Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning. Viktor E. Frankl.

Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning.
Viktor E. Frankl.
Insight Books: 1997.

A series of lectures and essays by Frankl, the inventor/developer of Logotherapy, a theory of psychology he developed while in WWII concentration camps. Besides Jungian theory -- which really appeals to my aesthetic side -- this is the only psychology I have found which I feel is pretty much correct. His basic tenet is that people's primary objective is to find meaning, "logo", in and for our lives. Along with this, Frankl believes that man is spiritual at core. Thus, for us to be really happy, even in a concentration camp, we must see a spiritual meaning for our lives. This doesn't mean we have to know the Meaning of Life, but at least an individual meaning.

Logotherapy is practical, though not to the extreme of behaviorism, yet it keeps psychology existential and humanist, not reducing man to Freudian drives & impulses.

An extremely important book, with a lot of truth mixed in. A good one to reread every few years.

The Nothing That Is. Robert Kaplan

The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero.
Robert Kaplan.
Oxford: 1999.

An interesting topic that intrigued me when I first read about this book in a review. The first half of the book is rather interesting, as Kaplan follows the development of the idea of zero through the 16th-17th centuries. Zero as a number was never really accepted until this time; before then, it was either non-existent, a place-header only, or a suspicious number used by mathmeticians and magicians.

Throughout this half of the book, the author's innumerable tangents, asides, and references -- literary, philosophical, historical, scientific, religious, or otherwise -- are distracting and annoying, but we still follow something of a course.

Once we reach the modern era, however, the book collapses into a rambling essay on "what is the meaning of nothing" with all the author's usual asides. Boring to wade through, as he seems to have no point other than show off his wide array of knowledge (which, of course, is a valid point for discussion, but not one I particularly care about.) If he had stuck to the history, this would have been a great, albeit short, book.

Metaphors We Live By

Metaphors We Live By

George Lakoff & Mark Johnson. University of Chicago: 1980.

A fascinating study on metaphors. This is the kind of linguistics I like because by studying the language, you can get to philosophical 'truths.'

The authors use many examples of metaphors, such as LOVE IS WAR or IDEAS ARE FOOD, giving specific instances of each over-arching metaphor. But they are primarily concerned with our use of metaphors as concepts - if we use the LOVE IS WAR metaphor, our reality is different than someone who uses the LOVE IS A JOURNEY metaphor.

The most interesting thing (a tangent, really) about their theory is the realization that within these conceptual metaphors, such as ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING, are unused specific metaphors, such as "his argument had many small rooms", that can still be understood. Attention, all poets!

The book, although not very interestingly written, contains some great content. A definite keeper to re-read if I ever find myself becoming too settled in my thoughts.