I'm not especially interested in military history, neither am I a manager or businessman, but I still found this book very enjoyable. It has the rare appeal of being of its time but at the same time applicable to the present day. Many of the insights feel very contemporary - not simply to the business arena but to any aspect of life. The style is terse and aphoristic, which means that it doesn't really matter that the book is quite short. Even the chapters on terrain tactics are interesting from a historical point of view. I would also recommend a book called the Fall by Steve Taylor for its insights into the origins and history of warfare and social conflict The Fall:the Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era: The ... Read More:
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I make one simple point: does religion per se create evil,
or does humanity create evil in its name? The point has been
made over and over again that any great system of thought
creates zealots who are prepared to kill in its name. Humans
like and crave for certainty, and they cannot tolerate having
their certainty challenged. It is simply a non sequitur for
authors like Hitchens constantly to bang on about the evil done
in religions' names. When will people stop peddling this tired
old fallacy? It does not address the substance of the argument.
Does the atom bomb invalidate nuclear physics? Of course not. Let's
hear the *arguments* for the non-existence of God, not the
emotive ... Read More:
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Finding Happiness is one of those rare gems of a book that serenely guides you through the trials of modern day life. Father Jamison takes the reader hand in hand to genuine inner joy. "Are monks happy?" His reply, "They are not unhappy." That grabbed me straight away, along with his question about having a happy death! Having never thought about death being happy, on the rare occasions I think about death. I realised that to have a happy death, equates to having a happy and fulfilled life.
With his profound insights, and effective communication, this book remarkably mirrors humanities embedded condition. With such elegance, we're guided through many of the reasons that make us unhappy.
This is the book to have if you wish to know more about critical thinking. The book has exercises and is abundant with knowledge to assist you with your exams, assignments and general thinking. A must have for all student, just wish i'd found it eariler.
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Although only 40 pages long, you get an insight into the way that both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels felt about the world they lived in and how it could change for the greater good (in their opinion anyway). I do encourage anyone with even a minor interest in European politics, to give this book a try.
Even though I was fascinated by the two authors ideology (Ultimately, the hope that a Proletariat will rise to conquer the all-oppressing Bourgeoise, in every country) I do feel that they did not make clear any kind of policies that they would enforce after they took power. All it seems is that they want to get the oppressers out, but after that they don't seem to know what they want to do (despite destroying any kind of private property ... Read More:
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I just ordered this book -so I haven't yet read it. I do remember some of my Scott's grandma's sayings. When my friends & I were playing noisily inside she would eventually say" Haud your wheesht...my brain's like train oil" This was a reference to the oil in the wheels of the old steam trains & I've always felt it is extremely accurate in describing the condition of one's brain when discordant noise overwhelms your ability to think.
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This is a thick tomb, not so portable as a set of keys but much more portable than a well stocked library. - what you need to look up the writings of the authors mentioned in this book. This book is a tourist guide to intellectual places you have never considered visiting, or wanted to but didn't know where to start.
I think this book may have been more readable to the non English Lit. graduate had the contents been presented from the most recent to the least. It takes effort to read the early entries and to understand them.
Stick with it nonetheless your brain may ache from the effort but it will be fitter because of it.
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Machiavelli's Il Principe is a slim volume, but it's jam-packed with aperçu of political scenarios that just somehow seemed to be completely beyond the grasp of many so-called philosphers hundreds of years later. I'm not naming any names, but some of the political tomes I've read come across like the writer has spent too much time pondering and not enough time living.
The other thing that sets Machiavelli apart is that it's fun to read. If you admire the work of Marcus Aurelius, Sun Tzu, or The KLF, then this book is a must.
The most basic lesson of Machiavelli is simple common sense - namely that common sense isn't common, and has nothing to do with sense.
I read through this book quickly and although I was already familiar with most of the material, I found that it it jogged my memory in a few areas. I have already read quite a lot of philosophy but there were one or two things that I learned from this book.
Nigel Warburton is a senior lecturer in philosophy at the Open University and he has divided this book into seven chapters. Particularly on the section on meta-ethics in his second chapter entitled "Right and Wrong" and the section on falsification in his fifth chapter "Science", I gained some insights into things that I hadn't picked up from reading much larger books. One of the best introductions on the market to a very important but sometimes abstract and obscure subject.
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