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A generally thoughtful critique of web and open culture. Lanier always has an interesting perspective on things. He’s at his best when articulating his alternative vision, rather than attacking the present, I would say.
Packer reviews the last century or so of liberalism through the biographies of his father and grandfather.
This book is my favorite sort of history: an exploration of the minds and viewpoints of the people who lived it. The medieval world-view is so alien to us, and Huizinga lets us glimpse it.
Pirenne’s posthumous work where he advances the thesis that Medieval Europe was made possible by the rise of Islam, which severed many of the East-West ties that kept the West under the influence of Byzantium.
A very promising start to what will hopefully be a great series.
A rather extraordinary book about happiness and its sources. And by extraordinary I mean it makes you see the world in a different way, always a good trait for a book.
Nice little review of the period, with a focus on the Mediterranean and the Near East.