Nominate books to be a philosophy book of the month

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

I nominate the book (210 pages), and then one should watch the movie (Kate Winslet won the Oscar - a brilliant nuanced performance). I've read the book and seen the movie twice.

Please check out the book and movie on Amazon (My link was not accepted - I need to post 10 messages)

As a lawyer who has taught ethics courses at the local university, I identified many legal and ethical issues that can be discussed. Here's one:

Did this Nazi prison guard, Hanna, deserve any mercy from the war crimes trial court?

I would love to participate in a leisurely discussion of the book and moviein this forum.

[Scott]

I created a thread to vote to decide the October book. I added my own nomination, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

I don't know about October since it is so close but possibly for November I nominate Jacob Needleman's "Heart of philosophy."

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Philosophy- ... 0062506455

You can read the intro by clicking on the book. Prof. Needleman reminds us what has been lost and the value of remembering what philosophy is.

Product Description

Philosophy as it is frequently taught in classrooms bears little relation to the impassioned and immensely practical search for self-knowledge conducted by not only its ancient avatars but also by men and woman who seek after truth today. In The Heart of the Philosophy, Jacob Needleman provides a "user's guide" for those who would take philosophy seriously enough to understand its life-transforming qualities. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jacob Needleman is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University, and the former director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. His many books include The American Soul, Money and the Meaning of Life, and Time and the Soul. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

oops.


i just found this thread after posting a nomination elsewhere...perhaps an administrator will catch my mistake and move my post here...i hope so.

if this does not occur i nominate Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

the novel explores the duality of human nature and has even maintained cultural signifigance since 1927

C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce.

I'd like to recommend "Quantum Enigma" Physics Encounters Consciousness", by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner.

I haven't read mucgh in the way of philosophic books but I found "This book does not exist, adventures in the paradoxical" by Gary Haden and Michael Picard a really intresting introduction to some really nice ideas.

[Scott]

I nominate Beyond Morality by Richard Garner.

I have posted a thread to vote on all the new nominations. The book that gets the most votes when the poll closes on December 1st will be the December book of the month.

I might be beating a dead horse here, but what about Brave New World? I'm sure it's better read than most of the books on this forum and there's certainly room for discussion.

I nominate "Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil," by Alain Badiou.

[Scott]

I nominate Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi.

I created the thread to vote for the February book of the month.

Thanks!
Scott

I nominate something by Albert Camus, like The Fall, or The Stranger, because both books are under 200 pages (more people are likely to read a short novel than something as thick as the bible) and both have relevant points on social conditions concerning our times today.

Better yet, forget if they're nominated or not. Read them both. You'll be more intllegent for it. And read something by Dostoevsky while your at it (although that's like picking up a bible).

Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence
By David Benatar, Oxford University Press, 2006
ISBN: 0199296421

Review: For those who admire really careful and imaginative argumentation, and are interested in either issues of life and death, or the foundations of morality, it's a must read Harry Brighouse, Out of the Crooked Timber Benatar's discussion is clear and intelligent. Yujin Nagasawa MIND [this] volume has the great merit of raising a very basic issue (the intrinsic value of human existence), which is usually assumed but rarely discussed in philosophical terms. Thus, it may be hoped that this book will encourage a thoughtful and rich exchange of ideas on such a fundamental question. Roberto Andorno, Medical Health Care and Philosophy Journal


It is one of the most controversial yet thought-provocative books I've ever read.

I nominate..The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger.. by Daniel Gardner

Reviews

"Where writers such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Francis Wheen have been content largely to enumerate the errors of less rational men and women, Dan Gardner has collated part of what we need to diagnose the problem. If skeptics spent less time moaning about the propensity of their fellows to believe what they want to believe and more time asking why they do so, there might not be such a crisis of reason in the West today.”
--The Independent

“Excellent…. analyses everything from the media’s predilection for irrational scare stories to the cynical use of fear by politicians pushing a particular agenda…. Gardner never falls into the trap of becoming frustrated and embittered by the waste and needless worry that he is documenting. A personal anecdote about an unwise foray into a Nigerian slum in search of a stolen wallet disposes of the idea that the author is immune to the foibles he describes. What could easily have been a catalogue of misgovernance and stupidity instead becomes a cheery corrective to modern paranoia.”
--The Economist

An invaluable resource for anyone who aspires to think clearly.”
--The Guardian “Elegantly summarises the results of psychological research … Gardner is forensic in his dissection of bogus claims in advertising and politics, just as he is lucid about the science explaining why they work.”
--The Observer

www.amazon.co.uk › Books › Business, Finance & Law -


Philitsa rated it: I loved this book for a many reasons, all of which stem from the fact that it validated a lot of my otherwise unsubstantiated opinions of modern politics and media, and why so many people with half a brain feel so disaffected by them both. I also loved it because it spoke a lot about the actual science behind the psychology of fear. It's always a pleasure to me when a book I read lives up to its title.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/6499771-the-science-of -fear -

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