In a recent trip to the nearby bookstore, I bought two books. One of them is Terry Eagleton’s How to Read Literature and the other is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I just decided to right-click and to add “Lamott” to my browser’s dictionary, not just because I was irritated to see it underlined as a possible typo, but also because of how much I loved her and her…
During the year I spent in Leiden (2015-16) I did almost nothing that would count as academic productivity. In fact I cannot think of any other postdoctoral researcher, who I have met or have heard of, less productive than me during that year. It wasn’t that I didn’t have ideas. I had many ideas, enough to keep a team of 4-5 students busy. But I no longer identified with the ideas. The ideas were coming…
If you’re interested in the topic of procrastination and want to read a carefully put-together collection of diverse perspectives on the topic, I’d recommend this book by Andrew Santella. It is clear that Santella himself has genuine interest in this topic. Reading the book, we could also see how much fun he has had writing it, which in turn makes the book fun to read. He isn’t satisfied with simplistic “theories” or “remedies” of procrastination,…
This is the second installment in my series of reading key philosophical texts. It seemed appropriate to follow the reading of Plato’s Republic with the Nicomachean Ethics. This text is an incredible place for intellectual training, for training of our attention. It is an exercise in the art of noticing what is relevant in a given judgment. My overview is an invitation for you to read this great work. If you decide to read it,…
Become a Patron! Two weeks ago I sat down and wrote a list of key philosophical texts that I believe I should read or re-read before I turn 40 (I’m now 37). I ended up with a list of 14 titles. I estimated that it should take me about one year to go through them if I devote to them at least one hour per day. Perhaps if I have the freedom, I will revisit…