Here you won't find the pages of a pedantic journal, praises to fantastic places or accounts of memorable encounters. This is a collection of stories, thoughts, images, and most of all odd stuff, even though to someone else it might actually look ordinary. To discern its bizarre side, in fact, special filters are needed: cynicism, fussiness, stubbornness, isolation, impudence, nosiness and nerdiness. All flaws that, in different measure, this semi-nomadic being has got embedded in his genes.
Friday, March 25, 2022
Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world - Murakami Haruki
Murakami,
buy-one-get-one-free option. Two stories told through alternating
chapters. The first one is based, as usual in Murakami's novels, in a
slightly dystopian version of modern day Japan, where two powerful
organizations are fighting an all-out cyber-war,
and a band of invisible mutants roam around a web of tunnels connected
to Tokyo's subway system. The second one takes place in a totally
fictional world, a walled city inhabited by unicorns and people deprived
of both heart and shadow. At the end of the book Murakami unveils the
connection between the two plots, and the fictional world turns out to
be a product of the mind of the first story’s protagonist. A bit
confusing sometimes, still an intriguing and creative novel though.
Labels:
books,
fiction,
japanese,
literature,
murakami haruki,
music,
novels,
reviews,
Surrealism
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
A history of Western philosophy - Bertrand Russel, Sophie's world - Jostein Gaarder
These books offer two different approaches to anyone who wants to be introduced to western philosophy. They both range from the Greek Pre-Socratics to contemporary German, French and English speaking thinkers. One of them even gets to talk about the Big Bang Theory.
“Sophie’s world” is genius, no wonder it’s been a worldwide success among readers of all ages and walks of life, although it deals with such a tough topic. Jostein Gaarder decided that the best way to introduce new people to philosophy is by telling them a fictional story. It is a marvelous and instructive voyage through western philosophy that also deals with tangent topics such as reality and illusion, wonder and indifference, compassion and suffering.
Bertrand Russel’s work, on the other hand, is a classic, a traditional overview of western philosophy written by one of the greatest contemporary thinkers. Yet, it’s not just a didactic and detached textbook. Russel is original and bold, unafraid to tell us that a great master has made a gross mistake or inspired tyrants and warmongers. Plus, even though it is much more challenging than Gaarder’s book, it’s not inaccessible to people who are not familiar with the subject.
Philosophy is one of the best topic I know. If you’re new to it take your pick. Or, better even, read them both!
Labels:
bertrand russel,
books,
history,
jostein gaarder,
philosophy,
reviews,
thinking,
western
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