There are not many independent bookstores around anymore.  In my neck of the woods there is one that comes to mind and I think the reason they are still around is because of their "out of the box" thinking.

 

Wordsworth Books ALWAYS has something interesting going on.  The sponsor author events, have great "bag-o-book" sales and maintain a very strong presence in the community on on social networking.  

 

This idea came up on their Facebook feed today and I think it's a wonderful idea ...

 

"Blind Date with a Book"

 

Books wrapped in brown paper with enough of a description to give you a little direction as to whether it would be interesting or not.  

 

It's a great idea in bookstore but I think it could be a really fun idea for an "any occasion" book exchange too. 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a classic for a very good reason. Thomas Paine was the mouthpiece for our founding fathers, and for an excellent reason. He was especially gifted at succinct, well thought out arguments. This pamphlet is no exception. 

A rather interesting collection of essays ruminating and reflecting on the topic of what it means to be a New Zealander, spanning from the 19th Century to the 21st Century, including a variety of different perspectives. 

 

My favourite essay by far in the book was "Fretful Sleepers", for its scathing, albeit often relevant criticism and analysis of the average New Zealander's mentality, which I find has not significantly changed since the author's day. Although it may be viewed by some as a disdainful portrayal of New Zealanders, it is essential for every people to be able to accept a harsh depiction of themselves as a normal part of overall positive cultural development.

 

I thought the final essay, Tze Ming Mok's "Race You There", raised several important key points in terms of Asian-New Zealander identity, however I felt she delved somewhat into the absurd with her clumsy Asian-Maori solidarity ideas. She approached the matter as though NZ is a racially-strained society on par with countries such as the US, which it certainly isn't. 

Listening to these lectures on great ideas was a treat. Each lecture set my imagination on fire. Even the lectures on pre-Socratic thought held my interest. The bottom line is even with their insistence on keeping us in the cave with only being aware of the shadows that surround us led us to getting out of the cave. They realize that "man is the measure of all things" and appealed to reason instead of theology which ultimately leads us to Aristotle. Of all the people who ever lived, the best case for alien interference would be Aristotle and his methodologies (Robinson gives that statement in this lecture and I loved it so much that I have made it my own).

He basically ended the great idea lectures with Alan Turing and the breaking of the code. I just didn't agree with a lot he had to say about Turing and his universal machines and as for breaking the code I would strongly recommend the book "Seizing the Enigma". Things are always more nuanced then a half hour lecture can explain. As for John Searle and the Chinese Room, I think that is a laughable thought experiment and would recommend Dennett and many of his books including "Intuition Pumps" or his book on Consciousness which dismantles the main conclusions that Searle arrives at.

My only real complaint with this lecture series is I didn't find it coherent as a whole. The pieces seemed mostly independent and a better series would have given a central narrative, but overall I liked the lectures and will probably listen to them again in the future.

There's no reason not to listen to this series and I noticed that is available for free in a thread on Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1300610-the-great-ideas-of-philosophy-by-daniel-robinson-chapter-11-hippocrat

The price is right (free) and it will entertain.