Water, water everywhere
I went swimming with a friend of mine today. There's a public indoor swimming pool near by where I live, but I never go swimming by myself, I want company. I got a cramp in my foot about halfway through our time there, and my friend told me to drink something, because apparently dehydration can cause cramps. Luckily it seemed to help, but I'm pretty out of shape, because I seldom excercise, so it wasn't a long swim. We didn't really swim that much, we had floaty belts on and trampled water. It's my favourite form of excercise, it's so meditative.
The book for today is Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It was all the rage when it came out about 20 years ago. It's the story of 15-year old Sophie, who starts to receive letters from a philosopher. She gets to read about the history of philosophy, and later, she meets the man who has been sending letters to her, and he teaches her about how philosophy has influenced Western thought. It doesn't sound like a book for young people, except for having a young girl as a main character, but the book is interesting and fairly light reading. Don't expect to read it all in one day, however, because there are lots of words and concepts that need to be thought through. Since it is a novel about philosophy, there are no easy answers. There is a plot twist, that works for some people, but others may find it disturbing or annoying. I'm still on the fence about it.
This book rocked my world because I was about the right age to read it, and I knew next to nothing about philosophy when I read it for the first time. Gaarder has a way of making the abstract philosophical concepts both interesting and relevant. He doesn't take sides, but presents the different schools of thought fairly. This book made me think about life, science and ethics more than any book I had ever read. It might rock your world, too.
It's raining today. Yesterday was so fine, and now it looks like the beginning of a new winter. But spring is just around the corner. And yesterday, I bought two boxes of CD:s with all in all 200 songs for easy listening. The singers include Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Shirley Bassey, Paul Anka, Dean Martin, Tony Bennet and Bing Crosby. I won't like everything, I know, but I will like a great many of the old songs. They are often so sentimental and innocent, that I can't really conceive of anyone writing songs like that nowadays. Surely someone must, but since I don't listen to the radio, I never hear any. I don't have many CD:s with other than classical music and Christmas music, so these were a good investment. They will brighten up the rainy days...
The book for today is Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It was all the rage when it came out about 20 years ago. It's the story of 15-year old Sophie, who starts to receive letters from a philosopher. She gets to read about the history of philosophy, and later, she meets the man who has been sending letters to her, and he teaches her about how philosophy has influenced Western thought. It doesn't sound like a book for young people, except for having a young girl as a main character, but the book is interesting and fairly light reading. Don't expect to read it all in one day, however, because there are lots of words and concepts that need to be thought through. Since it is a novel about philosophy, there are no easy answers. There is a plot twist, that works for some people, but others may find it disturbing or annoying. I'm still on the fence about it.
This book rocked my world because I was about the right age to read it, and I knew next to nothing about philosophy when I read it for the first time. Gaarder has a way of making the abstract philosophical concepts both interesting and relevant. He doesn't take sides, but presents the different schools of thought fairly. This book made me think about life, science and ethics more than any book I had ever read. It might rock your world, too.
It's raining today. Yesterday was so fine, and now it looks like the beginning of a new winter. But spring is just around the corner. And yesterday, I bought two boxes of CD:s with all in all 200 songs for easy listening. The singers include Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Shirley Bassey, Paul Anka, Dean Martin, Tony Bennet and Bing Crosby. I won't like everything, I know, but I will like a great many of the old songs. They are often so sentimental and innocent, that I can't really conceive of anyone writing songs like that nowadays. Surely someone must, but since I don't listen to the radio, I never hear any. I don't have many CD:s with other than classical music and Christmas music, so these were a good investment. They will brighten up the rainy days...