Category Archives: Literature

BOOKS: “A Horse’s Tale” by Mark Twain

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A Horse's TaleA Horse’s Tale by Mark Twain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Project Gutenberg Page

Among the lesser-known works of Twain, A Horse’s Tale mixes an epistolary by a military officer at a remote outpost with dialogues between animals of the post (principally the protagonist, a horse called Soldier Boy.) The principal subject of the epistolary is a precocious girl who lives at the outpost and who is adored by all as the one soft, sweet creature in a world of warfighting men and their animals. The conversations between animals offer the most amusing portion of this book, largely for the fun being poked at humanity’s expense.

In its best moments, this novella is intensely touching or hilarious. However, it does suffer from inconsistency of pacing and tone.

If you enjoy Mark Twain’s humor and storytelling, this novella is well worth reading. If you’re primarily a reader of present-day genre / commercial fiction, it probably won’t be your thing.

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Wen Fu 8 [文赋 八] “Edits” by Lu Ji [陆机] [w/ Audio]

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Maybe the first lines constrain the last;
  Maybe ends insist on openings;
  Maybe some truths escape all words;
  Maybe dulcet lines tell no truths.
 One may need to keep separated -- 
  Beauty and truth -- to avoid wounds.
 Inspect and haggle over each word --
  Distinctions maybe finer than a hair;
 Weigh each edit upon a scale;
  Ensure each cut serves its purpose.

Original poem in Simplified Chinese:

或仰逼于先条，或俯侵于后章。
或辞害而理比，或言顺而义妨。
离之则双美，    合之则两伤。
考殿最于锱铢，定去留于毫芒。
苟铨衡之所裁，固应绳其必当。

“I heard thee laugh” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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I heard thee laugh,
And in this merriment
I defined the measure of my pain;
I knew that I was alone,
Alone with love,
Poor shivering love,
And he, little sprite,
Came to watch with me,
And at midnight
We were like two creatures by a dead camp-fire.

“There is a finished feeling” (856) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Recording]

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There is a finished feeling
   Experienced at Graves—
A leisure of the Future—
   A Wilderness of Size.
 
By Death’s bold Exhibition
   Preciser what we are
And the Eternal function
   Enabled to infer.

Quatrain 62 of the Rubaiyat of Rumi [w/ Audio]

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If you desire the self, get out of the self.
   Leave the shallow stream behind
   And flow into the river deep and wide.
 Don't be an ox pulling the wheel of the plow,
   Turn with the stars that wheel above you.

As translated in: Helminski, Kabir (ed.). 2018. The Pocket Rumi. Boulder, CO: Shambhala South Asia Editions. p. 4; translators: Kabir Helminski, Camille Helminski, and Lida Saedian

“Epigram for Wall Street” by Edgar Allan Poe [w/ Audio]

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I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
    Better than banking, trade or leases —
Take a bank note and fold it up,
    And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
    'Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!

“Have you ever made a just man?” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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"Have you ever made a just man?"
 "Oh, I have made three," answered God,
 "But two of them are dead,
 And the third --
 Listen! Listen!
 And you will hear the thud of his defeat."

“The earth has many keys” (1775) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

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The earth has many keys,
   Where melody is not
 Is the unknown peninsula.
   Beauty is nature's fact.

But witness for her land,
   And witness for her sea,
 The cricket is her utmost
   Of elegy to me.

BOOKS: “Live Like a Philosopher” by Massimo Pigliucci, Gregory Lopez, and Meredith Alexander Kunz

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Live Like A Philosopher: What the Ancient Greeks and Romans Can Teach Us About Living a Happy LifeLive Like A Philosopher: What the Ancient Greeks and Romans Can Teach Us About Living a Happy Life by Gregory Lopez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Hachette / Headline Press

This book is for a person in the market for a philosophy of life, but who only knows that they want a system rooted in Ancient Greece. While the coauthors are all Stoics, the book explores twelve additional philosophies and gives each roughly equal consideration. In addition to the expected systems, such as Epicureanism, Stoicism, Platonism, and Skepticism, there are also several lesser known or defunct philosophies such as Cyrenaic hedonism, Cynicism, Pyrrhonism, and Megarianism.

The book is organized into four parts. The first examines schools that value pleasure (Cyrenaicism and Epicureanism,) the next investigates schools that focus on virtue and character (Aristotelian Peripatetics, Stoicism, Cynicism, and Political Platonism,) the penultimate focuses on systems encouraging doubt or caution in knowledge (Socratic philosophy, Academic Skepticism, Sophism, and Pyrrhonism,) and the last set are posed as questionable candidates for a life philosophy (i.e. those of the Pythagoreans, Megarians, and Neoplatonists.) The last three schools are questioned on various grounds, including: is enough known about what its practitioners believed, did they live their philosophy or just ruminate on it, and could the system be considered a full-fledged philosophy (as opposed to a stance on a specific issue or issues.)

The book is presented in self-help fashion, with each chapter ending in a set of exercises designed to help the reader build practical understanding of each school. The goal of these exercises (as comes together in an appendix) is to help the reader determine which philosophy is best suited to their disposition and inclinations.

I enjoyed this book. The authors use stories to convey ideas and the book’s readability is kept inviting to general readers. If you’re interested in better understanding Greek schools of philosophy, I’d recommend the book as quick and easy way to get a better grasp.

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“Loss and Gain” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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    When I compare
What I have lost with what I have gained,
What I have missed with what attained,
  Little room do I find for pride.

     I am aware
How many days have been idly spent;
How like an arrow the good intent
  Has fallen short or been turned aside. 

     But who shall dare
To measure loss and gain in this wise?
Defeat may be victory in disguise;
  The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.