Yes, The History of Philosophy is 682 pages of insightful writing about dozens of philosophers. This is the best one-volume history of the subject that I’m aware of. Grayling writes clear, concise descriptions of each philosopher’s thought. If you’re interested in this subject, this is the go-to book. Do you have a favorite philosopher? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction xv
PART ONE: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy Before Plato 3
The Presocratic Philosophers 9
Thales 9
Anaximander 14
Pythagoras 16
Xenophanes 18
Heraclitus 24
Parmenides 27
Zeno of Elea 31
Empedocles 35
Anaxagoras 39
Leucippus and Democritus 43
The Sophists 47
Socrates 51
Plato 58
Aristotle 80
Greek and Roman Philosophy After Aristotle 98
Cynicism 100
Epicureanism 103
Stoicism 108
Skepticism 115
Neoplatonism 123
PART TWO: MEDIEVAL AND RENASISSANCE PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy of Medieval Times 137
Augustine 137
Boethius 142
Anselm 145
Abelard 148
Aquinas 150
Roger Bacon 158
Duns Scotus 161
William of Ockham 164
Philosophy of the Renaissance 168
Renaissance Platonism 171
Renaissance Humanism 175
Renaissance Political Thought 185
PART THREE: MODERN PHILOSOPHY
The Rise of Modern Thought 195
Francis Bacon 197
Descartes 200
Hobbes 209
Spinoza 211
Locke 217
Berkley 226
Leibniz 232
Hume 240
Rousseau 250
Kant 256
The Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment 268
Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century 279
Bentham 280
Hegel 287
Schopenhauer 297
Positivism 302
Mill 303
Marx 307
Nietzsche 314
Idealism 320
Pragmatism 328
PART FOUR: PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Analytic Philosophy 339
Russell 344
Frege 357
Moore 365
Wittgenstein: The Early Philosophy 370
Logical Positivism 377
Carnap 386
Quine 388
Popper 395
Wittgenstein: The Later Philosophy 400
Ordinary Language Philopshy 405
Ryle
Austin
Strawson
Philosophy of Language 417
Davidson
Dummett
Kripke
Philosophy of Mind 433
Ethics 444
Stevenson
Hare
Mackie
Virtue Ethics
Political Philosophy 457
Rawls
Nozick
Feminist Philosophy 466
Continental Philosophy 471
Husserl 473
Heidegger 476
Merleau-Ponty 484
Sartre 485
Gadamer 492
Ricoeur 497
Deleuze 500
Derrida 504
Continental Thought: Un Salon des Refuses 506
PART FIVE: INDIAN, CHINESE, ARABIC-PERSIAN, AND AFRICIAN PHILOSOPHY
Indian Philosophy 519
Vedas and Upanishads
Samkhya
Nyaya-Vaisheckika
Buddism
Jainism
Carvaka-Lokayata
Chinese Philosophy 534
Confusianism
Confusius
Menius
Xunzi
Mohism
Daoism
Daodejing
Yijing
Arabic-Persiam Philosophy 554
Falsafa and Kalam
Al-Kindi
Al-Farabi
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
Al-Ghazali
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
African Philosophy 579
Concluding Remarks 583
Appendix: A Sketch of Logic 585
Fallacies of Informal Logic 593
Timeline of Philosophers 596
Bibliogrpahy 599
Index 611

Essays One certainly qualifies as a Big Fat Book, weighing in at 512 pages. Lydia Davis, in her “Preface,” states she wanted to collect her non-fiction articles in one or two volumes. When she saw the amount of material that she had written, Davis decided on two volumes. The second volume of essays is scheduled to be published on November 17, 2020 (probably another 500+ page volume). Lydia Davis is a translator and writer. I have a copy of Davis’s celebrated translation of Proust’s Swann’s Way on my shelf waiting to be read this year. But Davis is also a professor who teaches writing so some of the essays in this volume deal with the writing process.

I enjoyed Davis’s essay, “Revising One Sentence,” where she illustrates the revision process. After reading “Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits” I hope to adopt a couple of Davis’s suggestions myself. “Be sure to read poetry, regularly, whether you are a poet or a writer of prose.” (p. 248) and “Cutting can be effective: it quickens the pace and involves more happening in a shorter space. But this does not mean that everything has to be short. You can write three thousand pages (as Proust did in In Search of Lost Time) and still be economical. In this case, economical simply means not saying more than you need to.” (p. 253)

Lydia Davis recommends books she likes or finds useful. She’s a fan of Flaubert (she also translated Madame Bovary) and Edward Dahlberg. Davis reads a lot of European writers and works I’m not that familiar with, but I’m now motived to track down. If you’re interested in reading intelligent, thought-provoking literary essays, I highly recommend Lydia Davis’s Essays One. I look forward to reading Essays Two. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface ix
THE PRACTICE OF WRITING
A Beloved Duck Gets Cooked: Forms and Influences I 3
Commentary on One Very Short Story (“In a House Besieged”) 28
From Raw Material to Finished Work: Forms and Influences II 31
A Note on the Word Gubernatorial 64
VISUAL ARTISTS: JOAN MITCHELL
Joan Mitchell and Les Bluets, 1973 69
WRITERS
John Ashbery’s Translation of Rimbaud’s Illuminations 77
Young Pynchon 85
The Story Is the Thing: Lucia Berlin’s A Manual for Cleaning Women 90
A Close Look at Two Books by Rae Armantrout 104
Small but Perfectly Formed: Five Favorite Short Stories 121
VISUAL ARTISTS: JOSEPH CORNELL
The Impetus Was Delight: A Response by Analogy to the Work of Joseph Cornell 125
THE PRACTICE OF WRITING (2)
Sources, Revision, Order, and Endings: Forms and Influences III 141
Revising One Sentence 169
Found Material, Syntax, Brevity, and the Beauty of Awkward Prose: Forms and Influences IV 177
Fragmentary or Unfinished: Barthes, Joubert, Hölderlin, Mallarmé, Flaubert 204
Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits 226
VISUAL ARTISTS: ALAN COTE
Energy in Color: Alan Cote’s Recent Paintings 265
WRITERS (2)
“Emmy Moore’s Journal” by Jane Bowles 281
Osama Alomar’s Very Short Tales in Fullblood Arabian 285
Haunting the Flea Market: Roger Lewinter’s The Attraction of Things 291
Red Mittens: Anselm Hollo’s Translation from the Cheremiss 296
In Search of Difficult Edward Dahlberg 300
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary 321
VISUAL ARTISTS: EARLY TOURIST PHOTOGRAPHS
Dutch Scenes: A Portfolio of Early Twentieth-Century Tourist Photographs 345
WRITERS (3)
The Problem of Plot Summary in Blanchot’s Fiction 367
Stendhal’s Alter Ego: The Life of Henry Brulard 371
Maurice Blanchot Absent 380
A Farewell to Michel Butor 385
Michel Leiris’s Fibrils, Volume 3 of The Rules of the Game 391
THE BIBLE, MEMORY, AND THE PASSAGE OF TIME
As I Was Reading 405
Meeting Abraham Lincoln 425
“Paring Off the Amphibologisms”: Jesus Recovered by the Jesus Seminar 443
A Reading of the Shepherd’s Psalm 464
Remember the Van Wagenens 475
Acknowledgments and Notes 503

Just as there are Big Fat Books, there are also Big Fat Movies. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) is a 165-minute (2 hours and 45 minutes) epic Spaghetti Western co-written and directed by Sergio Leone. Once Upon a Time in the West stars Henry Fonda as the villain. After Clint Eastwood turned down the role, Charles Bronson was cast as the protagonist. Claudia Cardinale plays a newly widowed homesteader and Jason Robards plays a bandit.

If you love Spaghetti Westerns, you’ll love this one. Vengeance powers this film as grievances get resolved at the barrel of a gun. While Once Upon a Time in the West was a box office hit in Europe, it flopped in the U.S. Some critics at the time complained about the film’s length. Are you a Sergio Leone fan? Do you like long movies? GRADE: A

Welcome to Big, Fat Book Week! I’ve been reading 500+ page books lately so it seemed the right time to dedicate a whole week to them. Let’s start with a new, massive (795 pages!) short story anthology. I’m not a big ghost story fan, but Ellen Datlow’s new anthology casts a wide net over the entire genre. There are mostly new stories and a few older stories include between these covers.

My favorite story is Alice Hoffman’s “The Other Woman.” Hoffman introduces us to someone familiar with ghosts and someone who explains how ghosts operate. Sadly, many of the stories in Echo are very sketchy about ghosts and that vagueness does not enhance their work. I also liked Seanan McGuire’s chilling “Must Be This Tall to Ride” about a carnival ride with ghostly aspects. Aliette de Bodard’s story of a sister trying to save her sister’s unborn child from ghosts is very gripping. And Jeffrey Ford’s “The Jeweled Wren,” a story about a retired couple who decide to explore a haunted house, shows the consequences of their grave mistake. Of the older short stories, I liked F. Marion Crawford’s spooky tale, “The Upper Berth,” from 1886. If you’re in the mood for a ghostly Smörgåsbord of stories, Echo is the book for you. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction Ellen Datlow xii
“Ice Cold Lemonade 25ȼ Haunted House Tour: 1 Per Person,” by Paul Tremblay 1
“Linger Longer,” by Vincent J. Masterson 29
“Whimper Beg,” by Lee Thomas 53
“The July Girls,” by Alison Littlewood 85
“About the O’Dells,” by Pat Cadigan 107
“A Hinterlands Haunting,” by Richard Kadrey 141
“The Number of Things You Remember,” by M. L. Siemienowicz 155
“Must Be This Tall to Ride,” by Seanan McGuire 181
“The Surviving Child,” by Joyce Carol Oates 191
“The Medium’s End,” by Ford Madox Ford 247
“A Shade of Dusk,” by Indrapramit Das 256
“Icarus Rising,” by Richard Bowes 286
“The Puppet Motel,” by Gemma Files 300
“Air Valve Semilunar Astern,” by Nick Mamatas 340
“The Unwrapping,” by Terry Dowling 348
“The Upper Berth,” by F. Marion Crawford 376
“A Burning Sword for Her Cradle,” by Aliette de Bodard 403
“Precipice,” by Dale Bailey 428
“The Shooter,” by M. Rickert 457
“The Tree of Self-Knowledge,” by Stephen Graham Jones 468
“The Other Woman,” by Alice Hoffman 500
“The Loneliness of Not Being Haunted,” by Bracken MacLeod 505
“Mee-Ow,” by Garth Nix 525
“Jasper Dodd’s Handbook of Spirits and Manifestations,” by Nathan Ballingrud 542
“His Haunting,” by Brian Evenson 570
“The Jeweled Wren,” by Jeffrey Ford 588
“The Air, the Ocean, the Earth, the Deep,” by Siobhan Carroll 608
“The Ghost Sequences,” by A. C. Wise 627
“Deep, Fast, Green,” by Carole Johnstone 653
“Natalia, Queen of the Hungry Dogs,” by John Langan 691
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS 783

I’m not sure we will even watch THE OSCARS tonight. The whole event lasts too long. There’s not much drama (or comedy). It all seems tedious and unexciting. But, here are my choices for the major categories. I wouldn’t consider 2019 a strong year for movies. My favorite movie, Ford Vs. Ferrari, probably won’t win anything. I have no special knowledge, so here goes nothing. Who do you think will win tonight?
BEST ACTRESS: Scarlett Johansson
BEST ACTOR: Joaquin Phoenix
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Laura Dern
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Brad Pitt
BEST PICTURE: 1917
BEST DIRECTOR: Sam Mendes

When Diane was teaching Second and Third Grades in elementary school, one of her favorite books to read aloud to her classes was Miss Nelson Is Missing by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall. Miss Nelson, a wonderful teacher, has the worst class in the school. No matter what she tries, the students misbehave. One day, Miss Nelson doesn’t report for work. The class is elated…until the substitute teacher shows up: mean Viola Swamp. Viola Swamp cracks the whip and the students find themselves with extra homework and none of the fun activities they enjoyed with Miss Nelson. So the class decides to find Miss Nelson and beg her to return to their classroom.

The musical version of Miss Nelson Is Missing follows the plot. I especially enjoyed the performances of Lily Jones (Miss Nelson/Viola Swamp). Her Viola Swamp was very intimidating! This musical was held at the Theater of Youth (TOY) organization in downtown Buffalo. Most of the audience was kids (with parents and grandparents sprinkled in). There was a Q&A session after the one-hour musical and kids could take pictures with their favorite actors on the stage. A fun outing for all. Do you have a favorite kids book? GRADE: B+

The Great SF Stories #19 features some classic stories: “Poul Anderson’s “Call Me Joe,” “Kate Wilhelm’s “The Mile-Long Spaceship,” and A. Bertram Chandler’s “The Cage.” I remember watching the Outer Limits TV version of Harlan Ellison’s “Soldier” back in 1964. Robert Silverberg shows up with one of his clever stories, “World of a Thousand Colors.” But my favorite story in this anthology is H. Beam Piper’s “Omnilingual,” a story about trying to translate an alien language. I appreciate Piper’s research and skill in writing a very technical story but keeping the “sense of wonder” as events unfold. I’d say 1957 was a pretty good year for Science Fiction! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 9
“Strikebreaker” by Isaac Asimov (aka, “Male Strikebreaker,” SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, January 1957) 15
“Omnilingual” by H. Beam Piper (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, February 1957) 33
“The Mile-Long Spaceship” by Kate Wilhelm (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, April 1957) 89
“Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, April 1957) 103
“You Know Willie” by Theodore R. Cogswell (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, May 1957) 149
“Hunting Machine” by Carol Emshwiller (SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, May 1957) 149
“World of a Thousand Colors” by Robert Silverberg (SUPER SCIENCE FICTION, June 1957) 167
“Let’s Be Frank” by Brian W. Aldiss (SCIENCE FICTION (GREAT BRITAIN) June 1957) 187
“The Cage” by A. Bertram Chandler (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, June 1957) 199
“The Education of Tigress McCardle” by C. M. Kornbluth (VENTURE SCIENCE FICITON, July 1957) 215
“The Tunesmith” by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (WORLDS OF IF, August 1957) 229
“A Loint of Paw” by Isaac Asimov (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICITON, August 1957) 281
“Game Preserve” by Rog Phillips (WORLDS OF IF, October 1957) 285
“Soldier” by Harlan Ellison (aka, “Soldier from Tomorrow” and later adapted into The Outer Limits 1964 episode “Soldier”, FANTASTIC UNIVERSE, October 1957) 305
“The Last Man Left in the Bar” by C. M. Kornbluth (INFINITY SCIENCE FICTION, October 1957) 335

I watched the original Star Trek as a kid. And, I also watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Enterprise, and the Star Trek movies. Diane and I are just starting Star Trek Discovery (also on CBS All Access). But the new series, Star Trek Picard, excites us most. We have always liked Patrick Stewart as starship captain Jean-Luc Picard.

This series so far–just two of the 10 episodes–sets up a scenario where Star Fleet has been infiltrated by a menacing conspiracy that seems so far obsessed with destroying any “synthetic” (aka, android) life forms. At this point, Picard doesn’t have a ship or a crew, but I’m sure things will get moving in tonight’s third episode. This new Star Trek series brings back several actors from previous Star Trek series to reprise their roles, including Brent Spiner (Data), Jeri Ryan (Seven-of-Nine), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and Jonathan Frakes (Riker). Are you a Star Trek fan? Are you interested in Star Trek Picard? GRADE: INCOMPLETE

In 2016, Andrew Taylor decided to eat nothing but potatoes for an entire year. At the end of that year, Taylor had lost 121 pounds and found his health had been restored. SPUDFIT explains the nutritional science behind Taylor’s diet. Several doctors weigh in on the benefits. So do some chefs and athletes. SPUDFIT includes over 100 healthy, potato-based recipes. I’m considering making “Loaded Potato Skin Bites” (p. 211) this weekend. The “Black Bean Quinoa Chili” (p. 214) looks good, too! Are you a potato fan? Or do you prefer some other vegetable? GRADE: B+
Table of Contents
Introduction IV
Spud Fit 01
Doctors 17
Health Professionals 51
Athletes 87
Chefs 115
Activists 155
Wellness Warriors 181
About the Author 231
Acknowledgements 233
Contributor Directory 235
Photo/Publisher Credits 240

The first Bad Boys movie was a hit 25 years ago. The sequel was a lesser hit 17 years ago. So Will Smith and Martin Laurance have a lot of rust to shake off in this retro-1990s action movie. Some wants Will Smith dead. After being shot (twice) but surviving, Smith’s character–Mike Lowery–swears vengeance on the assassin. But, Smith’s partner, the way more mellow Martin Lawrence, just wants to retire and enjoy his grandson. Well, of course, that doesn’t last. Martin Lawrence provides the humor the punctuates the car chases, motorcycle chases, and explosions that make up much of Bad Boys for Life. If you’re looking for an old-fashion action movie, this is it. GRADE: B+