Library
Philosophy and social science, grouped by the question each book is trying to answer. Notes get added as I finish them, including where I think the author is wrong.
How should a life go?
On ambition, striving, and what it costs to want more than you have.
- ReadGoethe’s FaustMichael Sugrue, 1992 (lecture)The strongest case I know for striving as a way of life, and an honest account of its price.
- NextHow to Live: A Life of MontaigneSarah Bakewell, 2010
- NextAt the Existentialist CaféSarah Bakewell, 2016
What do we owe each other?
Justice, fairness, and the things markets should not be allowed to decide.
- NextA Theory of JusticeJohn Rawls, 1971
- NextJustice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?Michael Sandel, 2009
- NextWhat Money Can’t BuyMichael Sandel, 2012
What are we?
Genes, stories, and whether anyone is really the author of their choices.
- NextThe Selfish GeneRichard Dawkins, 1976
- NextSapiensYuval Noah Harari, 2011
- NextFree WillSam Harris, 2012
- NextThe Moral LandscapeSam Harris, 2010