1 comments about On Nietzsche (Wadsworth Philosophers Series).

1. This is a very good account of Nietzsche's thinking from an Analytical perspective. Neitzsche was the least systematic of all the great Western philosophers, but behind his many brilliant metaphors, innovative concepts, and razor-edged critiques of 'Progress' and other idols of modern culture, usually dished out in a flurries of aphorism, Nietzsche was still a modern, 'rational' man of science. At least that is what this book contends.
   
   Nietzsche resisted laying out a systematic view himself because, like Heidegger, he despised the idea that his work might become something others could learn by rote or PowerPoint bullets. Like Heidegger he wanted his philosophy to become a self-transforming existential challenge to the individual reader. But if Nietzsche were to articulate a Hegel-like systematic synthesis of his major ideas and 'overall' view of reality, this book shows what that would probably be like. A good introduction.

No comments about Autobiographical Reflections (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 34).

5 comments about Jacques Derrida: A Biography.

1. Usually I appreciate Continuum's editorial line, but in this case they really messed it up. They went for the easy sales.
   
   The biggest problems of this book are:
   1. It does not add anything new to what it was already know about Derrida
   2. It fails to mention the secret of Derrida's life, i.e. that he had a son with Sylvane Agacinski that was later adopted by Jospin when he marrid Sylvane
   3. When it tries to move beyond Derrida's life and talk about his work, it messes up big time
   4. It's badly written



2. Badly written: "Derrida was never restrained in print about what he saw as the shortcomings of his contemporaries in the efforts they made to embody their ideals." (p. 35).
   Not a biography as much as a sketchy summary of Derrida's works. The "biographer" didn't have access to Derrida's private papers (correspondence, etc).



3. Derrida's biography may not only face scorn from those who do not admire him, but also from those who expect a biography to mimic Derrida's so difficult books. Given the hatred Derrida's work faces in his life and death, a half-way step towards reconciliation with resistance to deconstruction, such as this book is, is of supreme benefit.
   
   
   
   To my mind, this biography offers a good introduction to Derrida's thought and life. It gives to the uninitiated the first step toward Derrida. It consistently invites the reader to actually read Derrida's works, and therefore, even where its own readings are partial and too brief, they point to the importance and the meaning of Derrida's works.
   
   
   
   If there are readers who wish to learn about Derrida and modern philosophy, and about much besides, including the question of what the meaning of life is, and what thinking is, then I do not know of a better book with which to begin. I also think it will be a good antidote to the over-enthusiasm of those who think that Derrida's revolution has already happened, and that it needs no further efforts. Derrida's work requires those willing to go their own way, and not simply to mimic Derrida's style and his frame of mind.
   
   
   
   The more widely this book is read, the more it will be possible to see and hear philosophy being done in the present day in a relevant way.



4. For anyone interested in Derrida, the man; for anyone new to Derrida's thinking and finding it difficult (this book will help clear things up for you); for anyone who wishes to read an interesting biography about a philosopher with an a strong impact academic institutions during his own life time - this is book is it. I found Powell's monograph well-written, interesting and insightful.



5. I enjoyed this book, a good clear introduction to Derrida's life and work.
   A good insite into Philosophy.

1 comments about Deleuze (Key Contemporary Thinkers).

1. I ordered this book because I'm interested in Deleuze and thoroughly enjoyed the Key Contemporary Thinkers book on Wittgenstein. Unfortunately this one is written terribly--there are so many grammatical errors and unnecissarily complicated sentences that I found myself proofreading more than reading. Look elsewhere.

3 comments about A Quest Among the Bewildered: The Early Autobiographical Novel by Wulf Zendik.

1. I agree that this is the best thing I've yet read by a Beat Author - I'd love to have been at those places, met those people and witnessed the scenes described by Zendik. The writing style is so moving and poetic. His revelations and observations about love, romance, sex, the women he was with and the artists he knew are a missing piece of true history about that time and place. Just going through those experiences would change anyone, but the courage to go forward in pursuit of those ideals, that's what gives me courage in my life to believe in my own possibilities. And the possibilities for humanity.

   Definitely the most honest powerful book I've ever read, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to "think outside the box". Zendik writes with a great hunger to express, but precisely, and with generous wit - always with the willingness to turn the penetrating look on himself. I found myself identifying with the feelings and attitudes described, and more than a few times it struck me how absolutely true it is that everybody has these types of thoughts and feelings...

   If you're a fan of Henry Miller, J.D. Salinger, Hunter Thompson or Kurt Vonnegut - I recommend this book to you... this is a fierce piece of work...

   Dennis Holcombe - Asheville, NC




2. This book is amazing......thats all i have to say....he (Wulf Zendik) actually created a commune that lives on TODAY as the embodiement of his ideals in this book......just browse for "Zendik Farm" and you will find it......The work that they have done has had a HUGE influence on me.....and not in a bad way but making me a better more world consious and compassionate person......if you want truth read this....



3. Reviewer: A. Boggess from Adirondack Review, NY When a publisher I had never heard of queried me about a posthumously-published novel by an "undiscovered Beat," I was skeptical at first, but also curious.  The Beats to me are like a secret lover to the more literary wife I cling to most of the time.  I pick up 'Naked Lunch' or 'The Dharma Bums' whenever I want a break from the highbrow fiction I am accustomed to reading.  Needless to say, the thought of something new in the Beat vein intrigued me.  As I said, though, I was hesitant.  After all, any Beat writer worth publishing would have been "discovered" 50 years ago at the height of the movement.  Right?  Well, apparently not. Wulf Zendik easily fits in with the likes of Burroughs, Kerouac, Ferlinghetti and the rest.  His writing is equal parts Bukowski and Buddha, as much Ginsburg as Gao Xingjian. 
         In 'A Quest Among the Bewildered', described as an "early semi autobiographical novel," Zendik straddles the traditional Beat line between living and meditating.  He touches on all the familiar themes: love, lust, homosexuality, intoxication, spirituality, the subculture, and the quest for enlightenment as found in experiencing all the rest and moving beyond.  His language rages and burns, then mellows, slows, lulls the reader into a feeling of safety before lunging with a sharp blade:

          ...Zendik writes with the enthusiasm of a young seeker, while topping off his prose with the insights of a learned master.  While all the Beat basics are here: the energy of Kerouac, the poetics of Ginsburg, the over-the-top edginess of Burroughs, Zendik's work often resembles something more eloquent and grand.  It often reminded me of Rilke's novel 'The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge' in the way the narrator stops to contemplate the simplest things while keeping what can loosely be called a story hidden far in the background.
         'A Quest Among the Bewildered' is the kind of novel one hesitates to enter, but rejoices in having left after its unexpected soul-searching, its journey to places of self and society, its magnificent dreamscape of language and idea.  How Zendik remained an "undiscovered Beat" seems as much a curiosity as his work.  This book makes a case for his being included among the more noted writers of his generation.  At times harsh, at times dazzling, Zendik's prose touches every nerve and reaches every secret desire.  It hooks the reader and refuses to let go, not in the way a Stephen King novel might, more in the way carnival rides and conversations do.
         Recommendation: BUY THIS ONE.  While it might be the last book on your shelf, it will not be last in your thoughts.  The words and insights will stay with you for days until you feel the urge to pick it up again, go back for a second helping of life at its most raw, its most fascinating.  Expect a truly wonderful reading experience.

No comments about Stopped in Our Tracks: Stories of U.G. in India.

3 comments about The Everything Great Thinkers Book: Exploring the Minds of the Men and Women Who Have Changed the Way We See the World (Everything Series).

1. Yes, James Mannion wrote:
   
   "According to classic TV legend, he even ended up on the Ponderosa Ranch. Ben Cartwright and his sons made him welcome on an episode of 'Bonanza,' and inspired his muse when he was reluctant to write the final installment of 'Oliver Twist.'"
   
   The author (trust me, I know him quite well -- wink, wink, nudge, nudge) was attempting a wee bit of whimsy with this quip. He knows full well that the show featured AN ACTOR playing the part of Dickens. Why would fictional characters (the Cartwrights) inspire a real person (Dickens) to finish a novel (Oliver Twist) that was written a more than a century earlier? The phrase "according to classic TV legend" should have been a clue.
   
   If the reviewer read that Napoleon Bonaparte appeared on I Dream of Jeannie or George Washington popped by Samantha's house on Bewitched (they did), would he think that the author really believed that these historical figures were still alive and guest starring on 1960s American television? Come on!
   
   Isn't it lovely that some people take time out of their busy lives to trash a book and potentially affect a man's income and reputation because of their inability to get a subtle joke. Perhaps it wasn't the funniest joke ever to find its way into print, but I think most people reading that sentence would get it. And if not, then how far we have fallen as a civilization!
   
   Believe me, there are probably a few real errors within those covers that someone could find, given the tight deadline and negligible renumeration that hacks suffer to produce this kind of book. At least Old Mannion tried to infuse a few laughs along the way to counterbalance the dryness of the material.
   
   I'm glad the reviewer was finding amusement in the bathroom with this book prior to writing his review. For many reasons, both sacred and profane, the close proximity of a toilet bowl is an appropriate place for most Everything Books to be shelved.



2. According to author James Mannion, Charles Dickens was not only a "great thinker" and "literary giant," he also managed to appear posthumously on a 1960s television show, much like the ghost of Christmas past that appears to Ebenezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol." From page 107 of Mannion's book:
   
   "Dickens was an accomplished showman. He performed one-man shows of his novels, which often had hundreds of speaking parts. He took his act on the road, touring America to great acclaim. According to classic TV legend, he even ended up on the Ponderosa Ranch. Ben Cartwright and his sons made him welcome on an episode of 'Bonanza,' and inspired his muse when he was reluctant to write the final installment of 'Oliver Twist.'
   
   Like many celebrities, Dickens's personal life suffered. After bring ten children into the world, he and his wife apparently fell out of love and he took up with a young actress. DICKENS DIED IN 1870 after a whirlwind theatrical tour."
   
   Upon Googling "Dickens" and "Bonanza," I found this plot synopsis of a 1963 episode of "Bonanza" in which, "At Ben's invitation, Charles Dickens comes to Virginia City to give a reading from 'Oliver Twist' while on a reading/lecture tour in America. While there, he stays at the Ponderosa. He becomes enraged by the townsfolk's casual attitude toward distribution of copies of his stories published without protection of copyright laws. After confronting the local newspaper publisher, the newspaper's office is destroyed. Already having lost the esteem of the townsfolk, Dickens now finds that the townsfolk blame him for the violence. (Written by Chalres Delacroix)'"
   
   So, apparently Mr. Mannion did some of the "research" for his book via indiscriminate Googling, and no editor managed to catch his hilarious and anachronistic assertion that Dickens himself appeared on this episode of "Bonanza" in 1963, 93 years after his death.
   
   This book has been good bathroom reading for several months at my mother's house, but now we've deemed it worthy of coming out of the bathroom,if only to inspect the text much more closely for further entertaining misstatements.



3. This is a fun and informative book. It is both educational and funny. The pantheon of Great Thinkers included here run the gamut, and venture well beyond the predictable. Also, this book is totally unique among these various series. I recommend this book. I learned and laughed, which is my litmus test for a good read.

1 comments about Francis Bacon.

1. Zagorin has not added much to the great mystery of Francis Bacon. He has written a superficial understanding of the life and as a result left out many salient aspects that would have provided greater insight into Bacon's motivations and philosophy. Save your money on this one and buy a copy of Alfred Dodd's:"Francis Bacon's Personal Life Story"instead.

No comments about Jacques & Raissa Maritain: Beggars for Heaven.

No comments about Midwest Studies in Philosophy, The American Philosophers (Midwest Studies in Philosophy).