Books: Art

This was an interesting and though-provoking book.  The book discusses predictions about the future.  Obviously there are religious predictions, but talking heads on TV are constantly making predictions.  There are many books out there that make predictions.  The author brings up several familiar names, like Paul Ehrlich and Peter Schiff.  He descr... (See the whole review)

After Adam Smith A Century of Transformation in Politics and Political Economy Murray Milgate and Shannon C. Stimson (Princeton 2009) From the publisher: Few issues are more central to our present predicaments than the relationship between economics and politics. After Adam Smith looks at how politics and political economy were a... (See the whole review)

Essays on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged Robert Mayhew, editor (Lexington 2009) One contribution to this collection is Michael Berliner’s “The Atlas Shrugged Reviews.” He “describes the generally hostile nature of the reviews the novel received, and underscores that this hostility came as much from the Right as it did from the Left” (x). Ye... (See the whole review)

Morality within the Limits of Reason Russell Hardin (Chicago 1988) The Economics of Rights, Co-Operation and Welfare Robert Sugden (Oxford 1986, Palgrave Macmillan 2005) Russell Hardin and Robert Sugden have independently employed game theory to expand our understanding of human rights. The relevance of game theory to rights the... (See the whole review)

Amazon link. Dr. Modell draws upon Gerald Edelman's idea of "neural Darwinism", Edelman's primary/higher-order consciousness distinction, and the ideas on metaphor by Mark Johnson and George Lakoff. He distinguishes among different kinds of memory -- emotional, episodic, procedural and semantic.  I have only read about 25% so far, but it's very tho... (See the whole review)

The Ayn Rand Society will be issuing an annual series under the title Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies. The publisher will be University of Pittsburgh Press. Allan Gotthelf will edit the series, with James Lennox as associate editor. Bravo! I am a member of a couple of other APA Societies, in addition to being a member of ARS. One issu... (See the whole review)

This is an interesting book that attempts to defend naive (or vulgar) realism.  The first couple chapters provide a detailed description of naive realism, and a description of some of the more common alternatives in today's philosophical community.  The author explains why philosophy went towards postmodernism, and traces the roots back to Hume and... (See the whole review)

Rand: “Litigants obey the verdict of a tribunal [as just] solely on the premise that there is an objective rule of conduct, which they both accept” (AS 143). “That which cannot be formulated into an objective law, cannot be made the subject of legislation—not in a free country, not if we are to have ‘a government of laws and not of men’. An u... (See the whole review)

A book well worth reading. This is a "Wow!" book, hard work, not because it is excellent literature, for there are tons of other books also well written, or merely because it has a fluid and gripping plot to make it most entertaining, for there are also other, though fewer, books that have a well thought and structured plot (some of the very... (See the whole review)

The Good: Fantagraphics has done a beautiful job putting together this "coffee table" book. The production quality is high and the book is abundant with reproductions of Steve Ditko's comic book work from the beginning of his career in 1953 to his most recent efforts. And author Blake Bell has done his homework and presents an exhaustive history of... (See the whole review)

Announcing Publication of Walter Donway's New Book of Poetry Touched By Its Rays, Walter Donway's new book of poetry, will be published in mid-February and available from www.objectivismstore.com. Touched By Its Rays is a publication of the Atlas Society; all income from its sale will go to support its work. Book... (See the whole review)

My novel, Zeno’s Paradox, was inspired by the philosophy of the novelist Ayn Rand. ... (See the whole review)

Ronald Reagan wrote a candid handwritten diary during his two terms in office. The diaries are, according to his editor, extraordinarily revealing and not at all self-serving. As so often in the past, those who would mock the man as shallow or un-self-critical are shown to be mistaken given this evidence in his own hand. Not the tool of the reli... (See the whole review)

Henry Mark Holzer appeared on Book TV to speak about this book for approximately an hour on May 11th 2007. This show will probably be repeated. One can search at BookTV.org for future airings. From the website: The Supreme Court Opinions of Clarence Thomas, 1991-2006: A Conservative's Perspective from May 13, 2007 In his book "T... (See the whole review)

The story covered in this volume of Daredevil invloves Matt Murdock meeting his opposite number, Maya Lopez. Maya Lopez is a Native American girl who was born without a sense of hearing, her visual instincts more than make up for it though. She was able to master speech, art, dance, and musicianship from nothing but sight.  Her father was murdered ... (See the whole review)

Check out the images available on the Amazon site. ... (See the whole review)

The Pentagon’s New Map – War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century I highly recommend this book. What Barnett proposes has broad appeal across the political spectrum, with the exception of folks on the far left or the far right, which I consider a positive! In The Pentagon’s New Map, Barnett lays out a rational strategy for war and peace d... (See the whole review)

... Albert Einstein said that “The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to ensure the unhampered development of the individual.” But our institutions are the opposite. They enslave us – rule us by fear and deceit! ... Imagine – you're a child again. Filled with innocence, and wonder, and life. Remember how goo... (See the whole review)

This is perhaps the best book-length introduction to Wright's work. Plans, photos, sketches, and writings by Wright are accompanied by insightful articles on him - together they describe the sunlit genius of the greatest architect the world has ever seen.

The late Harold Schonberg's third and final edition of this perennial favourite includes updated accounts of all the serialists, tonalists, minimalists, and other -ists who have bored and bewildered audiences during the last 50 years or so. (For such music to change, he quotes musicologist Robert P. Morgan as saying, "the world will have to change.... (See the whole review)

As an illustrator and student of art, I say without reservation that this is the best damn book ever for learning how to draw the human face and body.  All the other books pale by comparison; this book is what they just don't teach in art classes any more, because postmodernism has destroyed all objective standards. I recently bought... (See the whole review)

In "Philosophy in a New Key", Suzanne Langer developed a theory of symbolism, there applied to music, which she felt could be developed to embrace all the arts. In "Feeling and Form" she did just that. It offers the reader nothing less than a systematic, comprehensive theory of art, applied in turn to painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, ... (See the whole review)

This book is a fantastic introduction to economics. It explains a simple but important idea, and the entire rest of the book is an elaboration on the idea. The "one lesson" is the need to look beyond the first order effect of an action or policy, and see the many different consequences.  Each subsequent chapter goes on to apply that lesson to diffe... (See the whole review)