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ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Timothy Snyder (summary)

Prologue It is a primary American tradition to consider history when our political order seems imperiled.  The Founding Fathers drew upon examples from ancient Greece and Rome, and declared their independence from a British monarchy that the founders deemed “tyrannical.”   In modern Europe, there were three major democratic movements: In the late nineteenth and earlyContinue reading “ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Timothy Snyder (summary)”

Modern Wisdom–the early years

I am starting on a new project today, which is to go through the archive of Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom broadcasts, which I listen to on Spotify and watch on YouTube. I have been a fan of his Modern Wisdom channel for about two years, starting with his conversation with John McWhorter (MW episode 390).Continue reading “Modern Wisdom–the early years”

Online Great Books–The Riverworld Analogy

As mentioned in the previous post, there are four levels of reading: Elementary reading (“what does the text say?”) Inspectional reading (“what kind of a text is this?”) Analytical reading (“what does the text mean?”) Synoptical reading (“what do various books say about a topic?”) There is a brief description of the first two levelsContinue reading “Online Great Books–The Riverworld Analogy”

Online Great Books–Books in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand

In the last post, I listed the four levels of reading described by Mortimer Adler in his book How To Read a Book. These four levels are: Elementary Reading–basic mastery of what the author is saying Inspectional Reading–understanding the main points of what the author is saying Analytical Reading–gaining an understanding of what the authorContinue reading “Online Great Books–Books in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand”

Online Great Books–How To Read a Book (1)

How To Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren was the first book assigned to our seminar group. (The first seminar last week covered the Online Great Books Handbook, and was devoted to various housekeeping matters related to the online apps that the program uses.) It is the book we cover beforeContinue reading “Online Great Books–How To Read a Book (1)”

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right. You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click theContinue reading “Introduce Yourself (Example Post)”