No comments about Iqbal - Islam and Post Colonialism in South Asia (Pathfinders).

No comments about Michel Foucault: An Introduction to the Study of His Thought (Studies in Religion & Society).

1 comments about Henry David Thoreau: A Man for All Seasons (Makers of America).

1. These days, odds are quite good that the typical high school student will be assigned to read some sort of biography and will have to report on its content. Publishers have responded in kind by releasing many biographical series targeted at the teenage audience. Though the quality of such books varies, the volumes always meet the teachers' 100-page minimum and offer at least a modicum of academic credibility.
   
   Here's one of the better samplings covering the life of Henry David Thoreau. Miller begins by focusing on the Walden Pond experience, and then retreats to cover the usual background information. He's already snagged his readers and waits until page 20 to broach the concept of Transcendentalism, which is probably a good tactic. No sense in bringing it up earlier and running the risk of having the young readers stop turning pages because they don't understand the vocabulary. While this book is obviously not an in-depth literary or biographical analysis, the author doesn't dumb down the information and doesn't approach it in an overtly scholarly fashion. Facts and stories are told in an interesting and personal way, using a conversational style and often adding Thoreau's own words to illustrate his observations and philosophies.
   
   Some devoted academics might scoff at Miller's interpretation of one of Thoreau's most-dissected statements: that of losing "a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle-dove." The contemporary take is that the tale is merely about life's losses. Here, Miller says the trio "represents the spiritual reality behind nature." What? Hmmm. That excerpt aside, the author is obviously a Thoreau fan and did not merely churn this book out to meet a publisher's criteria. His concluding statement is "If our planet is to survive to celebrate the bicentennial of his death in the year 2062, the world would do well to heed his vision." Indeed.
   
   A sole criticism of this work is that Thoreau's statements are used without footnotes. While this technique makes for easier adolescent reading, it can be vexing to anyone wanting to locate the original source of those quotes. A three-page narrative bibliography is quite useful, as is the full index. School and public librarians would do well to make this title available to their patrons. It serves a population that's not quite ready for the standard full-bodied HDT biographies by Canby, Harding or Richardson.

No comments about Correspondence (The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant in Translation).

No comments about The Wit And Wisdom Of Alfred North Whitehead.

1 comments about The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell.

1. Three passions governed the author's life, searches for love and knowledge, and pity. He was an orphan. His parents had held advanced opinions.
   
   Bertrand Russell was raised at Pembroke Lodge by his grandmother. Her morality was that of a Victorian Puritan. Bertrand's brother Frank longed to be loved, but he was a bully. Bertrand believed he owed to the Stanley family, his mother's side, vigor, good health, and good spirits. To his father's side he believed he owed shyness, sensitiveness, and metaphysics.
   
   He fell in love with Euclid at age eleven. From that point until age thirty eight, through the PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA, mathematics was his great passion. Russell attended Cambridge in 1890 with a minor scholarship. Cambridge had been chosen for reason of his great interest in mathematics. He met Charles and Bob Trevelyan when he sat for the scholarship examination. He felt that Charles Percy Sanger had a perfect combination of penetrating intellect and warm affection. In addition to Sanger, he came to know Crompton and Theodore Llewelyn Davies, Ellis McTaggart, Roger Fry, and Lowes Dickinson. Russell never felt that his having been schooled at home was a disadvantage.
   
   In his third year at Cambridge he met G.E. Moore who fulfilled his ideal of genius. Russell's favorite group at Cambridge was the society known as The Apostles. Whitehead was a member and had recommended that the mathematics papers of Sanger and Russell, prepared during the scholarship examination, be read by the faculty. Bertrand was elected to the society in 1892. He knew Maynard Keynes through his father and Lytton Strachey through his mother. Lady Strachey had immense vigor. Lytton was brought up to be a writer.
   
   Russell fell in love with Alys Smith who lived near his Uncle Rollo. He came of age May 1993. His love for Alys grew. His family was not pleased by his infatuation. He went to live with Alys's family while working on his fellowship dissertation on non-Euclidean geometry. He married Alys in December 1894. Her family had been Philadelphia Quakers. Her brother was Logan Pearsall Smith and her sister was Mary Costelloe.
   
   Ward and Whitehead were the readers of Russell's dissertation and he was elected a Fellow. He read the work of Georg Cantor at his wife's parents place because the couple's flat was too noisy. Subsequently Russell fell out of love with his wife. He discerned in her traits he disliked in her brother and her mother.
   
   In 1910 with PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA completed he felt at loose end. Volunteering for the Liberal cause he met Philip Morrell and Ottoline Morrell. Ottoline was very tall and had dark red marmalade colored hair, not dyed. In 1913 he began a friendship with Joseph Conrad.

No comments about William James - Pioneer Psychologist (Biography).

No comments about The Life And Letters Of John Fiske V2.

No comments about Aristotle.

No comments about Plotinus.