e comico da essere irresistibile. Non si può resistere davanti alla realtà di Gadda, che sembra forzata ma non lo è mai, è così com’�, solo che bisogna immaginarsi che qualcuno abbia alzato il livello d’intensità del reale a �11� (su una scala da 1 a 10). Perché la narrazione si infila in ogni intercapedine e piccola piega della pelle dei personaggi, per poi rimbalzare come una pallina da flipper impazzita su qualche altro dettaglio, altrettanto intenso, o ancor di più.

E della lingua non ho ancora detto niente � inizialmente pensavo che fosse “un libro in romanesco�. Magara!! E� una cacofonia di dialetti, accenti e suoni che � già da sola, senza alcun aiuto proveniente dalla trama � racconta Roma. Certo, la Roma di cent’anni fa� ma è cambiata davvero molto?

Ecco, se un libro fosse un registratore, potresti prendere un libro vuoto, con le pagine tutte bianche, lasciarlo per un po� di tempo, a casaccio, nelle varie strade e vie e piazze e anfratti di Roma, e alla fine avresti “Quer pasticciaccio de Via Merulana�.

Aggiungo che ho letto il libro in formato cartaceo la sera, a letto, e ascoltato l’audiolibro in macchina andando e tornando dal lavoro. Fabrizio Gifuni, l’attore che legge il libro, meriterebbe una statua di un Leone D’Oro abbracciato a un David di Donatello, avvolti in un Nastro d’Argento � ma non sto scherzando! � per la cura e la perfezione con cui inanella ogni accento, ogni sfumatura, e ognuno dei mille toni presenti in questa meravigliosa follia di libro. Grandi applausi per il grande Gifuni (che poi mi pare l’abbia portato anche a teatro).

p.s. ho letto che poi Gadda doveva scrivere una seconda parte, che non scrisse mai. E quindi il libro è incompleto, non c’� una vera conclusione. Ma non importa, perché la ovvia protagonista non è l’indagine sul crimine, ma Roma stessa.


*** English review ***

“That awful mess on Via Merulana�

Originally published in 1957 as “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana�, Gadda’s novel is an Italian classic. It’s ostensibly a detective story. It is 1927, five years into Mussolini’s fascist regime. Two crimes occur just days apart in a shabby apartment block on the Via Merulana (a real street, close to Rome’s central Termini station). First, some jewels belonging to an elderly Venetian countess are stolen. Shortly afterwards, a bourgeois woman is brutally murdered while her husband is out of town. It falls to a police detective from the Region of Molise � Officer Francesco Ingravallo, nicknamed Don Ciccio by the Romans � to solve the double mystery.

Methodical, erudite, with “a slightly dull manner, like a person fighting a laborious digestion�, the philosopher-cop dutifully sets about trying to draw the truth from a morass of frightened witness statements, clashing testimonies and vicious rumours.

Gadda had no intention of writing a standard detective story. Rather than methodically leading us through the investigation, Gadda instead throws us headfirst into the chaos of Roman life. Following the steps of the unfortunate Ingravallo for most of the book, we encounter nearly every character the Eternal City can produce. The stuck-up countess, the tragically childless wife, the slippery oil engineer, the devious adopted daughter, the toothless brothel madam, the hard-pressed carabiniero, the priest with distractingly shiny shoes.

The novel is written in a very ornate Italian, but also in Roman dialect, and also in Molisan dialect, plus some other Italian dialects � exactly what you would find in Rome. I honestly have no idea how the English translation might come across!

The reader soon realises that the actual resolution of the two crimes on the Via Merulana has ceased to be the main subject of Gadda’s prose. Instead, it is the city of Rome itself � its people, its rhythms, its sounds � that takes precedence in the narrative.

As Italo Calvino wrote, the book demonstrates Gadda’s view of the world as a “system of systems�, each interlocking and overlapping in an entangled muddle of human relationships.

A curious fact: this novel is incomplete. So the criminal investigation never comes to a conclusion. Gadda was supposed to write a second part that he, apparently, never wrote.

But the book remains a crazy, messy, hard to digest but irresistible joy.

Just like Rome.]]> 3.25 1957 Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana
author: Carlo Emilio Gadda
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.25
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
*** English review below ***

Sono molto grato ai miei genitori perché abbiamo sempre avuto libri in casa. Elettrizzato da una curiosità vivissima fin da piccolo, stavo spesso là a guardarli sugli scaffali e mi spulciavo i titoli, mi nutrivo del loro potere evocativo. Uno di questi titoli era proprio “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana�. Non ne sapevo nulla, ma un titolo così� quasi già crea il libro. E� un titolo più che perfetto per questo romanzo, è l’unico titolo possibile, il titolo “è� il romanzo.

Nel suo “Lezioni Americane�, Italo Calvino scrive che Gadda �cercò per tutta la vita di rappresentare il mondo come un garbuglio, o groviglio, o gomitolo, di rappresentarlo senza attenuarne affatto l'inestricabile complessità, o per meglio dire la presenza simultanea degli elementi più eterogenei che concorrono a determinare ogni evento�.

E infatti così è il romanzo. Motivo per cui a tanti non piace: lo trovano pesante, come un piatto troppo ricco, troppo burro, troppo sugo, troppe spezie, troppo tutto. Ma il punto è che questo lavoro è talmente rutilante, genialoide, barocco e comico da essere irresistibile. Non si può resistere davanti alla realtà di Gadda, che sembra forzata ma non lo è mai, è così com’�, solo che bisogna immaginarsi che qualcuno abbia alzato il livello d’intensità del reale a �11� (su una scala da 1 a 10). Perché la narrazione si infila in ogni intercapedine e piccola piega della pelle dei personaggi, per poi rimbalzare come una pallina da flipper impazzita su qualche altro dettaglio, altrettanto intenso, o ancor di più.

E della lingua non ho ancora detto niente � inizialmente pensavo che fosse “un libro in romanesco�. Magara!! E� una cacofonia di dialetti, accenti e suoni che � già da sola, senza alcun aiuto proveniente dalla trama � racconta Roma. Certo, la Roma di cent’anni fa� ma è cambiata davvero molto?

Ecco, se un libro fosse un registratore, potresti prendere un libro vuoto, con le pagine tutte bianche, lasciarlo per un po� di tempo, a casaccio, nelle varie strade e vie e piazze e anfratti di Roma, e alla fine avresti “Quer pasticciaccio de Via Merulana�.

Aggiungo che ho letto il libro in formato cartaceo la sera, a letto, e ascoltato l’audiolibro in macchina andando e tornando dal lavoro. Fabrizio Gifuni, l’attore che legge il libro, meriterebbe una statua di un Leone D’Oro abbracciato a un David di Donatello, avvolti in un Nastro d’Argento � ma non sto scherzando! � per la cura e la perfezione con cui inanella ogni accento, ogni sfumatura, e ognuno dei mille toni presenti in questa meravigliosa follia di libro. Grandi applausi per il grande Gifuni (che poi mi pare l’abbia portato anche a teatro).

p.s. ho letto che poi Gadda doveva scrivere una seconda parte, che non scrisse mai. E quindi il libro è incompleto, non c’� una vera conclusione. Ma non importa, perché la ovvia protagonista non è l’indagine sul crimine, ma Roma stessa.


*** English review ***

“That awful mess on Via Merulana�

Originally published in 1957 as “Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana�, Gadda’s novel is an Italian classic. It’s ostensibly a detective story. It is 1927, five years into Mussolini’s fascist regime. Two crimes occur just days apart in a shabby apartment block on the Via Merulana (a real street, close to Rome’s central Termini station). First, some jewels belonging to an elderly Venetian countess are stolen. Shortly afterwards, a bourgeois woman is brutally murdered while her husband is out of town. It falls to a police detective from the Region of Molise � Officer Francesco Ingravallo, nicknamed Don Ciccio by the Romans � to solve the double mystery.

Methodical, erudite, with “a slightly dull manner, like a person fighting a laborious digestion�, the philosopher-cop dutifully sets about trying to draw the truth from a morass of frightened witness statements, clashing testimonies and vicious rumours.

Gadda had no intention of writing a standard detective story. Rather than methodically leading us through the investigation, Gadda instead throws us headfirst into the chaos of Roman life. Following the steps of the unfortunate Ingravallo for most of the book, we encounter nearly every character the Eternal City can produce. The stuck-up countess, the tragically childless wife, the slippery oil engineer, the devious adopted daughter, the toothless brothel madam, the hard-pressed carabiniero, the priest with distractingly shiny shoes.

The novel is written in a very ornate Italian, but also in Roman dialect, and also in Molisan dialect, plus some other Italian dialects � exactly what you would find in Rome. I honestly have no idea how the English translation might come across!

The reader soon realises that the actual resolution of the two crimes on the Via Merulana has ceased to be the main subject of Gadda’s prose. Instead, it is the city of Rome itself � its people, its rhythms, its sounds � that takes precedence in the narrative.

As Italo Calvino wrote, the book demonstrates Gadda’s view of the world as a “system of systems�, each interlocking and overlapping in an entangled muddle of human relationships.

A curious fact: this novel is incomplete. So the criminal investigation never comes to a conclusion. Gadda was supposed to write a second part that he, apparently, never wrote.

But the book remains a crazy, messy, hard to digest but irresistible joy.

Just like Rome.
]]> The Future of an Illusion 80458 112 Sigmund Freud 0393008312 Tom LA 2
There are countless intelligent people who entirely miss the point of religion or spirituality.

They look at it straight from the scientific perspective. From there, it becomes a dialogue in different tongues that can never take anywhere. Very often it is not down to ignorance or desire to argue: I find that some minds (especially the ones more inclined towards math and science) struggle with the body of knowledge called "humanities", because it comes with its baggage of not-clear-cut concepts and ever-shifting realities. As a rule, these type of minds (excuse the generalization, but it is a pattern that it’s been observed by many smart people like Dr. Iain McGilchrist, traceable to left and right brain hemisphere) are also not that great at managing human relationships, which is another field where you NEVER find clear-cut answers and resolutions, but without a doubt the most important one.]]> 3.78 1927 The Future of an Illusion
author: Sigmund Freud
name: Tom LA
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1927
rating: 2
read at: 2016/01/01
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
Perhaps relevant in his times, but utter BS today. Our life is, essentially, a dream. If you are pessimistic enough to call any religion a collective illusion or neurosis (like Freud does here) then you should have the courage and intellectual honesty to call your entire life, religious or non religious, and your own sense of self an illusion and a neurosis.

There are countless intelligent people who entirely miss the point of religion or spirituality.

They look at it straight from the scientific perspective. From there, it becomes a dialogue in different tongues that can never take anywhere. Very often it is not down to ignorance or desire to argue: I find that some minds (especially the ones more inclined towards math and science) struggle with the body of knowledge called "humanities", because it comes with its baggage of not-clear-cut concepts and ever-shifting realities. As a rule, these type of minds (excuse the generalization, but it is a pattern that it’s been observed by many smart people like Dr. Iain McGilchrist, traceable to left and right brain hemisphere) are also not that great at managing human relationships, which is another field where you NEVER find clear-cut answers and resolutions, but without a doubt the most important one.
]]> <![CDATA[All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life]]> 210129380
So begins David Bentley Hart’s unprecedented exploration of the mystery of consciousness. Writing in the form of a Platonic dialogue, he systematically subjects the mechanical view of nature that has prevailed in Western culture for four centuries to dialectical interrogation. Powerfully rehabilitating a classical view in which mental acts are irreducible to material causes, he argues, through the gods� exchanges, that the foundation of all reality is spiritual or mental rather than material. The structures of mind, organic life, and even language attest together to an infinite act of intelligence in all things that we may as well call God.

Engaging contemporary debates on the philosophy of mind, free will, revolutions in physics and biology, the history of science, computational models of mind, artificial intelligence, information theory, linguistics, cultural disenchantment, and the metaphysics of nature, Hart calls readers back to an enchanted world in which nature is the residence of mysterious and vital intelligences. He suggests that there is a very special wisdom to be gained when we, in Psyche’s words, “devote more time to the contemplation of living things and less to the fabrication of machines.”]]> 528 David Bentley Hart 0300254725 Tom LA 0 to-read 4.41 All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life
author: David Bentley Hart
name: Tom LA
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

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