Here is a list of the top books that have shaped my view of the world. See my other list of authors that have changed my life.1. NEIL POSTMAN, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, and The End of Education: . . . . Continue Reading »
Earlier this week economist Tyler Cowen started a meme by asking bloggers to list the top ten books that have influenced their view of the world. (See the lists by Peter Suderman, E.D.Kain, Arnold Kling, Michael Martin, Niklas Blanchard, Bryan Caplan, Will Wilkinson, and Freddie deBoer.) Because it . . . . Continue Reading »
The Awl points out this interview with Tina Brown . At about 19:40, Brown asks: “Are we building this new sort of subculture frankly of impoverished, living in garret writers? Because the fact is writers can hardly make a living right now because they dont get paid.” Leon . . . . Continue Reading »
I am currently reading Carlos Eire’s A Very Brief History of Eternity (Princeton, 2009). Eire is the author of the memoir Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, which won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2003, and a number of works of religious history, including From . . . . Continue Reading »
I opened my mail box today and happily found a package with Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (Viking, March 2010), a monumental work by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University and author of The Reformation and Thomas Cranmer, both highly acclaimed . . . . Continue Reading »
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. John 1:1,2. Following Edith Stein in her discussion of Essential and Eternal Being we see that all meaningful existents are enclosed by the divine . . . . Continue Reading »
I think Americas system of easy bankruptcy is one of the jewels of our economic and political institutions, because it allows people who genuinely cannot repay their bills to get a fresh start as quickly as possible. I think non-recourse mortgages are an excellent idea, which I would like to . . . . Continue Reading »
I didn’t know it until I started googling around this morning, but right now the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux are touring the United Kingdom. Today she’s at York Minster; more about the itinerary here.Swine flu fears aside, if you’re in the neighborhood, go and say a prayer . . . . Continue Reading »
So, here’s what they suggest doing. In the contrarian spirit of Saint Jerome, whose feast it was first, here are some alternative ideas: Put a WWJDrive bumper sticker on your 15-passenger van. Tell a girl that growing up to be a wife and mommy is an interesting and intellectually satisfying . . . . Continue Reading »
Well, really I’m not. I’m back home now, and the children have just gone to bed, most of them, after some moments of franticness over a white shirt a certain personage of this household has to wear to march with the Holy Crusaders in the Eucharistic procession tomorrow morning. Yes, yes, . . . . Continue Reading »