Shawn Klein

Great Introduction and overview

Revisado: 01-16-25

This course is a very good introduction and overview of the rationalist tradition in early modern philosophy. The lecturer finds the right balance of explaining the ideas, providing the historical and philosophical context, and making it relevant. As a general level course, subject matter experts won't get too much out of this, but those new to early modern philosophy or looking for a refresher (like me) will find it useful.

The course covers, as one would expect, Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz; but also Anne Conway, Elisabeth of Bohemia, and Malebranche. Typically, the focus in early modern philosophy texts is on metaphysics and epistemology, but I appreciated that Reid includes these thinker's moral theories as well. They were not just interested in knowledge -- they were also interested how this knowledge can and should effect the way act and live.

I hope the author next does the empiricist tradition.

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Baseball is life and death

Revisado: 03-02-24

It's a cliché that baseball is a metaphor for life; and yet there is little about this book that is cliche. Teresa Strasser tells the story of her son's championship little league season and how watching the season with her father helped them both to grieve their lost loves one and deepen their own relationship. Strasser's brother and mother died within four months of each other; and so both she and her father have a lot to process. But Strasser's relationships to her brother, her mother, and her father are, shall we say, a bit complicated; and that all comes out as Strasser tells the story of her son's little league season. Each chapter is a mix of baseball and flashbacks that tell you more about these relationships and the unique Strasser family situation. This is also usually tied together with a relevant metaphor or two from baseball. There are laughs and tears throughout. Strasser reads the audio and you can hear the emotion in her voice. The memoir doesn't hold back, there is a real honesty in Strasser's narrative as she struggles with her grief, her guilt, and her anger. And before you think this is just depressing, there is a lot of joy and happiness here as well.

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Clear and informative collection of essays

Revisado: 12-29-23

An interesting collection of essays about European Jewry and the rise of modern capitalism. It is neither an economic history of capitalism, nor a history of European Jewry, but it does capture snapshots of both. Covering the middle ages up through the twentieth century, Muller’s essays examine the role of antisemitism and how that affected the relationship of Jews to modern capitalism. He argues that earlier religious antisemitism (large rooted in Christian theology) lead to the restriction of employment by Jews to areas of trade and commerce; and then as modern capitalism grows, the Jewish overrepresentation in trade and commerce leads to new forms of antisemitism. Muller also explores the Jewish involvement in the major social movements of nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. He shows that Jews were overrepresented in most of these movements, not just socialism and communism as is the common stereotype. Indeed, Muller argues, that only a small minority of European Jews were ever supportive of the socialist movements. And in the movements, Jews were also always a small minority. But Jewish involvement was conspicuous and tended to reinforce older antisemitic stereotypes, and so these newer antisemitic tropes develop. In one of the more tragic ironies of the twentieth century is that Jews were regarded, by the socialist left, as being evil, rapacious capitalists, but then, on the right, as being the leaders of communist vanguard. Muller also looks at the rise of nationalism and how Zionism fits into that both as a form of nationalism and a response to European nationalism.

All the essays are clear and informative, exploring the contours of this history in interesting and often novel ways. The analysis is at a more general level; a ten-thousand-foot view if you will, rather than getting into any great detail. As such, this is a good starting place, rather than the only or final account, for understanding the complex relationships of capitalism, socialism, antisemitism, and Zionism.

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Gets better and better

Revisado: 12-13-23

The third novel in the Cormoran Strike series continues to demonstrate JK Rowling's mystery chops. This might be the darkest and most disturbing thing Rowling has written; the subject is grim and Rowling doesn't shy away from details and she's able to get into the mind of a truly evil and disturbed person. Cormoran and Robin's relationship continues to develop in interesting ways. The secondary characters, like Shanker and Wardle, grow in prominence as well. Matthew continues to be a wanker though.

I listened to the reading by Robert Glenister which is fantastic. His performance helps bring the book to life, especially with the accents.

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Quite Disappointing

Revisado: 11-28-23

Performance: generally fine; though some mispronunciations. As a Boston sports fan, hearing the Boston Celtics pronounced with the hard 'c' (as in keltic) was a bit confusing for moment.

Content: Quite disappointing. There is some interesting and useful information; especially about the early games and the 19th century context that the Olympic revival comes out of. But as it gets further on; the book suffers. Frankly, it is probably trying to do and say too much in too little space. There is no overarching theme or narrative; no through line, that connects the chapters. There are some focal points; but these are not as well developed as they could be; and sometimes forced as the author tries to shoe horn in all the games of a specific time frame into the focus. But, as often as not, these focuses get lost in the details. The author tends to spend more time on the planners (and their backgrounds) than the games themselves. The latter half is almost entirely focused on the broader sociological and economic contexts of the host cities and games with very little discussed about the games themselves. There is only a tiny bit about Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, for example, when discussing the Summer Games in 2008. A good chunk of the Rio games is taken up by a discussion of the Brazilian presidential impeachment and surrounding scandals. Also, the closer to our own era we get, the more the authors particular political biases come through, muddying the analysis.

The subtitle of the book is the “A Global History of the Games” but it is not at clear what is particularly global about this history. Obviously, it is global, since the Olympics is global, but beyond that, I am not sure what they are trying to get at with that.

There is also a kind of elitist aesthetics expressed throughout. Inevitable, Olympic projects, such as buildings, slogans, or mascots, are described as kitschy, banal, vacuous, or ugly. There is a lot of sneering at the consumerism around the Olympics—which seems to run counter to the author’s concerns about the IOC’s long history of clinging to 19th century amateurism.

There are some errors as well; the most egregious being when he inexplicably labels the Christian identity nationalist, Eric Rudolph, the terrorist responsible for the Atlanta Olympic pipe bomber, a libertarian.

Overall the author’s cynicism and elitism get in the way of the valid criticisms of Olympic projects. As this and other histories show, there are many problems and criticisms to be made, but this work doesn’t do the work necessary to develop these, explain why they are concerns, or offer much in the way of alternatives. In most cases, the reality of the games is implicitly compared to some unstated majestic and idyllic system where the Olympics could take place without these problems. Furthermore, as critical as the author is of the vision of Coubertin’s Olympics, the author actually seems to in a way share this utopian vision of pure sport. But since the reality of the Olympics can never live up to this vision; it gets lots of righteous scorn and rhetorical sneering.

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Love Letter to Baseball

Revisado: 07-23-23

I enjoyed this cool little book from Joe Kelly and Rob Bradford. While nothing terribly insightful or groundbreaking, it is an authentic love letter to the game of baseball. Partly a memoir of Kelly's life in baseball, from t-ball to pro ball, it includes Kelly's reflections on the state of the game today and what he thinks it needs, as the title claims, to reclaim it's honored place as America's pastime. He discusses his run-ins with MLB brass and surprisingly productive meetings with commissioner, Rob Manfred. The last third of the book includes contributions from many other ball players and managers. From Mookie Betts and JD Martinez to Terry Francona and David Ross, and many more, we get a first hand perspective from those that have played the game on why they love the game. This book will speak to anyone who loves baseball.

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A profound achievement

Revisado: 04-18-23

This is a fantastic book. Sandefur does a masterful job of explaining the importance of these three remarkable women: Isabel Patterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand. He takes their ideas seriously, pulls no punches but is also exceedingly fair and charitable in his accounting of their ideas, works, and personalities.

Sandefur’s book is a bit hard to categorize: it’s part biography, part literary criticism/analysis, part political history, and part intellectual history. How ever you categorize it, it’s a remarkable achievement and anyone with any interest in American history of the 20th century or the history of intellectual ideas should read this book. It should be a touchstone for any scholar thinking about the ideas of Patterson, Lane, or Rand.

Perfectly read by the author.

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Concise history of the Negro Leagues

Revisado: 02-10-23

This is a well-presented and concise history of Negro League Baseball. It's only 12 lectures, about 6 hours, but it covers the development, growth, and downfall of the different leagues. Starting with the growth of baseball after the Civil War and emancipation, Moore tells the story of the development and difficult growth of Black baseball through the players, owners, and teams that were essential to the history. I didn't realize how many different Negro leagues there were. I would have liked another lecture on the post-integration downfall; this is covered very quickly in the lecture on integration but it felt like there was more to be said about what happens after integration. I think any fan of baseball will learn a lot about an important part of the history of baseball and America in these lectures.

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A biography of a fascinating man

Revisado: 01-27-23

Moe Berg was a unique figure; a quirky and weird guy in many ways. Brilliant and talented in many other ways. His life seemed rich and mysterious, but also quite sad and lonely. He seemed to be in the center of things but at the same time, no where at all.

The covers Berg's who life from his youth until death. It gets into more detailed than I expected into his family and the various friends and relations whose lives Berg drifted in and out of. His years as a spy during WW2 are of course covered, but they are not the focus. The mystery here is not this perennially backup major league catcher working as an OSS spy assigned to kill, if necessary, the renowned Germany physicist Werner Heisenberg. The mystery is Berg himself.

The audio has some hiccups where the editors missed repeated sentences, but otherwise the reader is good.

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Hermann is fantastic; the book meanders too much

Revisado: 03-10-17

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Overall, yes. It is not bad, but it could meander a bit into some aspects of Jefferson's personal, daily life that I found less interesting. I get why Meacham is doing this: in part to show Jefferson as a complete human being, but I found it distracting. The book is at its best when focused on the more historical aspects of Jefferson's life. Edward Hermann was a fantastic reader: I could listen to him read the phone book.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jon Meacham? Why or why not?

Sure.

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