There was an old lady from Kanyakumari who one day tripped on the hem of her sari. She fell into the sea, but said, "Please leave me be. I've long wished to know the world beyond Kanyakumari."
Kanyakumari Limerick
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Author Archives: B Gourley
DAILY PHOTO: Interior Monochromes, Ibrahim Roza
BOOK REVIEW: Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Julia Annas
Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Julia AnnasMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Annas’s task of creating a concise guide for such a broad topic is a daunting one. For perspective, I’ve read books in this series [AVSI] on Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Socrates – each of which is a slim subset of the material called “Ancient Philosophy.” Furthermore, it’s not as though there was great homogeneity of ideas among the ancients. And, adding to the challenge, the author attempts to address the full scope of ancient philosophy: i.e. ethics, epistemology, logic, and metaphysics.
The book is forced to both restrict itself to an inch deep (because the subject is a mile wide,) but also to make choices about what schools, philosophers, and sub-topics it will address. History did part of the work – e.g. for many ancients, only fragmentary or secondhand evidence of their positions survived. So, we see a lot about Plato and Aristotle because their words remain. The book also devotes a disproportionate emphasis to what some call “philosophy of life,” i.e. ethics and how / whether to pursue a happy and meaningful life – i.e. how to live. This emphasis is both because that’s what many ancients focused upon, but also because it’s what people find relevant when looking back to them. [As opposed to ancient metaphysics, which science has largely made obsolete, ancient ethics and thoughts on happiness aren’t necessarily outmoded.] The first chapter sets up this focus on philosophy of life in an interesting way by discussing humanity’s mixed motivational system — reason v. emotion.
One question that the book robustly considers is the degree to which ancient philosophy is still relevant. This is taken up most directly in chapter two, but the final chapter (on what constitutes ancient philosophy) also has germane things to say on the subject.
I found in this book a quick guide to comparing schools of the ancient world across the breadth of philosophy, and would recommend the volume – particularly as a starting point prior to delving deeper into sub-topics.
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Flatlands [Haiku]
in the flatlands, sprawling waters and vast skies make for wee truss bridges
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DAILY PHOTO: A Temple in Tadipatri
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Eroded Rock [Haiku]
rock erodes out from under boulders -- precarious stacks
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Bougainvillea [Senryū]
DAILY PHOTO: A Line of Vendor Carts, Aurangabad
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Diabolus [Sestina]
I woke up seeing stars up in the sky, a blanket brightly twinkling above. But I could only guess just where I lie, and knew no better from what place I fell. And for a moment I was lost in stars, and felt the vastness I'd been cast against. What was it that I had rebelled against? What got me tossed from beyond vaulted skies? Was it that I tried counting all the stars? Or that I turned my focus from above? Can I return some day from whence I fell? Or is it best to stay right where I lie? You may think I tell myself perfect lies, that I'm angry with those I've sinned against. But I'm not sure my exile was a fall, and I'm not sure I lived beyond the sky. What of the freedom not seen far above? What of the beauty seen amid the stars? For now, I reside in the field of stars. Where passersby told stories full of lies, and I have no love for the far above. It's just a place that I once raged against. They preach earth and water and endless skies, but not a thing is here that never fell. It's all matter that spiraled as it fell that formed this platform amid blazing stars. A vacuum beyond mountain, sea, and sky. But I remember that's the greatest lie - the one that I had always railed against. That meaning lie in words like "far above." That word is laden with judgment: "above." And where's the gravity by which I fell? Can puny bodies be so pulled against where exist so many colossal stars? So many obstacles between us lie, and so much nothing before reaching sky. There's no "above," only a field of stars. And no one fell; that's just a peoples' lie. Nothing stands against me - no endless sky.
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BOOK REVIEW: Radium Girls by Cy
Radium Girls by Cy.My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Out: April 6, 2022
This is a graphic novel that tells the same story [based on actual events] as the similarly titled, but otherwise unrelated, popular book by Kate Moore. The “Radium Girls” were women who worked at watch factories, painting luminescent numbers on watch dials. Unfortunately, the luminescent material being used was radioactive, and the painting process that these women were taught involved touching paintbrushes to their lips between strokes, causing them to ingest minute amounts of it everyday, often over many years. In today’s world, a person who found themselves glowing in the dark from a job (without protective equipment) would know something was radically wrong, but this took place about a century ago and understanding of radioactivity was much less – though scientists clearly understood that precautions needed to be taken when working with radium.
This book captures the highs and lows of a small group of workers from one of the watch / clock factories involved, the one in Orange, New Jersey. Ultimately, this is a sad story of deteriorating health and premature death, but it also shows a relatively new phenomena of women holding jobs that allowed them to increase control their own destinies. By showing the women as they tasted the good life, the experience of the bottom falling out created a more visceral experience. The women did earn a good wage — not the kind of money that makes cancer worthwhile, but higher pay than the usual salary available to women of the day.
I thought the story was well told and touching. The art was in an interesting style – sure to be the cup of tea of some but not others – but nevertheless clearly conveying events of the story. I’d recommend this graphic novel for readers interested in the subject.
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