I just finished re-reading Lewis Vaughn’s autobiographical, Star Map: A Journey of Faith, Doubt, and Meaning,* a book I reviewed over five years ago. On this reading I was even more struck by the power of the narrative and the beauty of its prose. Re-reading it I felt as if I’m back in his 1969 (or my 1973) breaking the shackles of religious indoctrination. Continue reading Escaping Religious Indoctrination
Martin Hägglund’s, This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom, is one of the most sublime books I’ve ever read—and I’ve devoured thousands of books in my life. It is a work of great erudition and originality; it is carefully and conscientiously crafted; it overflows with thoughtful insights, poetic passages, and sparkling prose. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece. Continue reading Review of Martin Hägglund’s, This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom
My last post expressed my effusive praise for Michael Ruse’s new book, A Meaning to Life. I would now like to comment on Ruse’s counsel that we can create and enjoy meaning in life despite the yearning for some non-existent salvific narrative—religious or scientific. Continue reading “A Meaning to Life,” Reply to Ruse
I have given away almost my entire collection of philosophy books, which at one time numbered more than a thousand. I have kept maybe 75 books, mostly ones that I had written or had been gifted to me with inscriptions, or that had special meaning to me.
Surprisingly one that I still possess is a book I reviewed for a professional journal more than 25 years ago—the first such review I had ever done. That book was titled, A Thinker’s Guide to Living Well
I have previously written about the philosopher David Benatar’s anti-natalism. Now Oxford University Press has published his book 
Continue reading Summary of David Benatar’s “The Human Predicament”
