what you get here

This is not a blog which opines on current events. It rather uses incidents, books (old and new), links and papers to muse about our social endeavours.
So old posts are as good as new! And lots of useful links!

The Bucegi mountains - the range I see from the front balcony of my mountain house - are almost 120 kms from Bucharest and cannot normally be seen from the capital but some extraordinary weather conditions allowed this pic to be taken from the top of the Intercontinental Hotel in late Feb 2020

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Perennials

This blog, says the masthead, has set its face against 

 offering comments on current affairs. It rather uses incidents, books (old and new), links and papers to offer musings about our social endeavours. So old posts are as good as new!” 

But these are “Manichean” days – when people expect you to favour one of two sides; and, indeed, to nail your colours to the mast. And this I refuse to do – since I belong to the generation which grew up on Bertrand Russell - whose “Sceptical Essays” opens with an essay on “The Value of Scepticism” which puts in shade a lot of current discussions about “fake news”. And it was written almost a hundred years ago……. 

Although I was very active politically for some 25 years, my values were mainstream and I readily own up to being a bit of a “mugwump” who sees several sides to any story - and is open to new ideas. Just a few weeks ago, I found myself quoting this Russian proverb – 

“Don’t fear your friends - because they can only betray you.

Don’t fear your enemies – because they can only destroy you

But fear the indifferent – because it’s they who allow your friends to betray you and your enemies to destroy you” 

But under no circumstance should we confuse the “indifferent” with the sceptical!!

-      The indifferent are simply those who don’t care - they shrug their shoulders and “pass by on the other side”.

-      The sceptics, on the other hand, care deeply – they are passionate searchers after truth and, like Voltaire, will defend your right to your hallenge to what JK Galbraith called “the conventional wisdom” 

I would like to think my posts are as much “perennial” as open-minded and sceptical. Just click a title to access a post! 

 The 2020 posts - continued

Post title

What sparked it off

 

Its basic message

Explaining the blog’s title

 

Realising that I had never given a proper explanation of the changes in the blog’s name

Quite an important personal statement about the importance of trespassing – and how long I’ve felt this

No Man’s Land

 

This title was too warlike

 why straddling boundaries gives insights

Should I buy this book?

Applying the test I have developed for non-fiction books to a book which caught my eye.

Authors and publishers really do need to understand we are fed up with the flood of books they inflict on us

In praise of the Outsider

Wondering if straddling different worlds, however uncomfortable, doesn’t help challenge groupthink

There are some very-well written books out there about the operation of our economic system – but you have to know how to find them

We are all Pirates now!

 

Updating my list of journals worth reading

Ditto for journals

Writing Again

Starting with a great find from 1983 about how to write well and a 1944 book on the same topic

I confess I have a hidden folder on the art of writing

Does being an outsider help original writing?

Trying to pursue this hypothesis

It helps open one’s eyes – but then sheer discipline needed

How to write well

 

Summary of a marvellous essay from a man who changed into a woman a couple of decades later -

Imagine a reader – ensure paras have points – check each word – reread, reread, tighten – be concrete and plain

Reading Tips on better writing

Gathering the best references in one place

Practice, practice – and use appropriate tools like this table

Breakdown and Crises

 

The first of 7 well-written books dealing with a sense of humanity at the crossroads

David Runciman’s book is a stunning example of good writing

Gods and the rest of us superfluous people

Harari’s “Homo Deus – a history of tomorrow”

He may be too much the techno-optimist

Links I Liked

 

Starting with Coronavirus, then painting and ending with a couple of new series

As always some great hyperlinks

Facing Extinction?

 

 A post from a survivalist

The apocalypticists may have a point!

Coronavirus - who do we believe?

The urge to select and disseminate the clearest

The most helpful advice is not from government sources

Links I Liked

 

A model book review; Adam Curtis; survivalist blogs

The need for straight talking

Voice in the wilderness

 

Discovering a German pulmonological/.political sceptic

The importance of scepticism and peripheral vision

Music from my travels

Rediscovering CDs

 

I need to honour tonality more than textuality

Links which appealed in Ploiesti

Appalling TV programme selection; intellectual history; accounts of lockdowns

At times such as these we need sensitivity and honesty

Thought for the Day

A good quote from William Davies

This could be a paradigm change

 

On Perspective

About how mundane our prior passions now look

Useful to look back and see how we were dealing with the pandemic in its early stages

 Bach Cello Concertos - I'm sure Radio Muzical said the Cello Concerto I heard an hour or so ago was the "Seventh" - but there are apparently only 6 all of which you can view here


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