WanderingsThoughts from Broken Hill and the Wandering SectionA Border Passage: From Cairo to AmericaA Womans Journey, by Leila Ahmed- (Found July 15, 2008 ) About A Border Passage, my friend writes me: "it's a memoir it was very interesting how she went over the history of the middle east and what being 'arab' means her critique of said's orientalism was interesting as well as her comment on the state of feminism in the US in the 70s ... if you ever read ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/2003/12/14/a-border-passage-from-cairo-to-americaa-womans... The Means of Control- (Found July 15, 2008 ) Regarding the current situation with the United States' undeclared war on Iraq, perhaps a quote from the German National Socialist (Nazi) Hermann Gring is in order: "Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/2003/03/31/the-means-of-control/ Articulating the heart beneath the Operating System- (Found July 15, 2008 ) My cynicism about computers and the power hungry ways of operating system (OS) manufacturers have tended to temper my willingness to enter the "PC vs. Mac" debate. However, I have just read the most articulate and beautiful exposition as to why Mac OS X is so much better than Windows, ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/2003/02/06/articulating-the-heart-beneath-the-operating-s... Pataphysica, edited by Cal Clements- (Found July 15, 2008 ) Ever feel like so much that passes for 'thoughtfulness' are just sound-bytes of gathered cultural trinkets, or that much of what passes for scholarship is a narcissistic exercise in second-hand verbiage Well, there's always Pataphysics. The collection of essays in Pataphysica is as good an introduction as any. Might as ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/2002/12/23/pataphysica-edited-by-cal-clements/ Hermeneutics as Politics, by Stanley Rosen- (Found July 15, 2008 ) Hermeneutics as Politics takes note of something most American academics seem (tone) deaf to: The political nature of continental philosophy. Our continuing fear of genuine political thought leaves us all the more vulnerable to appropriating the latest in critical theory like so much fashion. This book tries to address this ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/1997/12/28/hermeneutics-as-politics-by-stanley-rosen/ The Gift of Death, by Jacques Derrida- (Found July 15, 2008 ) The Gift of Death is a rare glimpse into Derrida's attachment to, and estrangement from religion. His discussion of Kierkegaard, while somewhat facile, provides a safe entryway for him to discuss Abraham, and how faith and the gift share a unique, and (dare I say) an-economic relation. The book builds ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/1997/02/08/the-gift-of-death-by-jacques-derrida/ Godric, by Frederick Buechner- (Found July 15, 2008 ) Godric is one of my favorite books because it is a unique entry point into a consciousness and mindset that is difficult for us to understand or respect: Creaturely-ness and repentance.It's language is a brilliant achievement in it's own right.http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/1994/09/12/godric-by-frederick-buechner/ Disaffection and Tyranny: An Exploration of Charles Taylors Sources of the Self- (Found July 15, 2008 ) In an age of disaffection, Taylor's serious and reverent study Sources of the Self seems strangely out of place. In it he offers us an exploration of self-hood which draws as much upon a phenomenology of the self as it does upon a genealogy of the self. This enormous undertaking ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/1991/11/08/disaffection-and-tyranny-an-exploration-of-cha... Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, by Charles Taylor- (Found July 15, 2008 ) Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity is perhaps best described as monumental. Whether the author's conclusions are palatable to you or not, this book remains invaluable simply for the nearly perfectly written history of Western thought it contains. A humane, conscientious treatment of the reasons we ...http://brokenhill.net/wanderings/1991/03/08/sources-of-the-self-the-making-of-the-modern-i... |