Essays Books - Page 5

Walden

Henry David Thoreau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Pertinent and well written 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Strangely surprising how pertinent many of Thoreau's perceptions, opinions and insights on habits and values are to modern day society and culture. And impressive how vehemently he professes these views in some sections. No sugar coating here. This is raw stuff, presented with language and skill we've lost over the years.

My favorite quote: "One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels"

Thoreau is inspired and inspiring.

Hard Work 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I wonder if Thoreau wrote the way he did as a way of imparting to his readers how much hard work he put in to living in the woods. If so, he was successful.
This book contains many, many little gems of clever witticism and solid advice, but it's quite difficult to sift through all of the pointless and trivial paragraphs in order to separate Thoreau's genius from his madness. It is almost not worth it. I've lived twenty-two years having not read Walden and I did not live them as a hillbilly. Therefore, I probably would have been perfectly able to function in society without reading this monster.
Again, though, the gems in this book cannot be denied. They are a mirror, in front of which is standing American society.
Some have called Thoreau arrogant. I disagree. Although Americans might not want to see what Walden has to show them, they should not take this disgust out on the messenger. Thoreau did not imagine what he had to say about American society, but rather he observed it. That is not arrogance, it is realism and bravery.
I do, however, truly wish I'd not read this book. Someone should sort out the passages of value and publish them in a small volume that most people might actually be able to get through. American society would be the beneficiaries of valuable knowledge and information without the drag of the rest of Thoreau's book.

Editorial Review:

In 1845 Thoreau leased some land owned by his friend and mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson on Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, and lived in a cabin on it for two years, two months, and two days. The experience gave Thoreau the chance to make keen observations on the world around him. The result became an American classic: Walden explores not only the soul of the searching Thoreau, but defines what it means to be a truly free person, and distills the essence of our relationship of Nature.

The Souls of Black Folk

W. E. B. Du Bois

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Soul Of All Folk: 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

"The Soul Of Black Folk" Is a book I think everyone should read regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, color, or creed simply because there's something in it for all. W.E.B. Dubois' engaging book falls more inline with the panorama of all American experiences, not just the Black experiences alone: if that makes any sense?
This fine book was originally published in 1903 and is still a significant piece of literature today. The anecdotes that are shared in this book belong in the lexicon of American history, but what's most striking are Dubois' references to Negro music called the sorrow songs, which of course spanned through hundreds of years of sanguineous slavery. And it was these same songs that set the foundation of Gospel, the Blues, Rock n Roll, and the American dream.
The reason I'm using this terminology is because in-spite of the torture blacks suffered they still managed to sing amazing songs such as "Steal Away," and "Poor Rosy." (Some songs were in reference to allegorical content).
Furthermore, the British rock-band Led Zeppelin is a fine example of individual intellectualism insofar as embracing American Negro culture considering they were influenced by this book because in 1968, Led Zeppelin's first album debuted and not only did they cover blues favorites written by Willie Dixon, but they also covered Negro spirituals, which Du Bois referred to as the "Sorrow Songs."
Led Zeppelin's song "How Many More Times" is an opus of Negro "Sorrow Songs." It's amazing that it took the bluesy cadence of an English rock band to pay homage to the very people whose hardship and strife inspired them to borrow the lyrics and the music from this book. It's a wonderful sight to see when people like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant take the time to learn about Black Americanism and about themselves. It just goes to show that all Americans should embrace their African heritage because without acknowledging the Black experience it's impossible to be a true American.
It's upsetting to note that in today's America racism is so rampant that the subject of Rock n Roll history can't even be encroached upon like it was in the 1960's civil rights movement, due to the fact that the political language has significantly changed.
(In layman's terms we can't be honest with ourselves and discuss the sheer fact that racism still dictates our everyday lives simply because the corporate world creates the phony left/right paradigm and ad-hominems through the media, which leaves America with an erroneous history).
Anyway, music played a major role during the 1960's. It helped people prosper through the horrific struggle for independence. The poetry that the slaves introduced over two-hundred years ago would yet again set the recalcitrant atmosphere that was needed when Blacks won the right to vote in 1965. And it was that moment in history that systemic change began. It was almost like an ancestral eidolon cascading over America with the strength and perseverance of a god in love with his people.

Moreover, Dubois elaborates on many subject matter with a linguistic style coming across as the perfect salubrious prolepsis for today's readers.

Sorry to digress, but another high point in the book was Dubois' rebuttal to Booker T. Washington's bourgeois attitude. Even today many Black scholars quote Booker T, but the inquiry was...is that wise? Well, according to Dubois, promulgating Booker T's message was rather pernicious and would only lead to more draconian virulence. Booker T's stance on waiting for White America to become simpatico to the needs of the Negro, while hoping for acceptance to proliferate from them in due time was not realistic at all.
Dubois strongly felt that Booker T's ideas were a depravity, a mummery, and an insult. Waiting for the bully to stop picking on you never works; for some reason Booker T couldn't contemplate that this scenario he was promulgating was ambiguous. If the powers that be are unwilling to negotiate with you then you have no other recourse but recalcitrancy. Booker T was in favor of slow progression, but just imagine what America would be like if Blacks took on Booker T's mindset? Life would be very different that's for sure.
Dubois hits on many touching moments in his memoirs and the personal lives of his students, which everyone reading this will enjoy. "The Soul Of Black Folk" is required reading for all. Give this book a chance! Dubois' writings are an inspirational experience!

Editorial Review:

One of the most influential and widely read texts in all of African American letters and history, The Souls of Black Folk combines some of the most enduring reflections on black identity, the meaning of emancipation,and Afican American culture. This new edition reprints the original 1903 edition of W.E.B. Du Bois's classic work with the fullest set of annotations of any version yet published, together with two related essays, and numerous letters Du Bois received and wrote concerning his widely read text. The introductory essay combines the sensibilities of a historian and a philosopher to capture the contours of Du Bois's life and writings along with the early-twentieth-century reception to the book. Photographs, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

Self-Reliance and Other Essays (Dover Thrift Editions)

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good, for a "thrift" edition 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

While the text contains some real gems of Emersonian thought (i.e. Divinity School Address and Self-Reliance) it is not an adequate representation of his better works, leaving out "Nature," "The American Scholar" and other more important and influential essays. I, personally, order this text for my Freshman English classes because it's cheap and gives two exemplary representations of Emerson for a survey course; however, if you are looking for a total package text that reflects what Emerson is capable of as a writer and thinker, you are better off investing a little more money and picking up a Norton or Library of America Edition of his works.

Editorial Review:

The 6 essays and one address in this volume outline the great transcendentalist's moral idealism as well as hinting at the later scepticism that colored his thought. In addition to the celebrated title essay, the others included here are "History," "Friendship," "The Over-Soul," "The Poet" and "Experience," plus the well-known and frequently read Harvard Divinity School Address.

The Best American Essays 2007 (The Best American Series (TM))

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The twenty-two essays in this powerful collection -- perhaps the most diverse in the entire series -- come from a wide variety of periodicals, ranging from n + 1 and PMS to the New Republic and The New Yorker, and showcase a remarkable range of forms. Read on for narrative -- in first and third person -- opinion, memoir, argument, the essay-review, confession, reportage, even a dispatch from Iraq. The philosopher Peter Singer makes a case for philanthropy; the poet Molly Peacock constructs a mosaic tribute to a little-known but remarkable eighteenth-century woman artist; the novelist Marilynne Robinson explores what has happened to holiness in contemporary Christianity; the essayist Richard Rodriguez wonders if California has anything left to say to America; and the Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson attempts to find common ground with the evangelical community.

In his introduction, David Foster Wallace makes the spirited case that "many of these essays are valuable simply as exhibits of what a first-rate artistic mind can make of particular fact-sets -- whether these involve the 17-kHz ring tones of some kids' cell phones, the language of movement as parsed by dogs, the near-infinity of ways to experience and describe an earthquake, the existential synecdoche of stagefright, or the revelation that most of what you've believed and revered turns out to be self-indulgent crap."

Illuminations: Essays and Reflections

Walter Benjamin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Just a quick note 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

I have nothing to add to the reviews below except to note for scholarly interest that the essay 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' included in this collection is not Benjamin's final version. (Neither is this title a good translation of the German: 'Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit'. Zohn's translation in the selected writings is better: 'The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility'.) The text in this collection is the 1935 manuscript, as originally published in 1936; the text collected in the Selected Writings, Vol. 4 is the final 1939 version that, as far as I can tell, was not published in Benjamin's lifetime. The difference between the two texts is slight, consisting mainly of some additional sentences here and there and some changed words. At least one of these revisions is, I hypothesize, the result of Adorno's criticisms of his letter to Benjamin of 18 Mar 1936.

Otherwise, for most purposes, this is the best collection of Benjamin's essays available for an introduction to his thought. This volume collects some of the best of his essays that are otherwise spread throughout the selected writings published by the Harvard U.P.

Editorial Review:

Walter Benjamin was one of the most original cultural critics of the twentieth century. Illuminations includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and on Brecht's Epic Theater. Also included are his penetrating study "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and Benjamin's theses on the philosophy of history.

Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and introduces them with a classic essay about Benjamin's life in dark times. Also included is a new preface by Leon Wieseltier that explores Benjamin's continued relevance for our times.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Harper Perrennial Modern Classics)

Annie Dillard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 214 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A pretty hollow imitation of Walden 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Apparently, Ms. Dillard fancied herself being Henry David Thoreau -- she even named her pet goldfish Ellery Channing (Channing was Thoreau's lifelong friend). Structurally this book is organized similar to Walden, and it is Walden that Ms. Dillard tried to emulate.

The book starts with a bloody, filthy and delirious little episode with a tom cat. Fortunately, the whole book is much more forgiving. There is no doubt that Ms. Dillard is well-read, as she gives us excerpts from Fabre, Edwin Way Teale, Marius von Senden, etc., stories about different animals, the Eskimos and facts about sciences (even Quantum Mechanics), which are quite fascinating to read. It is also no question that she has a flowering pen, her vivid descriptions of nature and events are scattered throughout the book and I especially enjoy the chapters "Flood" and "Stalking".

However, to think that this book is merely an observation of the natural environment and the flora and fauna in it would be a mistake. For one thing, there are actually not that many narratives of first-person observations. The book consists of three main themes: 1. description of the natural environment; 2. anecdotes and stories from other sources; 3. the author's own reflection about theology and spirituality. The first theme probably only occupies one third of the book.

In the end, what we have here is vastly different from Walden. Reading Walden gives one delight, hope, and a sense of liberation -- from the everyday quiet desperation. I don't get much of these from "Tinker Creek". Yes, Ms. Dillard is a keen observer and writes very well, but her main focus is not nature, but instead her religious ruminations. It is very much different from Walden, or Desert Solitaire, or many other books in this genre: in the other books the authors do offer some opinions and reflections, but they are mainly description of natural phenomena, the opinions and reflections are sparkles that give them life, an upshot so to speak. In "Pilgrim", the relationship is reversed; the narratives of nature comes second to, and is dictated by, the author's theological pondering. The book on a whole gives me the impression of a theological discourse rather than a nature book. I also get the feeling that the author is more inward looking, in a sense she is more self-absorbed, often delirious, and sometimes narcissistic. It is really a book about a "pilgrim"; that she happens to be at Tinker Creek is largely coincidental, and probably irrelevant.

Another thread that keeps popping up in the book is her thoughts about a "creator" -- I don't mean to make this a "evolution vs. creationism" debate, but since this is in the book itself and carries much weight, I figured I have every right to comment on it. This is permeated throughout the book, but most strongly in "Fecundity". It is interesting that Ms. Dillard does not actually reject evolution; in fact, she gives us many scientific facts about biology (especially entomology), ecology, etc., one is inclined to believe that she actually accepts it. She goes on to say how "wasteful" nature is in creating a lot of things and then discarding them (which is true and she made a good case by giving us a lot of interesting facts), but then wonders how a creator can be so inefficient. Well, maybe the answer is right at your fingertips, Ms. Dillard, perhaps you should just do away with that first assumption, like Laplace did.

I may be harsh in giving it 3 stars (I would give it 3.5 if I could), but my expectations were much higher (probably it had something to do with the Pulitzer Price).

Editorial Review:

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Blue Ridge valley. Annie Dillard sets out to see what she can see. What she sees are astonishing incidents of "mystery, death, beauty, violence."

In the Night Kitchen

Maurice Sendak

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 101 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

My feelings have changed about this book over time 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As a mother and a teacher, I am always looking for quality books to read to my fourth graders as well as my 3 year old daughter. Although I would never be able to read In the Night Kitchen to my class (parent complaints and such), it didn't take long for my little girl to fall in love with this book.
Sadly, many children today are lacking a tremendous amount of imagination, getting caught up in video games and the newest electronics. This is the primary reason why I knew I would expose her to Maurice Sendak. She's loved Where the Wild Things Are since she was a baby. I just checked out this book in the public library last week.
In my Children's Lit class in college many years ago, our teacher lectured us about the Freudian undertones of this children's book. Being young and impressionable, I vowed to myself to NEVER expose my future child to a book like this. Well, what can I say? I've learned quite a bit since then.
I'm a firm believer that nothing is a big deal unless you MAKE it a big deal. Sure, the book is certainly different from any other children's book you normally see. However, Sendak wrote this in 1970 and wanted it to be a nostalgic piece and he brought it into his illustrations. He was brought up reading comics of the 1940s, which is clearly seen in the story.
It's a whimsical, mystical story showing a journey through the imagination of a little boy. My daughter adores it and I often hear her quoting, "Quiet Down There!" and "Good bless me." I'm sure I will have a difficult time bringing this one back to the library, so I plan on purchasing it for her very soon. Thank goodness she has the Scholastic Video Collection that includes "Where the Wild Things Are" as well as "In the Night Kitchen."

Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

hard to find a serviceable edition 1 out of 5 stars.
16 of 18 people found this review helpful.

"The Wealth of Nations" is more readable than you probably think, and if you actually sit down to it you'll be repeatedly astounded by Smith's shrewdness.

But parts of Smith's original can be tough going in many ways. Why don't publishers acknowledge this by coming out with something more helpful than just the raw text?

Unfortunately, finding an edition that will be of great use to you is problematic. That's why I'm giving this book 1 star: not for the text itself, but rather for the paucity of well-done printings out there.

Anyhow. I have three before me:

1. The "Modern Library Classics" edition, the one you see on this page. This is complete and unabridged in a single volume, and has a handsome, sturdy feel to it. There is a 4-page introduction and a well-done index, but what irks about this edition is that while it has a plethora of footnotes, all the footnotes are of the "textual comparison" variety (e.g., "12 Car. II., C. 32"), rather than the kind that really help you understand antiquated terms and convoluted wordings. In other words, you'll get no help from the editors here.

2. Then there is the barren Wealth of Nations (Great Minds Series). There is a 2-page introduction at the beginning and an index, but beyond that it's nothing more than the original text, complete with the original punctuation and spellings (neither of which has been made more merciful for the modern reader).

3. The Penguin Classics edition, in two volumes: The Wealth of Nations: Books 1-3 (Penguin Classics) and The Wealth of Nations, Books IV-V (Penguin Classics). This is probably the least worst edition I have seen, with a superb introduction (nearly 100 pages long), and a glossary, all done by Glasgow's Andrew Skinner. But the only footnotes in the text itself are apparently Smith's own. They appear directly on the bottom of the page in question.

So good luck, whichever one you choose.

In case you need to know, Smith's original consists of five long chapters, or "books."

If anybody has a more respectable edition at hand, please comment and I'll incorporate it into this review.

Editorial Review:

While it has been pointed to time and again by governments and pundits promoting laissez-faire economics, the Wealth of Nations actually shows that Adam Smith viewed capitalism with a deep suspicion, and tempered his celebration of a self-regulating market with a darker vision of the dehumanizing potential of a profit-oriented society. Smith did not write an economics textbook, but rather a panoramic narrative about the struggle for individual liberty and general prosperity in history.
This edition includes generous selections from all five books of the Wealth of Nations. It also provides full notes and a commentary that places Smith's work within a rich interdisciplinary context.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

Robert Fulghum

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Total reviews: 73 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Simple ideas for your not so simple life 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Robert Fulgram's book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten is now more than 15 years old and has been updated in a new version. The book became an instant classic with its wise statements and gentle humor. The essence of the book is the following set of statements:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
We learned most of these ideas as children, but as adults we often forget or discard them as no longer relevant. Yet they remain as the truly important things in life. The trick is not only to remember them but also to use them in an adult context. Maybe we can't take a nap in the afternoon any more, but we can relax and get sufficient rest so that we can work efficiently; we know better than to hit people, but political and personal violence is still a major part of life in the United States. Living a balanced life is something many adults have difficulty achieving. My own advice is to post this list someplace where you can see it every day. And it wouldn't hurt to read this small volume over and over again.

I rate this book at 5 stars. The other reviews seem for the most part to be either 5 or 1 stars. The negative reviewers miss, in my view, the main point of the book--that simple things are the most important and simple ways of saying things are the best means of communication.

Editorial Review:

A modern classic, and a phenomenal bestseller, this simple collection of thoughts and gentle opinion has struck a deep chord in readers all over the world. Observing our times in his unique way, Robert Fulghum has tapped into the community that we all share and tells us something about ourselves and how to be the best we are capable of. He reminds us to share, clean up our own mess, take a nap every afternoon, and to be aware of wonder.
"Within simplicity lies the sublime."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"A healthy antidote to the horrors that pummel us in this dicey age."
THE BALTIMORE SUN

This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women

Jay Allison, Dan Gediman

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A new collection of inspiring personal philosophies from another noteworthy group of people

This second collection of This I Believe essays gathers seventyfive essayists—ranging from famous to previously unknown—completing the thought that begins the book’s title. With contributors who run the gamut from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to ordinary folks like a diner waitress, an Iraq War veteran, a farmer, a new husband, and many others, This I Believe II, like the first New York Times bestselling collection, showcases moving and irresistible essays.

Included are Sister Helen Prejean writing about learning what she truly believes through watching her own actions, singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore writing about a hard-won wisdom based on being generous to others, and Robert Fulghum writing about dancing all the dances for as long as he can. Readers will also find wonderful and surprising essays about forgiveness, personal integrity, and honoring life and change.

Here is a welcome, stirring, and provocative communion with the minds and hearts of a diverse, new group of people—whose beliefs and the remarkably varied ways in which they choose to express them reveal the American spirit at its best.