Harris explores the notion that free will is an illusion in this nimble book (which, at 83 pages, can be read in one sitting or a couple of Metro rides), amiably and conversationally jumping from point to point. The book’s length is one of its charms: He never belabors any one topic or idea, sticking around exactly as long as he needs to in order to lay out his argument (and tackle the rebuttals that it will inevitably provoke) and not a page longer. Go to article
I am reading all day long specialized non-fiction books and journal essays. That is how life is like when you want to be an Academic in a world in which competition is getting harder and harder. However, I also find some time to read good non-fiction from other specialties or great fiction and poetry that allows me to romanticize.
Choosing good non-fiction is very hard for me since the offers are so many and the time to read is so reduced. Plus, the new offers in the market are huge and I learned when working as Collection Developer for my college library that even reviewing the best book review magazines takes a lot of time.
I found this list of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners that will surely help me choose the best non-fiction to read this summer when traveling for holidays. I hope you will also find this list helpful! Also, I add some other fiction books from my ongoing list of “pending to read” that may be also helpful for you!
If you have some recommendations please share them with me! I’d love to have them in my reading list! 😀
Today I am joining the celebration of the World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. The Day was first celebrated in 1995 and in 2012 the UK World Book day was celebrated on March 1, 2012.[1]
As part of my celebration I am sharing with you some quotes from one of my favorite books. This year I have chosen the book “The Law” written by Frederic Bastiat. The book was first published as a pamphlet in June, 1850 and later became widely read in Europe and the world.
“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
In The Law, Bastiat states that “each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property”. The State is a “substitution of a common force for individual forces” to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one’s right to self-defense in favor of another’s acquired right to plunder.
Bastiat defines two forms of plunder: “stupid greed and false philanthropy”. Stupid greed is “protective tariffs, subsidies, guaranteed profits” and false philanthropy is “guaranteed jobs, relief and welfare schemes, public education, progressive taxation, free credit, and public works”. Monopolies and Socialism are legalized plunder which Bastiat emphasizes is legal but not legitimate.
If you are interested in reading more about this ideas here are the links to the book,
The Law (English Edition) via Amazon.com
La Ley (Spanish Edition) via Amazon.com
La Loi (annoté) (French Edition) via Amazon
Last night I couldn’t sleep. I choose to read some poetry to go somewhere else for the night. Now I share with you the poem that moved me the most. I hope you enjoy it,
This Is the Dream by Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge
This is the dream we carry through the world
that something fantastic will happen
that it has to happen
that time will open by itself
that doors shall open by themselves
that the heart will find itself open
that mountain springs will jump up
that the dream will open by itself
that we one early morning
will slip into a harbor
that we have never known.
translation by Robert Bly and Robert Hedin
Writing a 15-page essay is difficult; writing a 15-page publishable paper is even more difficult. But writing a 15-page essay that is publishable and consistent in all its content is a masterpiece.
As difficult as to writing so many pages is to write a single paragraph that is structured in a readable, rational and valuable way. By readable I mean that is grammatically correct. By rational I mean that its sentences are all logical, valid and non-contradictory. By valuable I mean that achieves the goal of informing and adding value for the specific target of people for whom you are writing.
To learn how to do this and continue perfecting the “art” of writing I went through a course a year ago that used the book “The Art of Nonfiction Writing. A Guide for Writers and Readers” written by Ayn Rand as the main literature. The book is a magnificent tool that analysis different steps of the Writing Process by dealing it as an “ability to create quality nonfiction; a skill that can be learned like any other.”
Globalization & Capitalism 