Tag: books
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The Dangers of Populism in All The King’s Men
“Mason city. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new” (opening lines) In an age where populist demagoguery has once again captured the hearts of the American voter, it has been illuminating for me to sit down and read this classic novel […]
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On the Definitions, Postulates, and Common Notions of Euclid’s Elements
Euclid’s Elements (“Stoikheîon”) is the foundational text of classical, axiomatic, and deductive geometry (“earth-measurement”). The Elements is composed of thirteen books, each filled with propositions that beautifully unfold a theory of number, shape, proportion, and measurability. The Elements was the essential geomtery textbook for nearly 2,000 years thanks to the preservation efforts of the Byzantines, […]
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On Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
“Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” -fictional proverb The year was 1948. The New Yorker Magazine was celebrating its 23rd anniversary when it published a disturbing little story called “The Lottery.” The story was to cause decades of controversy. At the time, The New Yorker apparently did not distinguish between works of fact or […]
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On The Idea of Home in Housekeeping
Housekeeping is a novel that celebrates the idea of the commonplace, the everyday, and the ordinary, yet somehow it is not a vulgar or an ugly work. Instead, Housekeeping brings to life the experience of solitude, oddity, and simplicity. The novel unfolds slowly, revealing the seasons of life through the eyes of Ruth, the novel’s […]
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Introduction to Macbeth
In all likelihood The Tragedie of Macbeth was first performed in 1606 at the court of King James I. Its first public performance likely occurred at the Globe Theatre in 1611 (a review of this performance was given by the sometimes misleading astrologer, Simon Forman). Macbeth was first published in Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623, […]
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The Haunting Waters of A River Runs Through It
“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing” –opening lines Anyone who has ever gone fly fishing knows it to be a complex art -almost spiritual in nature. Fly fishing forces a man to slow down, find rhythm, and discover patience and harmony with nature. In Norman Maclean’s A River […]
Great Books Guy 