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Click to viewNoted recluse Thomas Pynchon uses Youtube to sell his newest book. Since I was so fond of his previous book, and also relatively impressed by the other book of his that I've read, this is exciting.
Interesting fact: the name Mayonnaise may derive from a town on a Balearic island named after a brother of Hannibal the Great: Mago, from whence Maho and thus Mahonnaise. Other explanations exist, and the OED doesn't take sides, but I know what I want to believe.
Hmmm...Darien wanted this to be thought intensive, so maybe I'll mention the book on Plato I read. Yeah motherfucker I'm bringing it. It was called Reason and Persuasion, was written by John Holbo and Belle Warring, and is available online, where I read it. It is an idiosyncratic discussion of three dialogues of Plato; Euthyphro, Meno, and the first bit of the Republic. As the title indicates, it is mainly concerned with Socrates's method in the dialogues, i.e., the dialogic method itself. What can we learn about Plato's philosophy from the medium in which it is presented? What can the digressions and discursions into geometry have to do with the topics at hand? He also tries to tie the dialogues back to the famous Platonic theory of forms, and show how the dialogues can all be interpreted in light of this point of view. There is also ample discussion of the historical and cultural context of these dialogues, which is also great. Holbo is a philosopher, and Warring, his wife, is a classicist; she provided the translations and cultural details, while he provides the philosophy. As someone who is not generally inclined to Platonism, I thought he presented a very good case for both a reinterpration of Plato that I might be more willing to get behind, and also for the standard version of Platonism. And Wittgenstein gets a brief mention.
After this, I busted out my copy of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, and have been having a grand old time reading the Greek philosophy sections.
And, to end, a movie recommendation: see Waltz With Bashir, cuz that shit is good.