I managed to wade through three chapters of Spinoza tonight, fairly proud of that. The only thing that really jumps at me is his lengthy speculation on the literal truth of Scripture, which I found agreeable and persuasive. These views are surely part of why he was excommunicated, but I think they are much less revolutionary today. His main claim is that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, but by a later historian, specifically Aben Ezra. He also discusses the literal vs. figurative meaning of many Biblical verses and how we can reconcile them. He is considerably more succinct in his religious discussions than Hobbes was (will be, Spinoza predates him), which I am certainly in favor of. What I have read so far indicates I will probably buy his other famous work, Ethics.
I did manage to finish Friedman's book. It was a bit airy and light on content, but I think my overall impression of the book was good. Unfortunately, much of what he was writing about is already outdated after 4 years, but I don't fault the author for the passage of time. I don't know where my next random nonfiction will come from. I was considering a biography, but I will see what is cheap for the Nook over the coming days. I would also like to finish Murchie so I don't mind being a book down for a bit. In the meantime, I have been reading Red Badge of Courage. This is a continuation, somewhat, of my yesteryear push to read more classics and become a consumer of culture. Turns out there's a lot of classics out there, but the good news is they're free to read and, coincidentally, books that have been popular for years tend to be pretty decent. Sort of like an infallible testing process.
I bought a PS3 this past weekend, which of course can be nothing but a hindrance to my quest for knowledge. So to offset that time loss, I try to hit the random article button on Wikipedia on a semi-regular basis. I got taken both yesterday and today to rice production. I was unaware that at the turn of the century (this century), the US was the third largest net exporter of rice. It's grown in the 'rice belt' (Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas) as well as a couple other states. Thailand is the number one exporter, with over a quarter of the world's market share as of ten years ago. Surprising for such a small country, though I suppose their infrastructure is probably better as a whole. I like learning stuff like this, general knowledge. I like to think of it as acquiring puzzle pieces. The more pieces you get, the more likely it is you can fit a couple of them together and see something new.
I did manage to finish Friedman's book. It was a bit airy and light on content, but I think my overall impression of the book was good. Unfortunately, much of what he was writing about is already outdated after 4 years, but I don't fault the author for the passage of time. I don't know where my next random nonfiction will come from. I was considering a biography, but I will see what is cheap for the Nook over the coming days. I would also like to finish Murchie so I don't mind being a book down for a bit. In the meantime, I have been reading Red Badge of Courage. This is a continuation, somewhat, of my yesteryear push to read more classics and become a consumer of culture. Turns out there's a lot of classics out there, but the good news is they're free to read and, coincidentally, books that have been popular for years tend to be pretty decent. Sort of like an infallible testing process.
I bought a PS3 this past weekend, which of course can be nothing but a hindrance to my quest for knowledge. So to offset that time loss, I try to hit the random article button on Wikipedia on a semi-regular basis. I got taken both yesterday and today to rice production. I was unaware that at the turn of the century (this century), the US was the third largest net exporter of rice. It's grown in the 'rice belt' (Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas) as well as a couple other states. Thailand is the number one exporter, with over a quarter of the world's market share as of ten years ago. Surprising for such a small country, though I suppose their infrastructure is probably better as a whole. I like learning stuff like this, general knowledge. I like to think of it as acquiring puzzle pieces. The more pieces you get, the more likely it is you can fit a couple of them together and see something new.
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