WONDERING ABOUT WONDERING
Lewis Thomas:
Wonder is a word to wonder about. It contains a mixture of messages: something marvelous and miraculous, surprising, raising unanswerable questions about itself, making the observer wonder, even raising skeptical questions like “I wonder about that.
ARENDT, KANT, AND JUDGMENT
Hannah Arendt:
He [Kant] asked: What are the conditions of our experience? Crucial for Kant is that for him, and him alone, the highest faculty of man is Judgment (and not reasoning, as for Descartes, nor the drawing of conclusions after conclusions as for Hegel.
SOCIAL INSECURITIES AND FOMO, 1954 VERSION
Mary McCarthy:
Saul Bellow was here too, with son and dog, not very friendly, either. In short, last month was rather paranoid, which got me rattled.
GRIEF AND REGRET
Cormac McCarthy:
Grief is the stuff of life. A life without grief is no life at all.
THE BONDS OF READING
Cormac McCarthy:
…having read even a few dozen books in common is a force more binding than blood.
MAKING A READING PLAN
I spent a couple of hours yesterday making up a list of 20 books to read in fall 2023.
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