The Books/Reading Thread

Einherjar86 said:
I'm assuming nonfiction, right? Definitely not stupid, stuff like that is interesting. I'm anxious to hear what others say, seeing as how I typically don't read stuff like that. You can go online and search your terms. Your best bet is probably Amazon.com. You'll probably be able to find used books for cheap, especially on those subjects. I don't really know much about books on logic. As for aesthetics, I'd say look for anthologies or collections of Immanuel Kant and David Hume. Both were concerned with aesthetics and the sublime in their writings.
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Yeah, I figured (and have heard from others) that Amazon is a good resource for books and literature, and I've just started a checking account for buying things on the internet, so I'm sure I'll familiarize myself with the site very soon.

I've heard of both Kant and Hume, but never actually looked into either. I bought Critique of Pure Reason today while I was out and had nothing better to do. From what I could tell from the summary, it has bit to do with what I'm looking for (and seems interesting from how far I am now), but I bought it more so in hopes that reading through it will help me in adapting to the unfamiliar vernacular and overall writing style that might turn me off at first. I'll look into a work of Hume's sometime soon, thanks for the recommendation.
 
Addo_Of_Nex said:
Yeah, I figured (and have heard from others) that Amazon is a good resource for books and literature, and I've just started a checking account for buying things on the internet, so I'm sure I'll familiarize myself with the site very soon.

I've heard of both Kant and Hume, but never actually looked into either. I bought Critique of Pure Reason today while I was out and had nothing better to do. From what I could tell from the summary, it has bit to do with what I'm looking for (and seems interesting from how far I am now), but I bought it more so in hopes that reading through it will help me in adapting to the unfamiliar vernacular and overall writing style that might turn me off at first. I'll look into a work of Hume's sometime soon, thanks for the recommendation.
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You picked the most horrible writer in all of philosophy. Kant's language is the most laborious that I know of; it's almost not even worth studying Kant unless you're doing it in an academic setting. My teacher said that "anyone who's read Kant and says that he immediately understands it is either a fool or a liar." Hume is much easier to read and one of my favorite philosophers.
 
Addo_Of_Nex said:
Now that I've actually got a somewhat steady income, I've decided to attempt to start reading actual material outside of internet articles and the like. I know absolutely nothing about books and ideal places to search for something I'm looking for, so I figured I would ask here. I'm looking for something that deals with an introduction to aesthetic study, and some sort of introduction to logic. I'm fully aware that my request sounds stupid, but any help would be great. Price isn't something I'm too concerned with, so suggest whatever seems fitting.
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depends what angle you want to take. i don't know a great deal about logic really, but i'd recommend plato-->aristotle as a starting point for aesthetics, and aristotle for formal logic as well, HUGELY influential which means there's gonna be references galore in a lot of other stuff you read. definitely familiarise yourself with their basic ideas at least. the problem is that you can't just separate aesthetics from other philosophy, it tends to be intimately interwoven with metaphysical/epistemological theory and whatnot. folks like descartes, locke, kant, hume, schopenhauer, hegel, nietzsche etc are gonna be pretty crucial as well, worth getting to grips with them before you start hitting modern analytical stuff. then ultimately wittgeinstein/weitz, danto, dickie etc. you might want to ask dodens for a more comprehensive list.

frege and russell are crucial for logic as far as i remember, and wittgenstein's tractatus is always fun, but yeah i'm prob not the best person to ask.

you could go another route and get the routledge guide to aesthetics, which aims to summarise just about every important development there's been. there's no doubt an equivalent in logic as well.
 
Dodens Grav said:
You picked the most horrible writer in all of philosophy. Kant's language is the most laborious that I know of; it's almost not even worth studying Kant unless you're doing it in an academic setting. My teacher said that "anyone who's read Kant and says that he immediately understands it is either a fool or a liar." Hume is much easier to read and one of my favorite philosophers.
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haha yeah, virtually everything i know about kant is based on secondary sources. in fact most of what i know about most philosophers is based on secondary sources. :s
 
Dodens Grav said:
You picked the most horrible writer in all of philosophy. Kant's language is the most laborious that I know of; it's almost not even worth studying Kant unless you're doing it in an academic setting. My teacher said that "anyone who's read Kant and says that he immediately understands it is either a fool or a liar." Hume is much easier to read and one of my favorite philosophers.
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Seems fitting I would do something like that. But yeah, I'll make my way through this Kant and most likely pick up a few Hume selections over the next few weeks to keep myself busy. The problem with becoming interested in something like this with as little experience I have with literature lies within the fact that I don't really know what I'm looking for, I don't know how to go about gauging the quality and actual level of substance contained in what I'm reading, etc. I feel like I'm getting into music all over again, I'm just actually aware of my startling naivety and ignorance.

Ncfow: I figured that Plato and Aristotle would be worthwhile for what I'm searching for at the moment (I believe I have a few of their e-books on my computer along with Descartes, actually), and I'll get around to purchasing some of their stuff in the near future. I've seen that a lot of ideas and categories of philosophy tend to blend and mesh just from looking around at general summaries and articles, which makes the task at hand that much more difficult for me. That Routledge Companion to Aesthetics book that you mentioned seems to be regarded as useful by other people, and looks like something that could help in further study of many different things for years to come, actually.

Thanks for the help and input, much appreciated.
 
@Addo of Nex:

If you're looking to get an adequate understanding of classical logic (presumably what you're looking for) circa 2008, I wouldn't recommend relying on any of Aristotle's writings. Aristotle pioneered syllogistic logic, but these days syllogistic logic is only used at the beginning of introductory textbooks to give a basic grounding in certain concepts of logic. You should just look for a basic 'Intro to Logic' book, which might include a bunch of stuff you'd find in Aristotle as well as a more 'up to date' treatment of the subject. One book that's always served me well is A Concise Introduction to Logic by Patrick Hurley. It covers a lot of ground, including informal logic, as well as propositional and predicate logic. I own more logic books than anyone would ever need, but I've found the Patrick Hurley book to be the best for somebody without any sort of background in logic. A lot of introductory books that go by titles like Deductive Logic or An Introduction to Formal Logic cover less ground, and they're not designed to give a really broad understanding of logic, so be careful about what you pick.
 
That's really exactly what I'm looking for. I'll likely pick up that Hurley book you mentioned along with another related work if I feel adventurous. I expect it will take me A LOT of time to sift through a bunch of this stuff and develop a basic understanding of the fundamentals, but that's all I'm really looking for as of now, and plan on expanding upon that in the future.
 
AchrisK said:
Isn't logic just...logical? Not to be a dumb-ass, but what types of things do these books cover? I may also pick up that Hurley book.

EDIT: Blargh! That's a text book, and it's not cheap! Any regular book recs on logic?
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It's more confusing and complicated than you might think. I took a class in critical thinking and we covered some aspects of logic. Fallacies come to mind right away. Most of us make faulty arguments every day and don't even realize it.

EDIT: why does your post say it was edited tomorrow? Are you in some kind of alternate reality?
 
after I broke up with reading a book about graphic-design, which was actually very boring Iam reading Dan Browns "Sacrilege" again.
Last time I read it was as I was on the way to a Slayer concert..
 
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Mind-Psychological-Political-Madness/dp/097795630X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229016485&sr=8-1"]I would love to read this book[/ame]
 
Dakryn said:
I would love to read this book
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Product Description
Are Liberals Out of Their Minds? Why do modern liberals think and act as they do? The radical left's politics and its destructive effects on our basic freedoms have provoked many to speculate on what makes these people tick. The Liberal Mind answers the question. This book is the first systematic analysis of the political madness that now threatens to destroy the West's greatest achievement: the American dream of civilized liberty. In his penetrating analysis, Dr. Rossiter reveals modern liberalism's assaults on: The freedom of adults to make good lives for themselves by cooperating with others, The ability of families to raise children to be self-reliant and mutual, and The morals, rights and laws that protect our freedoms. Modern liberalism's irrationality can only be understood as the product of psychopathology. So extravagant are the patterns of thinking, emoting, behaving and relating that characterize the liberal mind that its relentless protests and demands become understandable only as disorders of the psyche. The Liberal Mind reveals the madness of the modern liberal for what it is: a massive transference neurosis acted out in the world's political arenas, with devastating effects on the institutions of liberty.
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Yeah, definitely sounds interesting.
 
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