Month: February 2011
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Ian Brunskill on Montaigne’s art of living
Ian Brunskill has written a fine review (“For a Little Room Behind the Shop” [American Interest, March/April 2011]) of Sarah Bakewell’s book on Montaigne, How to Live. Near the end of the review, he writes that Montaigne’s was “a productively detached kind of engagement with life.” Montaigne’s outlook, Brunskill concludes, is a “counterpoint to a media-driven, mediated modern culture…
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On the ‘repeal of reticence’
Rochelle Gurstein’s thoughts about the “repeal of reticence” have been swimming around in my head for months now. How could it be that we have become accustomed to sharing all our thoughts, desires, wishes, and fantasies with total strangers? And how did it come about that exposing the private lives of political figures could be…
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Walter Russell Mead on The Art of War as a manual for living in the modern world
In his American Interest blog entitled “Sun Tzu: The Enemy of the Bureaucratic Mind,” Walter Russell Mead provides an eloquent, prescient exposition of Sun Tzu’s seminal work. Near the end of the essay he writes, “The Art of War is a handbook for living in an uncertain and dangerous world.” Throughout, he stresses–rightly, in my opinion–that…
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So far, I don’t mind aging…
So far, I don’t mind aging. I still have my health. No major injuries to report. No illnesses of which I’m aware (mental illness?). Nothing chronic yet. But then I don’t have health care. Haven’t had it for 8 years. (Has it been that long?) I’m sure the illnesses and injuries and catastrophes are all…
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On the business of busyness, part 2
Aphorisms 1. The one stuck waiting thinks he’s the better person. The one running late knows she’s the better fuck. 2. What would Kant have said about the almost-promise? “First, I shall make an almost-promise with the goal of almost-promoting my own well-being. Second, everyone shall make almost-promises with the goal of almost-promoting nobody’s well-being.”…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 