Day 2: Reading Report

I've been reading and enjoying a book called Another Sort of Learning, written by James V. Schall and originally published back in 1988. Schall was a Jesuit priest and professor of political philosophy at Georgetown University (among other places). See his Wikipedia write-up here.

Another Sort of Learning is a collection of essays and reviews. But really it is a kind of love-song to books and reading, and especially books that confront the "deep things" of life. Schall is advocates a continuous, thoughtful, and humble delving into these things. This sort of reading, and the thinking it prompts in us, is crucial to a life well-lived. I think that's the underlying theme of this book.

Now, I've only tested the waters of this subject called "political philosophy.' Recently I tried to read Plato's Republic, got halfway through and gave it up. But Schall calls Plato's work the fountainhead of all political philosophy and he peppers his essays with quotes from the Republic and other writings. He also quotes Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, G. K. Chesterton, Augustine, St. Thomas, and of course Aristotle, to name a few.

I'm going to return to Plato very soon. It seems I must. And then perhaps a little Aristotle, and then the tackling of Augustine at last. That should take me through next year at least!

Schall, who died in April of this year at the age of 91, would undoubtedly approve.

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In addition to Schall's book, I'm rereading The Hobbit and having a grand time of it. This is my third reading, but the first since, oh, I suppose somewhere in the 1980s. I had forgotten just how beautifully written it actually is. It's exquisite, really. And I am awed by the way Tolkien is able to give his readers the sense of traversing a vast and ever-changing landscape. You really do feel like you're trudging along with Bilbo and the dwarves.

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Finally, I'm reading a collection of Charles Krauthammer's columns, called The Point of it All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors. This is a book I probably wouldn't have thought about reading except that I came upon it in one of those LittleFreeLibraries that now seem ubiquitous in my neck of the woods. I'm reading this very gradually, one or two brief chapters at a time. Here again, I am simply impressed by the writing itself. Krauthammer wrote with such succinctness, such an economy of words, such disciplined efficiency in his arguments--I think he's a model for the rest of us scribblers. Plus, Krauthammer is an extraordinary fellow himself, one you feel like you're getting to know as you read his short essays: to know and admire.