Human Smoke

When you look around you and marvel at the beauty of other humans, you wonder how can people kill each other. Read this and you will get sick.

Decline and Fall of the British Empire

This book fits into the theme of folly. In the March of Folly we are astounded at the stupidity and greed of leaders. How the British held on so long after losing the American Colonies is a wonder to behold. Good reading.

Wars Guns and Votes

Don't get too confident that our liberal ideals will work when imposed on non European societies. The statements and observations in this work are a result of research. Economists redeemed. Sometimes Teddy Roosevelt's words may carry the day. Try this.

The Future of Liberalism

We can continue to read about our modern world and where it is going or may go. This book by Alan Wolfe is a good review of the history of the liberal mind/movement and a evaluation of the effect on our modern or post modern world. Take a look at it.

The March of Folly from Troy to Vietnam

I suspect the the NeoCons did not read this book by the famous Barbara Tuchman. Again another companion to the list below.

The Irony of American History.

This is again a good companion piece to the two preceding pieces. President Obama is a fan as am I. Neibuhr has been getting press over the past few years as we as a nation again begin to see our failures of foreign policy not in its execution but in its fundamental assumptions. Try it, you can get it from libraries.

More Reading

This is another book I have read. I quote the review here.
"

Evil threatens human reason, for it challenges our hope that the world makes sense. For eighteenth-century Europeans, the Lisbon earthquake was manifest evil. Today we view evil as a matter of human cruelty, and Auschwitz as its extreme incarnation. Examining our understanding of evil from the Inquisition to contemporary terrorism, Susan Neiman explores who we have become in the three centuries that separate us from the early Enlightenment. In the process, she rewrites the history of modern thought and points philosophy back to the questions that originally animated it. Whether expressed in theological or secular terms, evil poses a problem about the world's intelligibility. It confronts philosophy with fundamental questions: Can there be meaning in a world where innocents suffer? Can belief in divine power or human progress survive a cataloging of evil? Is evil profound or banal? Neiman argues that these questions impelled modern philosophy. Traditional philosophers from Leibniz to Hegel sought to defend the Creator of a world containing evil. Inevitably, their efforts--combined with those of more literary figures like Pope, Voltaire, and the Marquis de Sade--eroded belief in God's benevolence, power, and relevance, until Nietzsche claimed He had been murdered. They also yielded the distinction between natural and moral evil that we now take for granted. Neiman turns to consider philosophy's response to the Holocaust as a final moral evil, concluding that two basic stances run through modern thought. One, from Rousseau to Arendt, insists that morality demands we make evil intelligible. The other, from Voltaire to Adorno, insists that morality demands that we don't. Beautifully written and thoroughly engaging, this book tells the history of modern philosophy as an attempt to come to terms with evil. It reintroduces philosophy to anyone interested in questions of life and death, good and evil, suffering and sense." This book is a good companion to the previous essay, In Bluebeards Castle below.

Reading Material

Years ago my friend, Wes, turned me on to this essay. For those who are interested in the state of Western Culture, this is a must read. I know it is a bit dense but.... Grind through it.

Goose vs Heron

The geese do not like Herons near their kids. This is a pond near our house.

Mary on Chris' Balcony

Chris lives on the beach in Santa Monica..

60 Years Later?

Sometime in the early 1950s I hurt my friend Tom's finger playing. We found each other after 50 years and the scar is still there. That was a terrible day in my life to hurt a friend. Tom has forgiven me.

Mary go Round

This was on the Santa Monica Pier.

Sea Lion

During our stroll on the beach we encountered a sea lion begging for fish. The boat belongs to the harbor master (police). I guess they feed them.

The Pacific Ocean

Mary finally made it to Santa Monica and enjoyed the surf. It is too cold and dirty to swim.

Mary and Grandpa

This is the first visit with grandpa for Mary in 13 years. It is too long. It was at her request that we visit. So here is proof.

Grease Wood Tree

In the California desert, Joan found this flowering Grease Wood Tree.

Joan's Favorite Rest Stop

Just west of Green River Utah the real estate is spectacular.

Vail Pass May

On our way to California we stopped on the top of Vail Pass. Here is a great shot.

It does snow here.

Siblings and Cuzs

Here are the grandkids.

Mike's Visit

Here are some fall pictures of Mike's visit. Annie and Mike and Mary.