What I've Been Reading
Thoughts on the books I read in Q1 2024
This article is the latest installment in a series of “mini reviews” of my reading. Previous installments in the series, along with other compilations, appear below:
2023: Fourth Quarter • Third Quarter • Second Quarter • First Quarter
2022: Fourth Quarter • Third Quarter • Second Quarter • First Quarter
2021: Fourth Quarter • Third Quarter
2020: Complete Reading List • Summer Book Recommendations
2019: Holiday Book Recommendations
2018: Holiday Book Recommendations
The Diary of a Young Girl
Author: Anne Frank
Year of Publication: 1947
Length: 354 pages
I visited Amsterdam in 2014 and had the opportunity to tour the Anne Frank House. At that time, I read a few of Anne’s diary entries as I went through the exhibits and I purchased a guidebook with excerpts. I found the experience emotionally draining and that is probably why I never read the full diary after the trip.
Anne was only thirteen years old when her family was forced to go into hiding in July 1942. The family lived in cramped conditions in a secret annex above the warehouse and office facilities of the Opekta company where Anne’s father had worked. The entrance to the annex was disguised by a false bookcase. Only a few employees knew about the annex and they were instrumental in providing supplies. The Franks shared their hiding space with the Van Pels family and with Fritz Pfeffer, a family friend.
The family was in hiding for over two years before being discovered. We see a young girl of thirteen grow up over time, providing us with all of the details and drama of a teenage life interspersed with the constant terror of potential detection. It is gut-wrenching to read the diary knowing that Anne would later die in a concentration camp. Anne’s writing makes it clear that she had post-war plans. She did not know that her plans would never come to fruition. But her readers know.
Anne’s father, Otto Frank, was the only survivor among the eight who went into hiding in the secret annex. After the war, he made it his mission to publish Anne’s diary and worked toward preserving what is today known as the Anne Frank House. I plan to visit the Anne Frank House again in the future since I am sure my perspective will be different now that I have read the diary.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
Author: Alfred Lansing
Year of Publication: 1959
Length: 357 pages
If you are looking for a great adventure story, pick up Alfred Lansing’s book about Earnest Shackleton’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition. I wrote a review of the book in January, so I will not comment on it further here other than to say that I have given away several copies over the past two months.
If you’re looking for a great adventure story, buy this book!
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
Author: Candice Millard
Year of Publication: 2006
Length: 353 pages
Theodore Roosevelt consistently ranks among the top presidents and there’s no doubt that his time in office was consequential. But his popularity is also due to the fact that he’s a fascinating character and very likable. Roosevelt’s bravery is a great example of the pioneering American spirit. I must say that Roosevelt was also a little bit crazy … maybe more than a little bit. His adventures in South America more than prove this point, described in more detail in my review of Candice Millard’s excellent book.
Can We Trust the Gospels?
Author: Peter J. Williams
Year of Publication: 2018
Length: 140 pages
In Can We Trust the Gospels, Peter J. Williams makes his case for the reliability of the Gospels. Williams is the principal of Tyndale House, a research institution for Biblical scholarship. Williams is a Christian and writes from the perspective of a believer. I found his concise book to be a valuable resource for assessing the evidence that the Gospels can be relied upon to provide historical details about the life of Jesus Christ.
I wrote about this book in a longer article exploring the question of whether the Bible should be considered a foundational text in the study of western civilization. My answer, explained more fully in the article, is that understanding the Bible is very important, for believers and non-believers alike. It is difficult to fully understand our civilization without taking the time to study a book that has influenced how billions of people live their lives.
Is the Bible a Great Book? February 2, 2024 (The Rational Walk)
The Greek Way
Author: Edith Hamilton
Year of Publication: 1930
Length: 258 pages
Edith Hamilton was one of the most important classicists of the twentieth century. After a long career in education, Hamilton retired in 1922 at the age of fifty-five and began a second career as an author. Her first book, The Greek Way, was published in 1930 and has been regarded as a classic for many decades. I would recommend The Greek Way to anyone interested in Ancient Greece, especially those who are in the process of reading translations of ancient texts for themselves. Readers interested in further details might want to read my book review.
Review of The Greek Way, February 8, 2024 (The Rational Walk)
Crime and Punishment
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
Translators: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Year of Publication: 1866
Length: 600 pages
This was my second reading of Crime and Punishment. I wrote about my impressions from the first reading in the What I’ve Been Reading installment for the second quarter of 2022. Looking back at my comments, I found the book somewhat difficult to read the first time in comparison to Tolstoy. I felt more comfortable this time, partly due to familiarity with the plot and perhaps because I have also read The Brothers Karamazov. Certain quirks in Russian literature, such as the extensive use of patronymics and diminutives as alternate names, felt more natural during the second reading.
The central character of the novel is a brilliant young man with much potential who dropped out of college and descended into poverty. His severe psychological issues no doubt played a major role in his decline and transformation into a murderer. He cannot enjoy or even bear to count the money and valuables stolen from his victim and does much throughout the novel to incriminate himself. He is also capable of selflessness and great kindness in situations where he has nothing at all to gain.
Dostoevsky’s writing has religious themes and the outline of how the young man will eventually achieve redemption is revealed as the book progresses. There is much about the nature of sin, guilt, and the agonizing process of redemption. I have a draft of a “review” of the book that I have not published and probably never will. However, I know that I will return for a third reading at some point in the future. Some books are meant to be read multiple times and this is certainly one of them.
Mythology
Author: Edith Hamilton
Year of Publication: 1942
Length: 353 pages
Prior to the rapid spread of Christianity, the western world had a far different set of beliefs. The Old Testament narrative was the dominant worldview of the Jewish people, but they represented a very small minority. The Greek Gods of antiquity held far more influence in the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond. Anyone who has read The Iliad and The Odyssey understands how central the Greek Gods were to those stories and how bewildering it can be to keep track of the many different Gods and their various powers, not to mention their family relationships and quarrels.
Edith Hamilton’s Mythology is an excellent introduction for readers unfamiliar with this world view. Without at least a basic understanding of Greek mythology, it is very difficult to fully appreciate Ancient Greek classics. Readers interested in further details might want to read my book review.
Review of Mythology, February 23, 2024 (The Rational Walk)
Socrates: A Man for Our Times
Author: Paul Johnson
Year of Publication: 2012
Length: 198 pages
Socrates (470 BC - 399 BC) is an example of a man who has had an enduring influence, and that’s in spite of the fact that did not leave a written record of any kind. Socrates lived a simple life as a citizen of his beloved Athens. Thanks to the writings of Plato and Xenophon, the world continues to benefit from the wisdom of Socrates twenty-four centuries after his death.
We can approach Socrates through the writings of Plato and Xenophon, but it also helps to read a contemporary biography. Paul Johnson’s book is very informative and concise. It can be read in three or four hours. Readers interested in further details might want to read my book review.
Review of Socrates by Paul Johnson, February 23, 2024 (The Rational Walk)
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
Author: Charlie Munger
Editor: Peter Kaufman
Year of Publication: 2023
Length: 351 pages
The new edition of Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a very accessible distillation of Charlie Munger’s philosophy. After a long wait, I received the new edition of the book in March. I own two earlier editions of the Almanack so this was not my first exposure to the Munger philosophy. But all great books should be read multiple times over a lifetime since we change over time, accumulating new life experiences. I gained many new insights from revisiting the contents again which I discussed in a recent article.
The Iliad
Author: Homer
Year of Publication: ~ 8th Century BC
Length: 179 pages (Samuel Butler’s translation)
Length: 761 pages (Emily Wilson’s translation)
I read two translations of The Iliad in March:
Samuel Butler’s translation was first published in 1897 and is included in Great Books of the Western World, a set of fifty-four books that I acquired in January. Although Butler’s prose translation is not among those commonly read today, I found it relatively easy to follow, perhaps because this is not my first time reading The Iliad. Butler uses the names of the Roman gods that correspond to Greek gods, so this can be a bit confusing. However, with the help of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, this was not a major impediment.
Emily Wilson’s translation was published in September 2023 and is simply outstanding in terms of the artistry evident in her poetic translation. She also provides the reader with a lengthy introduction, translator’s notes, end notes, a glossary, and several maps. While Butler’s prose translation tells the story, Wilson’s poetry is more enjoyable to read. I would highly recommend Wilson’s translation for the first time reader of The Iliad. However, I would suggest that the first time reader jump right into the poem before reading Wilson’s introduction. Reading the poem, in consultation with end notes, is sufficient to understand the plot. Reading the introduction first is a “spoiler” as it reveals the entire storyline.
Readers should not be misled by the dramatic difference in page counts for the translations. The Great Books of the Western World volumes use small type and narrow margins so there is a lot of text packed into a single page. In contrast, Wilson’s poetic rendering consumed many more physical pages but the font is larger and there are far fewer words per page. It is much easier to make notations in Wilson’s translation.
I am writing an article about The Iliad which will be published in the near future.
Selections from The Great Books
In addition to the books listed above, I have been reading selections from the Great Books based on a reading plan that I started in January. I have written articles about a two of these readings which appear in the list below. I departed from my plan in March to re-read The Iliad and I am re-reading The Odyssey this month. I found it necessary to revisit Homer in order to better understand the Greek tragedians. They (naturally) assume that their audience already has an understanding of Greek culture, mythology, and Homer’s epics, something I clearly lacked.
Plato's Apology and Crito, January 22, 2024
Plato’s Republic: Books I and II, February 9, 2024
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Thanks for your review of the Anne Frank diary.
If I may I would like to suggestion you consider reading another diary or memoir of Sam Braun. Sam was a French teenager rounded up in Paris and then imprisoned in the Auschwitz. He survived the Nazi Death March. He returned to Paris and rebuilt his life married and became a medical professional.
He was unable to speak even to his own children about either horrific experiences till the 1990's. As he said", not a soul would have believed me, so I kept quiet.
From the mid 1990's till his death in 2011 he talked to thousands of school students about many topics including surviving barbarity and the many lessons he learnt.
His work is carried on by his children and grandchildren via a website www.lesenfantsdessam.fr
As well his thoughts were published in book from by the French Albin Michel in 2008.
In 2022 Sam's thoughts were translated into English and published by Real Published. The book can be purchased online. A portion of the sale proceeds of this book goes toward the Foundation that continues this education process about the events before during and after the Shoah and the duty of Remembrance.
If you are interested to read and review this book with your Rational thoughts, I could even order a copy to be posted to you.
Thanks for listening......Anthony based in Melbourne Australia
Endurance was great. Can’t imagine being brave enough to survive on the ice and friggin row boat to get help