As we’re entering the second half of this year, I wanted to take the time and reflect on the best books I’ve read so far. The range of genres is pretty great, but it mostly consists of philosophy and history as those are the subjects I am most interested in. Let’s start off with the […]
Recently I came across a book named Ultralearning by Scott Young in which he gives his tips to learn many types of skills in a short amount of time. As a live example he gives his challenge of completing a four-year MIT course in just a year. So, doing what most people do in four […]
Sam Harris is one of the most famous of the New Atheists. Together with Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins he was referred to as one of the four horsemen. He widely critiques religion (in a good way I believe) and tries to combat moral relativism. His battleground is set out in his book […]
I just finished reading Freedom: An Unruly History by Annelien De Dijn. In this book De Dijn gives the history of the concept of freedom. What does freedom mean? What is freedom exactly? What is our concept of freedom? These are some of the questions she tackles in this book, with great expertise. The first […]
Habits are the things that create our lives. It’s the little things we do every day. Brush our teeth, eat breakfast, watch television. Our lives are basically just the amalgam of our habits. Atomic Habits is a book about the small changes we can make in our lives that will compound and influence our lives […]
Socrates is seen as the paradigm of the philosopher. If anyone thinks of the philosopher, then you think of Socrates. The man with the white beard, asking questions to everyone and annoying the shit out of them. That’s what a philosopher is. Someone who doesn’t take for granted the things we think we know. Socrates […]
We’re in a time of radical change. Subjects previously never put to question are now heavily debated. Is gender something you’re born with or is it something that is socially constructed, or you ‘perform’ as Judith Butler would say. Can you choose to be gay or are you determined to be so? Are women and […]
“Do you not see that we’re not there yet?!” the madman shouts out through the streets. People are looking at him with an awkward eye. They laugh because of his weird doing. “He was right! I came back because I was too soon previously but maybe now, I am too late?!” The madman comes to […]
Sometimes it’s difficult to understand emotions. We have all been in situations where it’s hard to read the emotions of other people. Are they crying or are they laughing? Maybe someone is irritated, and we don’t see it. Other times we get emotions spot on without even thinking about it. Understanding emotional intelligence is important […]
“Hey Michel, what are writing about?” says a friend who is visiting castle Montaigne on a Sunday afternoon, while looking down at his friend writing. A lot of pages are scrambled around in the room, looking all messy. Every page has been written on a couple times, showing notes to things written on them. “Trying […]
