One of my correspondents likes to refer to what he calls the "harm principle." I think it offends him that some of us find this so-called principle incoherent and unintelligible. What is a principle? Are there criteria something ought to meet so that it can be called a principle and not a slogan?
I always like to start with the dictionary. What is a principle? According to The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition (Office Edition) (1994), a principle is:
n. 1. A basic truth, law, or assumption. 2.a.A rule or standard, esp. of good behavior. b. Moral or ethical standards or judgments. 3. A fixed or predetermined policy. 4. A rule or law concerning the functioning of natural phenomena or mechanical processes. 5. A basic source. Page 658.
Webster's College Dictionary (2003) gives us this:
n 1 a: a fundamental law or doctrine b: a rule or code of conduct c: devotion to right principles d: the laws or facts of nature underlying the working of an artificial device (trying to grasp the principles of radar) 2 a: a primary source : ORIGIN b: an underlying faculty or endowment (such principles of human nature as greed and curiosity) 3: a constituent that exhibits or imparts a characteristic quality (quinine is the active principle of cinchona bark)
The New Roget's Thesaurus in Dictionary Form, Revised Edition (1976), at page 324, has the following entry:
principle, n. regulation, law prescript (RULE)
All of which goes to this point: A principle is similar to what Kant called a maxim, a rule of behavior, a guide to practice. We are, thus, in the realm of practical reason, and we would expect to find guidance. The form of a statement of such a principle should be along the lines of "One should always act in such a way as to ...," or "One should never act so as to ...," and so on.
An example of a principle might be: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
A principle, looked at another way, is a statement which could serve as the major premise of a practical syllogism.
Glenn A Knight
In my study
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
The Death of a Blog
I maintain a little list of blogs on the sidebar of this site, and I probably need to check on them more often. I looked at Anthony Bourdain's blog on the Travel Channel site, for example, and found that the last post was in November 2012. It appears that No Reservations has been cancelled, and Mr. Bourdain will no longer be blogging on that subject.
There was another blog called Apocaloopsis, and I found that the last post on the site was in May of 2012, with the last previous one in November 2011. Doesn't seem very active, does it?
Finally, I went out to Cafe Third Edition, another home for old Great Books Cafe habitues, and found that no one had posted there in almost three years. And the last post was mine!
So, in the interest of diminishing clutter, I've removed those three blogs from the list.
Suggestions for new blog to which I might link are always welcome.
There was another blog called Apocaloopsis, and I found that the last post on the site was in May of 2012, with the last previous one in November 2011. Doesn't seem very active, does it?
Finally, I went out to Cafe Third Edition, another home for old Great Books Cafe habitues, and found that no one had posted there in almost three years. And the last post was mine!
So, in the interest of diminishing clutter, I've removed those three blogs from the list.
Suggestions for new blog to which I might link are always welcome.
Reading List: December 2012
During the month of December 2012 I finished two books that I had previously
started, continued reading in one books that was underway, started and
finished two books, and started five books that I did not complete by the end of the month.
H. V. Morton, A Traveller in Italy (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2002). H. V. Morton was a fine travel writer, and his book on Italy, originally published in 1964, is very good on the northern part of the country. (He has another book which deals with Rome.) I started this book on the fourth of November and finished it on December twenty-third.
Antonella Ansani, Complete Italian: The Basics Edited by Suzanne McQuade. (New York: Living Language, 2008). If I keep at it long enough, I'll actually learn some Italian. Magari! I started this book on November thirtieth, and I'm still working on it.
Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A history of Italy since 1796. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Compnay, 2008). The title, taken from a Verdi opera, indicates Duggan's thesis that the risorgimento, the unification of Italy, was really a conquest of the regions of Italy by Piedmont, under the leadership of Camille Cavour. Most of Italy was never enthusiastic about being taken over by the Piedmontese, and resentment still rankles. Together with Gilmour's book, The Force of Destiny paints a rather pessimistic picture of the prospects for a united and prosperous Italy. I started The Force of Destiny on September fifteenth and completed it on December ninth.
Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2012.) The first book of Hilary Mantel's trilogy on Thomas Cromwell, Chancellor to Henry VIII, won the Man Booker prize. So did Bring Up the Bodies. This is a rare double triumph, and a very, very good historical novel.
David Drake, The Road of Danger. (Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2012.) By my count, this is the ninth in Drake's Royal Cinnabar Navy series starring Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy (Mundy of Chatsworth). Space opera, nicely done.
Jean Edward Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace. (New York: Random House, 2012.) I found this one-volume biography of General Eisenhower both readable and informative. Smith takes Stephen Ambrose to task for his literary sins in various biographies of Eisenhower and Nixon, and he may make too much of the Kay Summersby affair (take that however you like). But he is thorough and even-handed, and I've seldom found 950 pages so easy to read.
David Sanger, Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power. (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012.) This is a very interesting book, and one which gave the Republicans in Congress and opportunity to criticize the administration for letting Sanger know too much. One supposes that President Obama's Machiavellian ways are partly natural and partly due to the financial and political constraints he faces.
Greg Harvey, Excel 2010 for Dummies. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing Company, 2010.) I found this very helpful in my work, as proficiency in Excel is one of the mainstays of keeping my customers happy.
Poul Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader, compiled with an introduction by Hank Davis. (Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2008.) This is a collection of stories, including one short novel, by the late Poul Anderson. Baen Books have now put out an extensive array of Anderson's work in about seven volumes. Many of the stories in this set were first published in magazines, largely Astounding/Analog, but including Boy's Life, and then previously collected in The Earth Book of Stormgate.
Robert Crais, The Monkey's Raincoat. (New York: Bantam Books, 1987.) I first heard of Robert Crais on National Public Radio. NPR aired a series of interviews with authors talking about how their work related to the cities they lived in. Crais, like Michael Connelly, is a Los Angeles writer. I was sufficiently impressed with Crais that I looked him up at Barnes & Noble. The Monkey's Raincoat may be his first novel; it was the earliest I could find. I believe we'll be reading more of Robert Crais.
Marcel Proust. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Paris: Gallimard, 1988 [1919]). The second volume of Remembrance of Things Past. A long-term project. I didn't get any reading done in this book during December 2012.
H. V. Morton, A Traveller in Italy (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2002). H. V. Morton was a fine travel writer, and his book on Italy, originally published in 1964, is very good on the northern part of the country. (He has another book which deals with Rome.) I started this book on the fourth of November and finished it on December twenty-third.
Antonella Ansani, Complete Italian: The Basics Edited by Suzanne McQuade. (New York: Living Language, 2008). If I keep at it long enough, I'll actually learn some Italian. Magari! I started this book on November thirtieth, and I'm still working on it.
Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A history of Italy since 1796. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Compnay, 2008). The title, taken from a Verdi opera, indicates Duggan's thesis that the risorgimento, the unification of Italy, was really a conquest of the regions of Italy by Piedmont, under the leadership of Camille Cavour. Most of Italy was never enthusiastic about being taken over by the Piedmontese, and resentment still rankles. Together with Gilmour's book, The Force of Destiny paints a rather pessimistic picture of the prospects for a united and prosperous Italy. I started The Force of Destiny on September fifteenth and completed it on December ninth.
Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2012.) The first book of Hilary Mantel's trilogy on Thomas Cromwell, Chancellor to Henry VIII, won the Man Booker prize. So did Bring Up the Bodies. This is a rare double triumph, and a very, very good historical novel.
David Drake, The Road of Danger. (Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2012.) By my count, this is the ninth in Drake's Royal Cinnabar Navy series starring Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy (Mundy of Chatsworth). Space opera, nicely done.
Jean Edward Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace. (New York: Random House, 2012.) I found this one-volume biography of General Eisenhower both readable and informative. Smith takes Stephen Ambrose to task for his literary sins in various biographies of Eisenhower and Nixon, and he may make too much of the Kay Summersby affair (take that however you like). But he is thorough and even-handed, and I've seldom found 950 pages so easy to read.
David Sanger, Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power. (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012.) This is a very interesting book, and one which gave the Republicans in Congress and opportunity to criticize the administration for letting Sanger know too much. One supposes that President Obama's Machiavellian ways are partly natural and partly due to the financial and political constraints he faces.
Greg Harvey, Excel 2010 for Dummies. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing Company, 2010.) I found this very helpful in my work, as proficiency in Excel is one of the mainstays of keeping my customers happy.
Poul Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader, compiled with an introduction by Hank Davis. (Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2008.) This is a collection of stories, including one short novel, by the late Poul Anderson. Baen Books have now put out an extensive array of Anderson's work in about seven volumes. Many of the stories in this set were first published in magazines, largely Astounding/Analog, but including Boy's Life, and then previously collected in The Earth Book of Stormgate.
Robert Crais, The Monkey's Raincoat. (New York: Bantam Books, 1987.) I first heard of Robert Crais on National Public Radio. NPR aired a series of interviews with authors talking about how their work related to the cities they lived in. Crais, like Michael Connelly, is a Los Angeles writer. I was sufficiently impressed with Crais that I looked him up at Barnes & Noble. The Monkey's Raincoat may be his first novel; it was the earliest I could find. I believe we'll be reading more of Robert Crais.
Marcel Proust. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Paris: Gallimard, 1988 [1919]). The second volume of Remembrance of Things Past. A long-term project. I didn't get any reading done in this book during December 2012.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Reading List: November 2012
During the month of November I finished three books that I had previously started, continued reading in three books that were underway, and started and finished two books, and started a second run through an instructional book. I've been thinking about doing some categorical breakdowns of my reading, but, for the moment, I'll continue to present the books according to the date during the month when I took them up.
David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). Contemplating a trip to Italy in the spring of 2013, I thought I'd read up on the country. I started Sir David Gilmour's The Pursuit of Italy on October 2, and I finished it on November 6. The title tells the story: Gilmour's thesis is that Italy, divided by geography, history, economics, and culture, is not, and never has been a unified country. Declarations of Italian unity have been aspirational, rather than descriptive, and the attempt to impose an artificial uniformity on a diverse country led to the monstrosity of fascism.
Bruce Feiler, Walking the Bible (New York: Harper Perennial, 2001). This is a very well-known travel book, describing Mr. Feiler's efforts to visit locations mentioned in the Pentateuch. One of the major problems facing Feiler is that the present location of many of the place names in the Bible is unknown or disputed. (My personal crochet is that I think the Garden of Eden, if it existed, would have been located much farther north than is generally accepted.) Since no one knows if there was an exodus from Egypt, it's hard to follow the putative route of the alleged migration. Also, Feiler is very inconsistent, which may just reveal his humanity, about whether he's a doubter looking for faith, or a believer looking for confirmation.
David Abulafia, The Great Sea: A human history of the Mediterranean (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). This is a book of immense scope. It's beautifully written, and the maps are very helpful. The Mediterranean has sometimes unified the countries and peoples of its islands and littoral, and sometimes divided them. This is a book well worth reading.
Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A history of Italy since 1796. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Compnay, 2008). The title, taken from a Verdi opera, indicates Duggan's thesis that the risorgimento, the unification of Italy, was really a conquest of the regions of Italy by Piedmont, under the leadership of Camille Cavour. Most of Italy was never enthusiastic about being taken over by the Piedmontese, and resentment still rankles. Together with Gilmour's book, The Force of Destiny paints a rather pessimistic picture of the prospects for a united and prosperous Italy.
H. V. Morton, A Traveller in Italy (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2002). H. V. Morton was a fine travel writer, and his book on Italy, originally published in 1964, is very good on the northern part of the country. (He has another book which deals with Rome.)
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Murder at the Savoy (New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2009 [1971]). This is the sixth in the famous Scandinavian series of mysteries, or romans policiers, The Story of Crime, by Sjowall and Per Wahloo. Good writing and a fine eye meet social criticism.
Alan Furst, Mission to Paris (New York: Random House, 2012). Another of Furst's fine novels of pre-World War II Europe. In this case, a Hollywood actor of East European origins get caught up in a web of Nazi intrigue in the film industry.
Marcel Proust. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Paris: Gallimard, 1988 [1919]). The second volume of Remembrance of Things Past. A long-term project.
Antonella Ansani, Complete Italian: The Basics Edited by Suzanne McQuade. (New York: Living Language, 2008). If I keep at it long enough, I'll actually learn some Italian. Magari!
David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). Contemplating a trip to Italy in the spring of 2013, I thought I'd read up on the country. I started Sir David Gilmour's The Pursuit of Italy on October 2, and I finished it on November 6. The title tells the story: Gilmour's thesis is that Italy, divided by geography, history, economics, and culture, is not, and never has been a unified country. Declarations of Italian unity have been aspirational, rather than descriptive, and the attempt to impose an artificial uniformity on a diverse country led to the monstrosity of fascism.
Bruce Feiler, Walking the Bible (New York: Harper Perennial, 2001). This is a very well-known travel book, describing Mr. Feiler's efforts to visit locations mentioned in the Pentateuch. One of the major problems facing Feiler is that the present location of many of the place names in the Bible is unknown or disputed. (My personal crochet is that I think the Garden of Eden, if it existed, would have been located much farther north than is generally accepted.) Since no one knows if there was an exodus from Egypt, it's hard to follow the putative route of the alleged migration. Also, Feiler is very inconsistent, which may just reveal his humanity, about whether he's a doubter looking for faith, or a believer looking for confirmation.
David Abulafia, The Great Sea: A human history of the Mediterranean (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). This is a book of immense scope. It's beautifully written, and the maps are very helpful. The Mediterranean has sometimes unified the countries and peoples of its islands and littoral, and sometimes divided them. This is a book well worth reading.
Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A history of Italy since 1796. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Compnay, 2008). The title, taken from a Verdi opera, indicates Duggan's thesis that the risorgimento, the unification of Italy, was really a conquest of the regions of Italy by Piedmont, under the leadership of Camille Cavour. Most of Italy was never enthusiastic about being taken over by the Piedmontese, and resentment still rankles. Together with Gilmour's book, The Force of Destiny paints a rather pessimistic picture of the prospects for a united and prosperous Italy.
H. V. Morton, A Traveller in Italy (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2002). H. V. Morton was a fine travel writer, and his book on Italy, originally published in 1964, is very good on the northern part of the country. (He has another book which deals with Rome.)
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Murder at the Savoy (New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2009 [1971]). This is the sixth in the famous Scandinavian series of mysteries, or romans policiers, The Story of Crime, by Sjowall and Per Wahloo. Good writing and a fine eye meet social criticism.
Alan Furst, Mission to Paris (New York: Random House, 2012). Another of Furst's fine novels of pre-World War II Europe. In this case, a Hollywood actor of East European origins get caught up in a web of Nazi intrigue in the film industry.
Marcel Proust. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Paris: Gallimard, 1988 [1919]). The second volume of Remembrance of Things Past. A long-term project.
Antonella Ansani, Complete Italian: The Basics Edited by Suzanne McQuade. (New York: Living Language, 2008). If I keep at it long enough, I'll actually learn some Italian. Magari!
Friday, January 18, 2013
The Difference between Anarchy and Anarchism
I'm going to turn to my old friend The American Heritage Dictionary, third edition. This is the paperback edition of 1994 from Laurel Books. On page 30 there are two definitions of interest.
anarchism n. 1. The theory that all forms of government are oppressive and should be abolished. 2. Terrorism against the state.
anarchy n. pl. -chies. 1. Absence of governmental authority or law. 2. Disorder and confusion.
I think that reproducing the full article from the Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy might overstep the bounds of fair use. The first sentence gives the flavor:
anarchism n. a theory or a political movement which interprets the ideals of human freedom and equality very strictly, so as to exclude all relations of domination; particularly important is the refusal to accept the legitimacy of state power.
anarchism n. 1. The theory that all forms of government are oppressive and should be abolished. 2. Terrorism against the state.
anarchy n. pl. -chies. 1. Absence of governmental authority or law. 2. Disorder and confusion.
I think that reproducing the full article from the Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy might overstep the bounds of fair use. The first sentence gives the flavor:
anarchism n. a theory or a political movement which interprets the ideals of human freedom and equality very strictly, so as to exclude all relations of domination; particularly important is the refusal to accept the legitimacy of state power.
Beginning the New Year, a Little Late
My first post since November. It's good to be back!
I spent some time finishing up what I started in November. I had posted my October reading list, but I had not updated the sidebar with the current books. This evening I made those updates. In some cases, that means you now know which books I've finished since October 31, of those which were in progress at that point.
The only book on that list that I'm still reading is the Proust. Okay, I can read French, but Proust is slow going. I need to concentrate my efforts on A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs.
As noted, I finished Complete Italian: The Basics in October. I am, however, working on it again. We're planning our trip to Italy for late April, and I want to be able to order una bella cena without sounding like too much of an idiot.
I spent some time finishing up what I started in November. I had posted my October reading list, but I had not updated the sidebar with the current books. This evening I made those updates. In some cases, that means you now know which books I've finished since October 31, of those which were in progress at that point.
The only book on that list that I'm still reading is the Proust. Okay, I can read French, but Proust is slow going. I need to concentrate my efforts on A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs.
As noted, I finished Complete Italian: The Basics in October. I am, however, working on it again. We're planning our trip to Italy for late April, and I want to be able to order una bella cena without sounding like too much of an idiot.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Reading List: October 2012
October was one of those months in which I finished more books than I started. I was continuing to read in a stack of library books I picked up at East Library in Colorado Springs. In fact, as of today's writing (November 15), I'm still working on that stack of books.
Listed in the order in which I started reading them during the month, here are the books of October.
Marcel Proust, A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs. Published in 1919. I read only a little of this work in this time period, taking in a couple of pages on October 1.
Antonella Ansani, Complete Italian: The Basics. Edited by Suzanne McQuade. Between October first and twenty-first, I finished working my way through Complete Italian, including the accompanying discs. Del primo ottobre al venti-primo, ho letto Complete Italian.
Michael Alexander and John Walkenbach, Excel Dashboards and Reports. I finished up this excellent guide to the construction of reports in Microsoft Office Excel on the second and third of October.
David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy. This is one of two histories of the Italian peninsula I've been reading, and both of them cast doubt on the degree to which Italy can be treated as a nation-state, given the importance of regional differences. It's interesting to me that the Italian "reunification," which was not a reunification at all, was occurring at the same time as the American Civil War and the unification of Germany. Of these three attempts to establish the supremacy of the centralizing state over diverse regions, the Italian seems to have been the least successful.
George W. Bush, Decision Points. Since reading this book, I like Mr. Bush, and I respect his thinking, more than I ever did while he was President. This is immediate history worth reading. Seeing what the Republican Party has been coming to, many of us will be looking back with nostalgia to the days of "W."
Bruce Feiler, Walking the Bible. There are some ludicrous errors in this book - a "Toyota Land Rover," for one example. The big problem is that Feiler can't decide where he stands, and his process of "discovery" doesn't seem likely to lead to any resolution of his questions. Is the Bible true? Did the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt? Can Jews and Arabs live in peace? Big questions, but I don't think Bruce Feiler is up to finding believable answers.
Joseph Schmuller, Ph.D., Statistical Analysis with Excel for Dummies. Either you like statistics, or you don't. More Americans are as allergic to statistical analysis as they are to economics. And you either like Microsoft Office Excel, or you don't. I like Excel, and I use it a lot at work. For some unfathomable reason, I also enjoy statistics. I found this book readable, informative, and pleasurable. Not everyone shares my tastes.
Daniel Silva, The Fallen Angel. This is the only book on this month's list that I both started and completed during October. It is also the only work of fiction on the current list. I'm still not sure why I like Daniel Silva's books when his "hero" is an Israeli assassin who cooperates with the Vatican. Even so, these are fast-paced and enjoyable thrillers.
Keith Heyer Meldahl, Hard Road West. If the many, many settlers who set out from St. Joseph, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, back in the 1840s and 1850s had been able to read Meldahl's excellent merger of science and history, some of them would have gone back to Ohio or Indiana to live out their lives without experiencing the Snake River Canyon, the Forty-Mile Desert, or Donner Pass. But what would life be if everyone could the safe and sane path. Recommended for readers of the Roadside Geology books, aficionados of the westward migration, and anyone who liked John McPhee's Annals of the Former World.
Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny. This is the other history of Italy to which I referred earlier. You know, Napoleon Bonaparte has a lot to answer for, not only in Egypt, Russia, Germany, France, and Louisiana, but in Italy. Bonaparte's invasion of northern Italy in 1796 to fight the Austrians set off a chain of events that led to Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi. The mind boggles. Very well written, but you do have to be able to keep track of Italian names and place names.
David Abulafia, The Great Sea. This may actually be the best book on this month's list. It's a long book (783 pages), it is technical in places, and its focus is on the surface and immediate littoral of the Mediterranean Sea. Just one of the virtues of this book is that it has inspired me to re-read a number of classic books set on and around the wine-dark sea, from Homer and Aeschylus to Shakespeare and Gibbon. Whether I'll actually do all that reading remains to be seen.
Listed in the order in which I started reading them during the month, here are the books of October.
Marcel Proust, A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs. Published in 1919. I read only a little of this work in this time period, taking in a couple of pages on October 1.
Antonella Ansani, Complete Italian: The Basics. Edited by Suzanne McQuade. Between October first and twenty-first, I finished working my way through Complete Italian, including the accompanying discs. Del primo ottobre al venti-primo, ho letto Complete Italian.
Michael Alexander and John Walkenbach, Excel Dashboards and Reports. I finished up this excellent guide to the construction of reports in Microsoft Office Excel on the second and third of October.
David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy. This is one of two histories of the Italian peninsula I've been reading, and both of them cast doubt on the degree to which Italy can be treated as a nation-state, given the importance of regional differences. It's interesting to me that the Italian "reunification," which was not a reunification at all, was occurring at the same time as the American Civil War and the unification of Germany. Of these three attempts to establish the supremacy of the centralizing state over diverse regions, the Italian seems to have been the least successful.
George W. Bush, Decision Points. Since reading this book, I like Mr. Bush, and I respect his thinking, more than I ever did while he was President. This is immediate history worth reading. Seeing what the Republican Party has been coming to, many of us will be looking back with nostalgia to the days of "W."
Bruce Feiler, Walking the Bible. There are some ludicrous errors in this book - a "Toyota Land Rover," for one example. The big problem is that Feiler can't decide where he stands, and his process of "discovery" doesn't seem likely to lead to any resolution of his questions. Is the Bible true? Did the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt? Can Jews and Arabs live in peace? Big questions, but I don't think Bruce Feiler is up to finding believable answers.
Joseph Schmuller, Ph.D., Statistical Analysis with Excel for Dummies. Either you like statistics, or you don't. More Americans are as allergic to statistical analysis as they are to economics. And you either like Microsoft Office Excel, or you don't. I like Excel, and I use it a lot at work. For some unfathomable reason, I also enjoy statistics. I found this book readable, informative, and pleasurable. Not everyone shares my tastes.
Daniel Silva, The Fallen Angel. This is the only book on this month's list that I both started and completed during October. It is also the only work of fiction on the current list. I'm still not sure why I like Daniel Silva's books when his "hero" is an Israeli assassin who cooperates with the Vatican. Even so, these are fast-paced and enjoyable thrillers.
Keith Heyer Meldahl, Hard Road West. If the many, many settlers who set out from St. Joseph, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, back in the 1840s and 1850s had been able to read Meldahl's excellent merger of science and history, some of them would have gone back to Ohio or Indiana to live out their lives without experiencing the Snake River Canyon, the Forty-Mile Desert, or Donner Pass. But what would life be if everyone could the safe and sane path. Recommended for readers of the Roadside Geology books, aficionados of the westward migration, and anyone who liked John McPhee's Annals of the Former World.
Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny. This is the other history of Italy to which I referred earlier. You know, Napoleon Bonaparte has a lot to answer for, not only in Egypt, Russia, Germany, France, and Louisiana, but in Italy. Bonaparte's invasion of northern Italy in 1796 to fight the Austrians set off a chain of events that led to Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi. The mind boggles. Very well written, but you do have to be able to keep track of Italian names and place names.
David Abulafia, The Great Sea. This may actually be the best book on this month's list. It's a long book (783 pages), it is technical in places, and its focus is on the surface and immediate littoral of the Mediterranean Sea. Just one of the virtues of this book is that it has inspired me to re-read a number of classic books set on and around the wine-dark sea, from Homer and Aeschylus to Shakespeare and Gibbon. Whether I'll actually do all that reading remains to be seen.
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