Inspiration is hard to come by lately. That seems to be the case every summer. This year, especially, it seems that everybody is babbling about either the election or terrorism, and I have nothing interesting to say about either. I’m mulling over the thought of taking a moderate break from the web altogether to work on recording music like I did last year. We’ll see. Perhaps I’ll just continue to spend most of my free time hiking, swimming, reading, and playing video games for a few weeks until things become interesting again. Either way, here are a few good things I’ve read recently that you may enjoy:
Robert Herritt, “Hard to Believe“. This one really resonated with me. I find it very unsettling to consider just how little I really know about any given topic, not to mention how much of what I think I know depends on being willing to trust this or that source of authority.
John Gray (the British philosopher, not the Mars and Venus self-help guy) has always been one of my favorite authors, and his reviews of other books are equally worth reading.
Speaking of books worth reading, I might be interested in this one.
John McWhorter on the empty platitude of having “a national conversation” about race. (The site informed me that I got free 24-hour access to a “premium” article, so if you run into a paywall, try clicking through his Twitter feed, as I did.)
Everyday Feminism is an excellent parody site. Or, at least, your enjoyment will be maximized by reading it in that spirit. “Whew!” you can say after closing the tab. “Thank goodness it was all just a hilarious joke and no one takes that stuff seriously! Right? Right?”
John Banville, “Let It Go”
James Ceaser, “Behind Enemy Lines” (Previously)