Basic Concepts of Legal Thought -- George P. Fletcher

This book is basically a philosophy of law book. It is written for non-lawyers as an introduction to legal thinking and the law, but also for lawyers who want a deeper understanding of the philosophical background of their work. It is very broad in scope, very well written and provides quite a bit of insight into issues related to legal systems. I personally learned a lot about the law from the first page through to the end.

It is a quick read, being a relatively short book. The book is broken into three parts. Part I: The Legal System. Part II: Ultimate Values. Part III: Morality In The Law. These are further broken down into more refined elements. I think what is most interesting is the comparison of the Anglo-American legal system to other legal systems around the world. It is enlightening to someone who only has passing knowledge of our own system.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the law, philosophical foundations of the law, and interesting questions raised in the realm of the legal thought.

Ninety-Three -- Victor Hugo

I have been wanting to read nearly all of Hugo's books and this is my first one. I can safely say that it will not be my last. This was truly a great piece of literature. I want to start with saying that I really did enjoy the book and I thought it was executed (no pun intended) very well. However, I do have some minor complaints. I think that it is sometimes over looked that this book goes into some unnecessary detail about the people and places involved. Yes it is interesting to hear, but sometimes it goes on for full pages about the names of people who are only mentioned that one time and have little to do with the story. I understand why he does this when he does, however the book does drag at certain points. The only reason I really say this is because anyone looking to read this book might get bogged down near the beginning and even in the middle with some of these details and might possibly set the book aside. It is really worth slogging through the extra verbiage.

The book weaves a fantastic story during an incredibly interesting point in history. I have studied the French revolution from a historical non-fiction point of view as well as from the many novels that are set in this time. I can not get enough of the incredible characters and stories from that time period. This book actually has Danton, Marat and Robspierre as characters. This is possibly the only book I know of that does this. Hence, I recommend this book fully to anyone interested in reading a well developed and engaging story. Especially to those who have a pre-existing interest in the French revolution.

One fact that should actually be pointed out in addition, is the fact that Hugo has some of the best lines I have ever read. I mean that he uses language so well that nearly every sentence is one you want to write down on a post-it and stick to your wall. If I had actually written down every quote that I thought was powerful, beautiful and/or just plain cool, I could have filled a notebook. I ended up writing down page numbers but then had to stop doing that because I had too many written down. I decided at one point that the whole book is quotable and hence reading it is sort of a gift that keeps on giving.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra -- Friedrich Nietzsche

This book has been on my list of books that I should read for a long time. I am not entirely sure why, but I guess there was something in my mind that I could not quite put my finger on that told me that I should read this book. I am glad that I read it when I did and not when I was much younger.

It is an interesting work in philosophy, I disagree with a lot of his points, others he comes very close to what I think is correct and then takes massive right turns. Sometimes he does explicate what I personally believe and thus the entire book was interesting to read. It is always beneficial to broaden your knowledge and that is what I see this book doing. I am now more aware of certain classes of existentialist thought and I feel I understand how some people view the world much better.

The book is lyrical throughout and thus not entirely that easy to read unless you are focused. For example, here are some interesting quotes from throughout the book.

"It is terrible to be alone with the judge and avenger of one's own law. Thus does a star get thrown out into desolate space and into the icy breath of solitary being" (46).

"Indeed, not in satiety shall his yearning keep silent and submerge, but in beauty! Grace belongs to the graciousness of the great-minded" (92).

"Whoever has heart knows fear, but conquers fear; sees the abyss but with pride. Whoever sees the abyss, but with eagle's eyes, whoever grasps the abyss with eagle's talons: he has courage" (233).

The book is better than most philosophical books in that Nietzsche is actually a pretty good writer. He writes in a way that you can read if you put your mind into it. However, I would recommend to be constantly critical of all philosophy and to see it merely as his point of view and to determine logically from it what you actually find truth and value in. In sum, I would advise people to read this, but beware that it is not light and it can be odd at times.

Economic Theory and Cognitive Science: Microexplanation -- Don Ross

I finally finished this book. This was by far the most technical philosophy book I have ever read. I spent half my time looking words up that were not even in the dictionary, words that I had to use Wikipedia to understand. The read was definitely arduous, however there was a good deal of substance to this book. I have been looking for someone to lay out philosophical issues related to economics and the interface between economics and cognitive science. This book performs this task quite well. Furthermore, the author puts forth his own hypothesis for what is happening inside our brain and mind. My take on his point of view is that human brains are composed of groups of neurons; these groups can be modeled as straightforward economic agents. These modules of neurons play coordination games in order to arrive at a specific utility structure to implement at a given time for the human as a whole. Over time however, as these games play out, the human as a whole can not be represented as your average rational agent, in the pure economic sense of this term. Moreover, we use public language and external pressures to scaffold our knowledge to overcome the computational challenges that such a paradigm presents.

I personally find this hypothesis appealing and ultimately close to the truth. I would only recommend this book to a trained philosopher or someone who is willing to look up words in every other sentence. The author does not define words, he rather attempts to give them meaning through context, but this does not work well. The economics is actually rather light, meaning the formal structure is not necessarily there. I liked this book for its overall theme and the way it reviews many other areas of thought pertaining to this subject.

The Myth of Sisyphus -- Albert Camus

Although the actual "Myth" is only 5 pages long, the preceding 115 pages lays the groundwork and is actually the intellectual meat of this piece of work. Essentially this is an exposition of existentialist thought, wherein Camus presents his own hypothesis of the world and then works to justify his claim. The actual Myth of Sisyphus is basically the story of Sisyphus who was sentenced to eternal push a rock up a hill only to have to let it fall back down and repeat the task. Camus presents this story and uses it to demonstrate the ideas he has developed in the opening text. The book is actually a somewhat complicated piece of philosophy and was thus rough as a pleasure read. One interesting quote that I found particularly moving was, "Every man has felt himself to be the equal of a god at certain moments. At least, this is the way it is expressed. But this comes from the fact that in a flash he felt the amazing grandeur of the human mind." The next sentence I separate but still quote because quite fascinating. "The conquerors are merely those among men who are conscious enough of their strength to be sure of living constantly on those heights and fully aware of that grandeur."

In summary, I recommend this book for anyone who is willing to put in the time to re-read a majority of the book in order to get most of the meaning. It is not an easy read but it is, I dare say, the best piece of work describing existential philosophy. A philosophy that I do not subscribe to myself, but I find the viewpoint nonetheless interesting.