Martin Seymour-Smith ß 0 Free download
hehe, a very partial take, but if like me you enjoy Martin Seymour-Smith's particulary opinionate partiality, then this could be one of the most influential books that you ever read. Certainly it's influenced me, helped me find my way through the human record. I bought copies for friends. Hardcover It is interesting, but the author's opinion of each book seems to be more important than the book itself... Hardcover I love the way author tries to get cocky over those authors he has no idea of (Lacan, Foucault, Heidegger). Hardcover I didn't love this book. Note that the author is claiming the 100 most influential books, not the best (which is subjective anyway).
I got annoyed with the arrogance of the author. He writes with a palpable disdain for anything he doesn't like, particularly religion. (I mean, we get it -- you're an atheist and you think religion is stupid. Thanks for mentioning that, often.)
Be prepared for a lot of very old books that you probably don't know. It turns out that older books that survived long enough to be canonized were usually about philosophy or religion. It makes you wonder if they had tabloids or trash fiction back then. This is probably why we have such a serious view of old writing -- we assume it's about serious topics, because of the natural survivor bias of the books people still talk about.
They're in the chronological order, so if you want to start with books you know or that relate to your generation, then read the chapters in reverse (they all seem self-contained, so this is fine). the later books are just as much about the author as the work -- each chapter is as much a biography as literary critique. Hardcover Nie wiedziałam, że książka znaleziona gdzieś na zakurzonej półce da mi tyle zabawy. Nie chodzi nawet o same książki, ale o opinie autora, który jedzie po bandzie.
Np. Poematy Homera tworzą fundament kultury greckiej, a tym samym także i naszej. Żaden poeta, nawet Wergiliusz czy Dante, nie dorównał arcydziełom Homera. Ludzie, którzy mieli okazję je czytać (w przekładzie) i tego nie zrobili, nie mogą powiedzieć, że są pełnymi istotami ludzkimi - o czym niektórzy mają przekonać się, gdy szczęśliwie po nie sięgną. Jednak w naszej epoce edukację zastąpił trening w sztuce chciwości i obłudy, toteż nic dziwnego, że urzędnicy - roboty z plastikowymi identyfikatorami w klapie, którzy układają programy nauczania, nie widzą w szkole miejsca dla Homera. Jedynie na wzmiankę, że sprzedaż jego dzieł przez stulecia była dochodowa, w ich martwych oczach pojawia się jakiś błysk.
The audacity!
Ogółem jednak meh, zbyt chaotyczna. Hardcover
s/t: The History of Thought from Ancient Times to Today
Sure, you've heard of innovative thinkers such as John Locke, Gregor Mendel, and Jean-Paul Sartre. But do you know what they wrote, or what influence their books had on society? You can find it in I The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written. /I P A chronological history of thought, from ancient China to twentieth century United States, this compendium discusses: UL LI Religious works, such as the Koran and the Bible LI Literature, including I Don Quixote /I and I War and Peace /I LI Scientific treatises, such as Albert Einstein's I Relativity /I LI Philosophical writings, including Immanuel Kant's I Critique of Pure Reason /I LI Political works, such as I Common Sense /I by Thomas Paine P One hundred engaging essays discuss the book's author, its context, and the reasons for its inclusion, creating a collection that will educate, amuse, and inspire readers. The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written
όπως προείπα είναι για μακροχρόνια μελέτη και απόσβεση των περιλαμβανομένων βιβλ��ων όταν και εφόσον διαβαστούν.
Σίγουρα αξίζει τον κόπο. Hardcover I'm really, really, glad to have read this book. I hope to one day read the books it lists, but if I don't get to them all that's okay.
In the course of reading Martin Seymour-Smith's book, one discovers as much or more about his implicit opinions and worldview as about the books he discusses. Seymour-Smith's overriding value is basic human decency. And he values human spirituality and human sexuality. He often slips in tidbits about the great authors' conflicted sex lives. And he reserves his most bitter denunciations for those who reduce human life to mere mechanistic existence. Hardcover I thought this would be a did not finish for me about halfway through because the author writes about ancient cultures through a very modern political lense. I’m no expert in ancients but I know enough to recognize that it’s very rare that our current modes of thinking a relevant. I will say that the list is a very impressive creation and each of these books is important to know about. The political lens becomes more and more relevant as time goes on though and I will say that the author is opinionated which becomes helpful in hearing a perspective that is different from a simple summary of the work. By the end I was able to compensate somewhat for the authors perspective and as a result gain more from his summations then I would from just a cliff notes reading. Hardcover This sort of project is unavoidably idiosyncratic but this one goes beyond that (Eliot was a very minor poet). Still, some of the writer's perspectives are illuminating or thought-provoking. Hardcover Although one can argue with some of the selections, I liked that the author stayed true to the concept of influence versus general popularity. Hardcover