Susan Jacoby's "Freethinkers: The History of American Secularism" is simply riveting. I finally started it on Saturday evening--after finishing "Soon I Will Be Invincible", about which I can only say bellisima!--and I'm three quarters done, sadly.
But I'll walk away from it with a thrilling new reading list that includes anything on or by:
Whitman (esp, Leaves of Grass, unexpurgated)
That massive, awesome-looking John Adams biography I was too cheap to buy last month
Emma Goldman
WEB DuBois
EC Stanton
Lucretia Mott
Susan B Anthony
WL Garrison
Robert Ingersoll
Ethan Allen
Frederick Douglass
Eugene Debs
Thomas Huxley
There's just so much about my world--my own country that I didn't even suspect. I'm so humbled by this fact, and as I learn a bit more, every day finds me rather ashamed at having ever called this world I find myself in and the only one I'll ever have boring. Whether I use human or natural history as focal point, there's more than enough in my world to keep me engaged with but a little effort on my own part. Hell, the hardest bit so far, was actually learning how to read, but those efforts are twenty-three years behind me.
(Though anyone'd be right to observe that learning to read, and learning to read critically are two different beasts, and some people die without learning to do the latter. I, hopefully, am taking steps to not be one of them.)
So lately, instead of feeling stupid at the feet of the vast Everest of Things I Don't Know, I've begun thinking, instead, that with such a mountain to climb--which I will likely die before getting higher than the foothills of--the only way my life can be boring, or without happiness, is if I completely disregard the simple, renewable joy of learning and penetrating life's mysteries.
I don't think I've ever in my life been this hungry to know.
Everthing.
"If wishes was horses, we'd all be eatin' steak."--Jayne Cobb
I spent a long time over the past couple of weeks just reading about all kinds of things. I know exactly what you mean. A hunger for knowledge is absolutely what it is. I read Dawkins' "A Devil's Chaplain" over the holiday. I hadn't actually heard of it before I bought it, but it was an interesting read if you find yourself searching around for another book, as unlikely as that looks from your lengthy list.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year Vittles!
I loved Freethinkers. You may enjoy Jennifer Hecht's Doubt too. It's quite a lot longer than Jacoby's book, but well written and interesting.
ReplyDeleteI can get it through my local library, and shall.
ReplyDeleteGreek doubt -- Smacking the temple, 600 BCE-1 CE : doubt and the ancient Jews -- What the Buddha saw, 600 BCE-1 CE: ancient doubt in Asia -- When in Rome in doubt, 50 BCE-1 CE : empire of reason -- Christian doubt, Zen, Elisha, and Hypatia, 1-800 CE : late-classical mix -- Medieval doubt loops-the-loop, 800-1400 : Muslims to Jews to Christians -- The printing press and the Age of Martyrs, 1400-1600 : Renaissance and inquisition -- Sunspots and White House doubters, 1600-1800 : revolutions in the authority of reason -- Doubt's bid for a better work, 1800-1900 : freethinking in the age of science and reform -- Principles of uncertainty, 1900- : the new cosmopolitan -- The joy of doubt : ethics, logic, mood.
It looks delightfully comprehensive. I can't wait!
I spent a long time over the past couple of weeks just reading about all kinds of things. I know exactly what you mean. A hunger for knowledge is absolutely what it is.
ReplyDeleteYes--and then the more you read, the more you want to tell everyone what've you've read, and say "isn't this amazing?"
Even though they'll just look at you like you're nuts, lol.
I read Dawkins' "A Devil's Chaplain" over the holiday. I hadn't actually heard of it before I bought it, but it was an interesting read if you find yourself searching around for another book, as unlikely as that looks from your lengthy list.
I've heard of it, can get it through my library, and certain;y would've. But a rec from you bumps it up much higher on my list. Though I often wish I could read three books at the same time. So much to know and so little time to know it in. . . .
Happy new year Vittles!
Ditto :D
And watch out for black ice.