Every so often I like to write a blog or two about the great stuff I’ve run across in publishing, on the web, or on television that has challenged, inspired, or taught me something.
Here’s a few past blogs on What I’m Learning that will give you some background: Video’s, Sites, Misc.
Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of great history books on my kindle. As I’ve state in past blogs, I love reading about the great people of history in biography and in well-told narrative. Around Christmas I took a leap on an author I’d not read before, Paul Johnson, and I’ve now read four of his history books and loved each one.
Creators: This book is a compilation of some of the greatest creative personalities in antiquity and semi-modern history. Ever wonder what made Bach great? I’ve never been too interested in him, but Johnson brings his creative genius into tight perspective and gives great lessons in the process. The book is full of characters that you ordinarily wouldn’t want to read a whole biography on, but he just breathes life into these characters. People such as: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Jane Austen, Mark Twain and more. An excellent book to challenge the creative instinct in you by viewing creative through the prism of the greats of long ago.
Intellectuals: much in the same vein as Creators, Intellectuals highlights those pivotal thinkers who have pushed the ideas and ideals of revolutionary thought. A much more critical book, it is helpful in illuminating the gap between the thinkers of enlightenment thought and the application of their ideals and standard to their own life. Some of these great thinkers come under particularly tough scrutiny, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau was among the first of his age to assert that his own personal ethic and thought was enough to overturn societal standards based on Judeo-Christian tradition. Highly critical of both church and state, he espoused truth and love. In real life however, he was a monster. This dichotomy is dramatic. If you wonder about the who, what, when and how of ideology and new age enlightenment thinking, you’ll enjoy this book.
Heroes. Again a brief anthology of historical figures, this time with an eye on those who have conquered and reshaped the world through the ages. Ceasar, Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, and more. A great book and very uplifting.
