Yet another list of possible fun and informative reading

This list originally posted on 22 November 2019 …Enjoy!

1). Newman, William R. and Anthony Grafton (Eds.) – Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge: MIT Press - 2001 (HB), 2006(PB). Interesting collection of papers particularly Chapter 5: Astronomia inferior:

2). Legacies of Johannes Trithemius and John Dee, also Chapter 6: The Rosicrucian Hoax in France (1623-24).

3). Carington, Whately (W. Whately Smith) – The Death of Materialism, London: Allen and Unwin, 1933 and also his The Foundations of Spiritualism, London: Kegan Paul, and so on, 1920. (both of these available GRATIS on archive.org)

4). Battaglia, Debora (Ed.) – E. T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2005. – especially Chapter 2: Ufology as Anthropology: Race, Extraterrestrials, and the Occult.

5). Seidenberg, Roderick – Post-historic Man: An Inquiry, Boston: Beacon Press, 1957.

A counter (of sorts) to Toynbee who, if one reads the end of Toynbee’s Habit and Change, is at base a Globalist. Someone asked Dr. Farrell in a vid-chat some while back why there were no more “grand historians” this read may provide an answer (or two). Neither here nor there … but Toynbee is a favorite of Richard Dolan.

6). De Giustino, David – Conquest of Mind: Phrenology and Victorian Social Thought, London / New Jersey: Croom Helm/Rowan and Littlefield,. 1975. A nice volume on the history of the science of mind. Could one construe modern MRI and fNIR studies as a kind of modern phrenology? … Just a question to consider …

7). Strauss, Leo – Persecution and the Art of Writing, Glencoe, Free Press, 1952. If you have an interest in Maimonides or Spinoza there are readings here for you. I include this collection of Strauss here though for the piece entitled (same as the book) Persecution and the Art of Writing. Dr. Farrell has on more than one occasion recommended Philosophy Between the Lines (Melzer, Arthur) … this piece by Strauss deals with a similar subject.

8). Richard, Steven J. – Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. An account of exactly what its title says.

9). Ransom, John Crowe - Why Critics Don’t Go Mad in The Kenyon Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, The Dante Number (Spring, 1952), pp. 331-339.
Theologism, Poetry, and Metaphor need one say more to entice? …

10). Black, Max - The Limitations of a Behavioristic Semiotic, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 56, No. 3 (May, 1947), pp. 258-272. … connected to the Affektenlehre? … I think very possibly …

11). Appleman, Philip, William A. Madden, and Michael Wolff (Eds.) 1859: Entering an Age of Crisis, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1959. Understanding a little something about Victorian English Culture may give us a little different understanding of our own culture.

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Thanks for the reading lists. I’m always looking for recommendations and since joining the site almost three years ago my library has grown substantially with every vidchat. Thanks again.

You’re so very welcome. Since the old Forum (where you could post such things as book lists) disappeared some while back and since Giza has a number of new members I’m going to try and re-post these old lists every 2 or 3 days. My hope is that there are titles in there for a number of tastes and interests. Cheers.

One question Scarmoge. I’m curious about Charles Peirce. Is there a book title you would suggest as a good entry point to his work? Thanks

Hello Machaire,

A good intro to Peircean (Pragmaticistic) – NOT Pragmatic or Pragmatism – those are either Jamesian (William James) or Deweyian (John Dewey) – is Arthur Stewart - Elements of Knowledge Elements of Knowledge: Pragmatism, Logic, and Inquiry on JSTOR

If you go to Works by Charles Sanders Peirce - ARISBE: THE PEIRCE GATEWAY

Look under the heading … The Journal of Speculative Philosophy Series
On the Semiotical Foundations of Logic …
1). Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed For Man (1868),
2). Some Consequences of Four Incapacities (1868), and
3). Grounds of Validity of the Laws of Logic: Further Consequences of Four Incapacities (1868).

and also under the heading — The Popular Science Monthly Series of
Illustrations of the Logic of Science (1877-1878) …
1). The Fixation of Belief (1877) and 2). How to Make Our Ideas Clear (1878).

These should get you going.
Cheers

Good list and some nuggets I’d love to get my hands on. Thanks for posting.

Thanks Scarmoge. Much appreciated.