Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: Mastery: Self Help or Just Opinion?

Robert Greene’s new book has me somewhat flummoxed. It’s not at all like his previous books. The other books of his I have were all ‘meta’ books – books about what others thought on various subjects: power, leadership, war, seduction, … Continue reading →

Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship

I was 8, maybe 9 years old, when my parents gave me a hardcover copy of Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship by Victor Appleton II. Probably a birthday or Xmas present. I can’t recall which. I just recall how … Continue reading →

Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: April, the cruellest month

April, wrote T.S. Eliot in his remarkable poem, The Waste Land, is the “cruellest month.”* And not merely because of the inclement and unsettling weather that seems to mix winter with spring in unpredictable doses. Nor for the necessity of … Continue reading →

Trashy's World: Kim Jong-un…

… reading things… Probably written in English. (17) Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario

Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Consolation of Literature

For Boethius, it was the Consolation of Philosophy*. For me, it’s literature. Not to write about it so much as to read it. Consolation from the act of reading. And read about literature. Sometimes literature is made more meaningful, brought … Continue reading →

Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Published in 1637, The Art of Worldly Wisdom is a collection of 300 aphorisms about life, behaviour, politics, morality, faith, philosophy and society. One comment, on Amazon.ca called it, somewhat unfairly to Machiavelli, “Machiavelli with a soul.” I have been … Continue reading →

Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. 2012 is almost over. 2013 looms a few hours away. I wish you all the best of times in the upcoming year. What a year it’s been. For council, we flailed around in the tar-baby issues of the … Continue reading →

Chadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Bedside Library

When the books stacked beside the bed get tall enough to hold not only a cup of tea at easy reach, but a plate of toast with no threat of falling, then perhaps it’s time to cull the pile and put aside those … Continue reading →

Politics and its Discontents: Word On The Street

Word on the street suggests that reading books in becoming obsolete. This Word on the Street, which we are heading off to attend, suggests otherwise. Recommend this Post

knitnut.net: Ask Me Anything #7: Are you a reader?

I’m answering Leeann’s question out of sequence, because I need more time to think about Auntiemichal’s question.

Leeann asks: “You often post about writing, but I don’t recall ever seeing a post about reading? Are you an avid reader? If so, what types of books do you typically read? What do you look for in a book? Is it okay to ask multi-part questions?”

Okay, starting at the end, yes it’s okay to ask multi-part questions.

I wouldn’t describe myself as an avid reader, but I do like to always have a book on the go. I especially love

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mark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Ask General Kang: Apparently, only one in four people read a book last year — how can we improve that figure?

I’d start by disabling the publishing industry in some way — perhaps an elite cadre of pulp-loving squirrels armed with plasma-shredders and capable of firing book worms out of their mouths? Or perhaps you could change the tax laws so … Continue reading →

Things Are Good: Reading for Faster Freedom in Brazil

Prisoners in Brazil may be able to shorten their stay in jail by reading and writing. It’s only 48 days but it can make a difference, the prisoners need to read from a collection of philosophy, science, literature, or the classics then reflect on them in a submitted paper.

Educational programs like this are a good way to help people returning to society restart with more focus and support.

Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must “make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up

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