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This was an enjoyable easy read. And the story of the Journal's discovery, along with the efforts to bring it to publication, are every bit as interesting as the contents.
This, fleshing out my 18th Century reading, a contemporary of Laclos, Cassanova, Lord Chesterfield, familiar with the famous actors Garrick and Sheridan, Samuel Johnson, too many others to list but the degeneracy of an age frankly laid bare for all to read.
The 'plot' - as such, a young Scottish gentleman gains a tolerable allowance from his father and sets himself about London a proper gentleman of leisure. Arranging introductions and meeting all of the people of quality (and many of none) he fully sets out the descriptions of the pleasures and vicissitudes of youth.
Some highlights, as nobody ever follows my recommendations anyways (and - while enjoyable I wouldn't describe it as 'essential')
Samuel Johnson's take on Melancholy - "Melancholy people" said he, "are apt to fly to intemperance, which gives a momentary relief but sinks the soul much lower in misery." & "Mr. Johnson said today that a woman's preaching was like a dog's walking upon his hinder legs. It was not done well, but you were surprised to find it done at all."
This familiarity stood him on good stead, as he was later to write "The Biography of Samuel Johnson".
Thursday, 7 April 1763 - "I breakfasted with Temple. This day was afterwards passed in dissipation which has left no traces on my brain."
Friday, 15 April 1763 - "Temple and I dined at Clifton's. I remember nothing more." This Temple proving a bad acquaintance. The footnotes ironically point out that at this point he would be considered abstinent, or temperate, given the spirit of the age.
Thursday, 19 May 1763 - "We had a good dinner and plenty of wine. I resolved to be merry while I could, and soon see whether the foul fiend of the genitals had prevailed."
His attending the Tower of London to visit the prisoners, then later attending their execution, which throws him into a dreadful state of mind. Or his six weeks spent in convalescing from the Clap (gonorrhea) - his third such dose already as a young man, then immediately off to pleasure himself with the ladies of the town, embodying perfectly the memory of youth.
Wednesday, 13 of April 1763 "...I should have mentioned last night that I met with a monstrous big whore in the Strand, whom I had a great curiosity to lubricate, as the saying is. I went into a tavern with her where she displayed to me all the parts of her enormous carcass, but I found that her avarice was as large as her ass, for she would by no means take what I offered her. I therefore pulled the bell, and discharged the reckoning, to her no small surprise and mortification..." and then continues to complain of the waiters who enable and profit by these little enterprises...
Conversations, some dull, others more sparkling, he strikes you as a man of no great depth or substance (but at this age he was still young), filled with ambition, detailed notes describing his transgressions (of surprisingly vanilla tastes), the High debauch (wherein he treats the ladies to chambers and wine), vs the Low debauch, wherein his pleasure is seized in the alleys or streets, in his notes resolving no more of the Low Debauches, and then within the week subsequently indulging yet again;
Tuesday 10 May 1763 "...At the bottom of the Haymarket I picked up a strong, jolly young damsel, and taking her under the arm I conducted her to Westminster Bridge, and then in armour complete did I engage her upon this noble edifice. The whim of doing it there with the Thames rolling below us amused me much. Yet after the brutish appetite was sated, I could not but despise myself for being so closely united with such a low wretch."
I'll need to find the rest of Boswell's journals, and read his "Biography of Samuel Johnson", whom he held in great esteem, and from the quotes given and the reviews of others was well deserved.
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A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe - The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art and Science - A Voyage from 1 to 10 - Michael S. Schneider
This was actually surprisingly informative - and - like Hegel, JS Mill and now Schneider, the world is well explained. Everything from the possibilities of numbers in 2, 3 and 4 dimensions, how they relate to world religions, spirituality, art, science, how different numbering systems (for examples the Greeks started counting at 3) worked and the reasoning behind, how it was encoded in the names of the Gods and myths, and knowledge was passed from initiate to initiate...
There are embedded in this compelling "proofs", if you'd have it that way, the the universe is of a designed and deeply spiritual construction, but as well argues that - at least as we experience it - it could be no other way.
Inspirational in an artistic sense, going far beyond the Golden Mean, and grounding in the history and symbolism of math opens up some very interesting possibilities ...
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The upgrade to the Mac, as I feared, has left a lot of old things behind. Namely my writing, comparing the version of my blog (notes, local to the PC) with the version that was backed up and I find for some reason I'm a few pages short.
To be expected, I guess.
Anyways, Mill does not need my recommendation (damn, I had 5 pages of notes on him!! Where did they go?). Almost 200 years later and everything he says is still valid. This should be taught in schools.
His insights, into the role and responsibility of the individual vs society has never rung truer. And his defence of individual liberty only goes so far - an individual can say or do as he wishes, but he is accountable for these sayings.
I could go on. I did, several pages of notes, but you've been saved by my migrating to a laptop and by a thumb drive that very clearly did not back everything up.
Anyways, his reputation as being one of the most intelligent men ever was well confirmed. Well worth the read.
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I've been searching for this book for over 20 years. And - finally, because of course I'd find it here:
I mean, I've listened to enough of his lectures, and read it online, but - like any try Bibliophile, wanted a hard copy. Now for an older, un-edited edition.
On that note I found this as well - at a thrift shop, and - while an easy read, it covers a lot of topics I find of interest from a variety of perspectives:
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Now I read it, I had to, having requested a copy.
It was better than I expected, which was not much. That is not to say that it was good, standard New Age Theosophical type stuff, with lines like: "Through quantum physics and our advanced technology, it has been discovered that the heart is the true brain of the body.", that explain nothing and presume upon the reader to have an understanding of quantum physics and advanced technology that clearly the author doesn't.
This is the thing, I've long been at the point where if I met the Buddha on the road I'd have to kill him, and this, it's presumptive, that he's found the meaning of life (maybe?), that his experience is worth the sharing (perhaps?), that he can explain better or in a more accessible fashion what all the world's teachers have taught since the beginning of time.
In this I disagree. The truth, given it's variable nature, is best explained through sutras, koans, parables, his nonsensical fables and illustrations explain very little, what would be more informative is a collection of parables, gospels, stories, poems, all culled from the great religions of the world and that work towards illustrating the common point.
In any event, he wrote it, got it published, so he's doing something right, and I am a poor disciple. But it's read and when I see them next I will say how wonderful it is and congratulate him on his own personal interpretation. Now on to my own projects...