335 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2024
    1. So, though there was still some store of weapons in the Shire, these were used mostly as trophies, hanging above hearths or on walls, or gathered into the museum at Michel Delving. The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort.  — J. R. R. Tolkien, “Concerning Hobbits”
  2. Oct 2024
    1. Perhaps I need to argue more with the authors and the content, as Adler & van Doren also recommend.

      This might be a limitation in (the way I do) Zettelkasten. Because I am not writing in the margins and not engage in "tearing up" the book, I am less inclined to argue against/with the work.

      Maybe I need to do this more using bib-card. Further thought on implementation necessary...

      Perhaps a different reason is that I like to get through most books quickly rather than slowly. Sometimes I do the arguing afterward, within my ZK.

      I need to reflect on this at some point (in the near future) and optimize my processes.

    1. when putting thoughts into words. Words that remain in our head are freeto exist independent of how they’re used by other people.

      On one level, the reason is obvious: accountability. There’s a lot at stake...

      except somehow for Donald J. Trump and some in identity politics...

      How do they get around it? system 1 vs system 2

    1. Cohen (Independence of the Axiomof Choice; The Independence of the Continuum Hypothesis I, I1) completed theproof of independence for each by showing neither could be deduced from theexisting axioms (by showing the negation of each could consistently be added tothe Zermelo—Fraenkel axiom scheme). See P. J. Cohen (Set Theory and theContinuum Hypothesis) for a discussion of these results and his intuition about thecontinuum hypothesis. Another expository reference is Cohen (IndependenceResults in Set Theory).

      In 1963 Paul Cohen completed the work of Gödel by proving the independence of the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis from the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory axioms. He did this by showing that neither could be deduced from the existing axioms and specifically by showing that the negation of each could be added to ZF consistently.

    1. Another possibility is read texts on certain topics – liability fordefects in civil law, socialization theory, risk research, etc. – in parallel. Then onegradually develops a feeling for what is already known and knows the “state of theart”. New things then stand out. But you learn something that is mostly veryquickly outdated and then to unlearn again.

      Is this a criticism by Luhmann on the conventional notion of syntopical reading in Adlerian terms? Probably without knowing Adler's work.

      Because science/truth work (knowledge) is constantly in revision, conventional syntopical reading on a topic of science is without necessary value?

      Perhaps unless stored and expanded upon in a ZK?

      Further thought is required to disseminate this paragraph.

    2. Beginners' courses or introductory texts are also designed in this way.What one does not or hardly learn, however, are conceptual contexts and, aboveall, problems to which the texts try to give an answer.

      One must read analytically (cf Adler & van Doren) in order to grasp the meaning behind text. Or perhaps syntopically by default if one performs the Zettelkasten method.

      Conventional Syntopical Reading is "immediate" and project-based, at least in Adlerian terms, that is.

      However, when doing Zettelkasten work, one is perpetually reading syntopically and therefore I would call it Delayed Syntopical Reading

  3. Sep 2024
    1. Topic: Defining Distance Education Date: 1980 Course/Subject: Distance Education Studies

      Notes Main Idea The paper analyzes existing definitions of distance education and identifies six essential components that should be included in a comprehensive definition. The analysis covers different educational philosophies and institutional contexts for distance education.

      Key Definitions and Theorists Holmberg's Definition

      Distance education involves the separation of teacher and learner. Requires planned, structured learning materials and institutional support. French Law (Loi 71.556 du 12 juillet 1971)

      Defines distance education as learning where the teacher is not physically present, except for occasional tasks. Moore's Definition

      Highlights separation of teaching and learning behaviors. Emphasizes the use of technical media and the importance of two-way communication. Peters’ Definition

      Describes distance education as an industrialized form of education. Incorporates principles like division of labor, mass production, and mechanization in the teaching process. Six Essential Components of Distance Education Separation of Teacher and Student

      Physical and temporal separation in the teaching and learning process. Role of Educational Organization

      Planning, preparing, and providing learning materials and support. Use of Technical Media

      Communication between teacher and learner facilitated by print, radio, television, or computers. Provision of Two-Way Communication

      Opportunities for dialogue between teacher and learner. Possibility of Occasional Seminars

      Allowing for some face-to-face interaction for didactic or social purposes. Participation in an Industrialized Form of Education

      Incorporates aspects of industrial processes in the delivery of education, such as standardized materials and automated communication. Analysis and Discussion Educational Contexts and Models

      Different definitions cater to various levels and types of education (e.g., correspondence, open learning, external studies). Theoretical frameworks like Peters' focus on the structural separation and mechanization of distance education. Challenges and Misconceptions

      Confusion over terminology, such as correspondence study vs. distance education. Misunderstanding of the relationship between traditional and distance education models. Proposed Solution

      The term 'distance education' is suggested as the most suitable to encompass various forms and philosophies of education that involve separation of teacher and learner. Implications The need for clarity in defining distance education for consistent policy development and theoretical analysis. Importance of recognizing the distinct nature of distance education as an industrialized form of learning. Questions/Cues What are the key differences between Holmberg’s and Peters’ definitions of distance education? How does Keegan's six-component framework help in distinguishing distance education from other forms of non-traditional education? Why is Peters’ view on industrialization important in understanding distance education? Summary The paper provides a detailed analysis of distance education by examining prominent definitions and proposing a comprehensive framework. Keegan emphasizes the industrialized nature of distance education and the necessity for clear terminology to distinguish it from other educational forms.

      Reference Keegan, D. J. (1980). On defining distance education. Distance Education, 1(1), 13-36.

  4. Aug 2024
    1. “Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs. I swear I checked this three times. Even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans 1,” Clinton told the audience at the United Center in Chicago.
    2. Why Clinton's claim that Democratic presidents created more jobs than Republicans is slightly misleading by [[Maz Zahn]] on 2024-08-22 for ABC News

      While Clinton may have left out additional detail, the root of the statement is not only broadly true, but broadly representative of the fact that Republican administrations have been devastating in general to the economy and Democrats have been handed shit at the start of their terms to clean up.

    1. ( ~8:00 )

      This explanation of why to read books in a certain order in dependency of each other is analogous to why a Zettelkasten (in Luhmannian sense) cannot be used collaboratively.

      In order for someone else to understand your notes (not meant to be published), they would have to understand both the source text you are referencing and the implicit references you make. Things you understand instinctively and do not need to write down.

      Because others do not have your experiences and worldview, it is more difficult for them, perhaps impossible, to completely comprehend your Zettels, your notes.

    2. ( ~5:00 ) Reading Aids should be used after initial interpretation. This is to prevent framing bias.

  5. Jul 2024
    1. ( ~ 6:25-end )

      Steps for designing a reading plan/list: 1. Pick a topic/goal (or question you want to answer) & how long you want to take to achieve this. 2. Do research into the books necessary to achieve this goal. Meta-learning, scope out the subject. The number of books is relative to the goal and length of the goal. 3. Find the books using different tools such as Google & GoodReads & YouTube Recommendations (ChatGPT & Gemini are also useful). 4. Refine the book list (go through reviews, etc., in Adlerian steps, do an Inspectional Read of everything... Find out if it's truly useful). Also order them into a useful sequence for the syntopical reading project. Highlight the topics covered, how difficult they are, relevancy, etc. 5. Order the books (or download them)


      Reminds me a bit of Scott Young's Metalearning step, and doing a skill decomposition in van Merriënboer et al.'s 10 Steps to Complex Learning

    1. I notice you put sticky markers into the book... Two questions. A) Does this not take too much effort/time for an inspectional read a la Adler? B) What is the purpose of the sticky markers? Warm regards, Mr. Hoorn -- Fellow Antinetter
    2. ( ~ 10:20)

      Kathleen recommends as part of an inspectional reading to find out who the author is. This is valuable and I believe not something Adler & van Doren mentioned in their book.

      Knowing who the author is gives more context to the book and potentially some information about credibility.

      Will implement this.

    3. (~5:40)

      It appears she put some sticky notes at important points/structure references while reading inspectionally...

      Does this not take too much effort/time for an inspectional read a la Adler?

    1. I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

      via Donald J. Trump on Truth Social

      His grammar here just sounds "off" to me.

      Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.

      really?

    1. Project 2025

      Dans, Paul, and Steven Groves, eds. Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise - Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project. The Heritage Foundation, 2023. https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf.


      ᔥ[[Clive Thompson]] in @clive@saturation.social) (accessed:: 2024-07-04 10:20 AM)

      I'm reading the entirety of the #project2025 book: https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

      The intro lays things out very clearly -- full-blown attacks on trans and queer folks of any stripe; utter dismissal of climate change; disdain for any form of expertise and education (wonderfully incoherent, given the sparkling pedigrees of the document's many authors); economic thinking that's equally incoherent, if not at times magically-realistic; christian nationalism; and incessant, self-pitying grievance politics

      Jul 07, 2024, 10:03 · Edited Jul 07, 12:42

    1. The song criticizes the tendency to rush to conclusions without fully grasping the complexities of social problems like poverty, inequality, and political corruption. Patience is essential here to delve deeper, research, and understand the root causes rather than relying on superficial opinions.

      First, a man should not have any power over that which he does not understand (deeply).

      Second, patience as a virtue is very important here, because developing expertise in an area takes time and effort. One must be devoted.

      Following from this manner comes, once again, Charlie Munger's principle... Do not form an opinion if you do not understand multiple perspectives.

      "Yes, but I don't have the time to do my own research." is criticism on this principle, I respond with: "But if you aren't even willing to make time to form your opinion based on logic and deep understanding, is it worth having an opinion at all?"

      Like Marcus Aurelius said: "The opinion of ten thousand men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject."

      You don't ask a lawyer to perform surgery on you, or even to explain it to you theoretically, he does not know anything about this. In the same way, a civilian should not be asked to teach politics.

      From the same manner, do not judge before understanding. This is also what Mortimer J. Adler & Charles van Doren advocate: "You must say with reasonable certainty 'I understand' before you can say any of the following: 'I agree,' 'I disagree,' or 'I suspend judgement.'"

  6. Jun 2024
    1. acques Barzun, “Review of How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler,”Saturday Review (March 9, 1940): 6–7; Adler, Philosopher at Large, 67.

      available at: https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1940mar09-00006/

      Barzun, Jacques. "Read, Do Not Run" Review of How to Read a Book, by Mortimer J. Adler. The Saturday Review, March 9, 1940.

    2. A great deal of descriptive and analytical scholarship exists on thecontroversy, known as “The Chicago Fight,” that surrounded the cur-ricular changes proposed and implemented by Hutchins and Adler atthe University of Chicago.
    3. Adler first came into contact with the great books idea whenhe took John Erskine’s General Honors course at Columbia Universityin 1920.
    4. Thosebarren times caused A. J. Liebling to designate Chicago “The SecondCity” for its lesser achievements in relation to New York City.
    5. Alice Schreyer started me on the right track withthe Mortimer J. Adler Papers (149 total record boxes!)

      Contact Schreyer about existence of archived version of Syntopicon...

    6. Adler’s communityof discourse is a crucial part of this story about the great books idea
    7. John Birch Society
    8. Jacques Barzun

      Jacques Barzun wrote a review of of the Great Books when they came out in 1952.

      Barzun, Jacques. “The Great Books.” The Atlantic, December 1952. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1952/12/the-great-books/642341/.

      See notes at: https://hypothes.is/a/8o-z3DHLEe6_PMtDOvwCmg

    9. still building the Culture Wars politicalteleology.

      did the tension inherent in the cultural evolution of the great books idea versus vocational and other forms of education set up the culture wars of the late 1900s/early 2000s?

    1. But consider a new narrative. Imagine instead that books offer us a way to enter into a prolonged conversation across generations. We might even call this the Great Conversation. Imagine instead that authors have generally meant well, and so when they produced difficult works it is because the subject matter is a difficult one. Imagine instead that the past is a kind of mirror for the present, and that history is a guide to the future. New associations are encouraged by this narrative. New works are continuous with old works; both new and old works have something to teach us; difficult works might be more insightful because they engage with the complexity of the world.

      Interesting. Using Mortimer J. Adler's concept of Syntopical Reading to produce motivation, in a good way, for diving into books.

    1. The more inventive and fecund a great mind is, the more it will shape thelanguage it uses to fit its thought. To express a new idea or insight, a new word isinvented or an old word given a novel meaning. Sometimes in the development ofhis own characteristic vocabulary, a great writer uses a new word for an old ideawhich he has appropriated and assimilated to his own thought. Sometimes theopposite occurs; the traditional word is appropriated or borrowed, but the ideawhich it long expressed is replaced either by a totally new, or at least by a variant,conception.

      Language is essential for the expression of thought, be it novel or ancient.

    2. The foregoing examples illustrate various forms topics take according to thedifferent kinds of subjects they propose for discussion. Some deal with the natureof a thing or its definition, some with its qualities or attributes, some with itscauses, and some with its kinds; some deal with distinctions or differences, andsome with comparisons or contrasts; some propose a general theory for considera-tion, some present a problem, and some state an Issue. Some— such as the lastthree above —are difficult to characterize by any formula.

      The complexity of the topic is determined by the content of the discussion the topic is about.

    3. It is easier to say what a topic is not, than what it is or should be. If it mustalways be a less determinate expression than a sentence, and if it must usually be amore complex expression than a single word or pair of words (which are theverbal expression of terms, such as the great ideas), it would seem to follow thatthe proper expression of a topic is a phrase— often, perhaps, a fairly elaboratephrase involving a number of terms and signifying a number of possible relationsbetween them. This general description of the grammatical form of a topic docsnot, however, convey an adequate notion of the extraordinary variety of possi-ble phrasings.

      To me, it seems that Adler et al., are arguing that a topic should be stated as a phrase with varying degrees of complexity, determined by ?

    4. For example, “The ideal of the educated man’"(Education la) is a simple topic; “The right to property: the ownership of themeans of production” (Labor 7b) is a complex topic; and “The use and criticismof the intellectual tradition: the sifting of truth from erroi; the reaction againstthe authority of the past” (Progress 6c) is a more complex topic.

      Some examples of topics that are formulated and used in the original syntopicon.

    5. A topic, in short, must have greater amplitude than any other logical form ofstatement. The familiar grammatical forms of the declarative or interrogativesentence, or even the complex sentence w'hich expresses a dilemma, arc there-fore inappropriate for the statement of topics. Since it must be able to includeall these and more, the statement of a topic must be less determinate in verbalstructure.

      A topic should never be suggestive, for it would not be a topic in that way.

    6. A topic is essentially a*sub)ect for discussion. The Greek word topos from which**topic^’ is derived literally means a place. Its literal meaning is retained in suchEnglish words as “topography” and “topology,” which signify the study ofphysical or geometrical places. The conception of a topic as a subject for discus’-sion is a metaphorical extension of this root meaning. A topic is a logical place; itis a place where minds meet to consider some common problem or theme.The minds may agree or disagree; they may argue the matter from differentpoints of view; they may contribute to the discussion in a variety of ways — byoffering examples, by proposing definitions or hypotheses, by stating analyses orarguments, by debating what has already been said, or by advancing a new view.But whatever form each contribution takes, it must be relevant, though it neednot be relevant in the same way or to the same degree. The various contributionsare relevant to each other through their relevance to the common theme orproblem, and this gives unity to the variety of things being said.A topic, then, is a place where minds meet through being relevant to a commonsubject of discussion. It is a place at which an intelligible exchange of thought,insight, or opinion can occur.

      A topic is a place where minds meet for discussion.

    7. The topics are the basic units of the Syntopicon. They perform a doublefunction. The Outline of Topics in each chapter is the analysis of a great idea,setting forth its various meanings, its themes and problems; and the individualtopics serve as the immediate headings under w^hich are assembled the referencesto the discussion of each particular subject in the great books. The topics are themajor subdivisions of the discussion in the sphere of each of the great ideas, as theideas are the main divisions of the whole discussion in the great books. As eachidea represents a general field of discourse— a domain of learning and inquiry—covering a variety of related themes and problems, so, under each idea, the varioustopics represent the themes and problems which are the particular subjects ofdiscussion in that field.

      It seems as though an idea is very broad and a "sub-topic" is more granular, though also determined based on the overall content and related to the primary idea.

    8. The two mfasi^rfs of intrinsic greatness — scope and significance

      It seems that most of the ideas were chosen based on scope and significance.

    9. The reason which operated against such multiplication of chapters was(as already stated) the desire to avoid excessive duplication among topics andreferences.

      Adler et al. operated from a state of efficiency in the sense that they did not want the book to become too long (even though, or maybe because of, the fact that the end result became already two volumes each more than a thousand pages)

    10. Both the great books and the great ideas were chosen to represent the unity andcontinuity of the tradition of western thought. The great l^ks are those whichdeal imaginatively or intellectually with the ideas which arc fundamental through-out this whole tradition. Any important work -ancient, mediaeval, or modern-will necessarily be concerned with these ideas in some uay. What distinguishes thegreat books is the originality, the profundity, and the scope of their treatment ofthese ideas. Other books, important in some special field of learning, may havethese qualities with respect to one idea or even to several related ideas, but thegreat books possess them for a considerable range of ideas, covering a variety ofsubject matters or disciplines; and among the great books the greatest arc thosewith the greatest range of imaginative or intellectual content.

      Adler explains the distinctive factor determining which authors and works were included in the list of the Great Books of the Western World.

      Basically, they were works that were influential, written excellently, and had applicability to a considerable amount of ideas processed by the whole.

    11. The great majority of terms eliminated were those which did not appear to ,receive extensive or elaborate treatment in the great books. They were terms thatdid not seem to have a lively career —a continuous and complex developmentthroughout the three-thousand-year tradition of the great books.The editors usedthe actual content of the great books as the test whereby to separate a small set oftruly great ideas from a much larger number of important concepts or notions.The reader can apply this test himself by comparing the 1800 concepts listed inthe Inventory of Terms, with the 102 ideas that are treated as the principalterms in the Syntopicon.

      The ideas were chosen on the basis of coverage within the Great Works.

    12. THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OFSYNTOPICAL CONSTRUCTION
    1. (~3:00) Syntopical Reading requires building a map of the topic across sources (coming up with one's own terms) in order to find out what each author is saying.

      How does one do this if the process of syntopical reading is the process by which one comes up with the knowledge? I believe the answer lies in a high skill level of Inspectional Reading

      Obviously, one cannot make a perfect map from the get go, and this should not be the intention (defeat perfectionism)... However, a rough sketch or map is far more valuable than none at all.

      I believe this is also the point of Dr. Justin Sung's prestudy... Building the barebone structure of the mindmap, finding the logic behind it all; the first layer.

  7. May 2024
    1. (~6:30)

      I think the major point here is that Adler points out our minds, and thus our thinking, changes over time. Therefore, when a book is read at a later point in time, our notes are different.

      Perhaps his argument to "think again as to make the thought more current" is antithetical to Luhmann's Zettelkasten, which principles upon continuing previous lines of thought, even decades later.

      (future note, about half an hour later)... I think in the Zettelkasten the problem is dealt with adequately, since you actually can make new notes expressing why your thought changes... So in this sense it is even more expanded upon the point that Adler makes even though at first sight it seems the complete opposite.

    2. (~8.55)

      It is argued by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren that to fully grasp a book (part of analytical reading), one should make their own analytical table of contents, outlining not just the chapters but also the content. I need to look into how to make those.

    1. "The great books are the inexhaustible books. The books that can sustain a lifetime of reading."

    2. What did not stand out to me before while reading the book, but does now when watching this, is the fact that the greatest books are subjective to each individual... Meaning my list might not be the same for others.

    3. Very fascinating thought experiment. Out of the 140+ books I have read so far only a few, less than a handful, would fit the list of "growth" books; the greatest, that I would take to the deserted island for 10 years...

      1. The Bible
      2. Antonin Sertillanges' The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Method, Conditions
      3. Marcus Aurelius' Meditations

      No other book, to my mind, that I have read so far would cut it to my list.

    1. Or, you may say that this business of marking books is going to slow up your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such thing as the right speed for intelligent read-ing. Some things should be read quick-ly and effortlessly, and some should be read slowly and even laboriously. The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things dif-ferently according to their worth.

      As Luhmann would say, it is foolish to think that things are black and white; in most scenarios there is nuance... So too is it with reading speed, it must be relative or else it is not accurate. Even speed within books can differ.

    2. I use the end-pa-pers at the back of the book to make a personal index of the author's points in the order of their appearance.

      I will start doing this too, but on the associated bib-card.

    3. 1. Underlining: of major points, of important or forceful statements. 2. Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already under-lined. 3. Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize the ten or twenty most important statements in the book. (You may want to fold the bottom cor-ner of each page on which you use such marks. It won't hurt the sturdy paper on which most modern books are printed, and you will be able to take the book off the shelf at any time and, by opening it at the folded-corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.) 4. Numbers in the margin: to indi-cate the sequence of points the author makes in developing a single argu-ment. 5. Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in a book, which, though they may be separated by many pages, be-long together. 6. Circling of hey words or phrases. 7. Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording questions (and perhaps answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a complicated dis-cussion to a simple statement; record-

      I might actually use a system similar to this myself to aid with the dissection of a book in its fullest; to keep track of arguments and points, I am in need of this. Combine the bib-card with the Marginalia to enhance my reading process.

    4. ment, doubt, and inquiry. It's like re-suming an interrupted conversation with the advantage of being able to pick up where you left off. And that is exactly what reading a book should be: a conversation be-tween you and the author. Presumably he knows more about the subject than you do; naturally, you'll have the prop-er humility as you approach him.

      This is the entire point of an Antinet or Zettelkasten, and it is far more advanced/useful for this purpose than just Marginalia. Sorry Adler, but you should have spoken to Luhmann in this regard. Both of you are heroes of mine, but in this round, Luhmann takes the crown.

    5. To set down your reaction to important words and sen-tences you have read, and the ques-tions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharp-en those questions.

      I need to do this more often myself. Too often, at least when reading physical books, I am doing the thinking in my head instead of writing on my bib-card what I actually think.

    6. conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is tliinking, and thinking tends to ex-press itself in words, spoken or writ-ten. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writ-ing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed. Let me develop these three points.

      I agree on these three points, which I usually do through the bib-card method or annotating on hypothes.is if I read digitally. I keep the physical book mostly clean.

      However, I am looking for a way to keep track of points and arguments in works, and I hypothesize that marginalia are the way to do this the best.

    7. There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the prop-erty right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and fur-niture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full owner-ship comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it.

      Apparently, the real ownership of a book, to make it a part of oneself, you need to mark it up. To make use of marginalia, according to Adler that is.

      I personally don't like Marginalia, as I want to keep my books clean, which is why I use Luhmann's bibliography card method, but perhaps Adler can convince me of the opposite. We shall see.

    8. Confusion about what it means to own a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type —a respect for the physical thing—the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contains, without staking his claim by pasting his bookplate in-side the cover. Having a fine library doesn't prove that its owner has a mind enriched by books; it proves nothing more than that he, his father, or his wife, was rich enough to buy them.

      Adler makes a valid point here, books in its own have no worth. Owning a book, or even having "read" it don't serve any purpose. One must read properly in order to this, analytically or syntopically as Adler would call it.

      What he is wrong at, in my opinion, that Marginalia are the key to doing this... Yes, they might be helpful, but other techniques, such as Luhmann's bib-card method and learning methodologies like GRINDEmapping could perhaps be even more useful for this purpose.

  8. Apr 2024
    1. Adler, Mortimer J. “How to Mark a Book.” Saturday Review of Literature, July 6, 1940.

      See also: https://hypothes.is/a/WZWWgnV2EeyFFBshJKbM4A

    2. It's like re-suming an interrupted conversationwith the advantage of being able topick up where you left off.And that is exactly what readinga book should be: a conversation be-tween you and the author.
    3. Full owner-ship comes only when you have madeit a part of yourself, and the best wayto make yourself a part of it is bywriting in it.

      ownership [of a book]

    1. Graham, David A. “The Trump Two-Step.” The Atlantic, April 4, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/trump-two-step-bloodbath-2024-election/677966/.

    2. Politico, for example, reported that “it was unclear what the former president meant exactly,”
    3. One of his most effective tools is what we might call the Trump Two-Step, in which the former president says something outrageous, backs away from it in the face of criticism, and then fully embraces it. The goal here is to create a veneer of deniability. It doesn’t even need to be plausible; it just needs to muddy the waters a bit.

      Some of the first part of the Trump Two-Step sounds like the idea of "Schrödinger's douchebag".

    1. How Trump has Funded His $100 Million in Legal Bills by [[Molly Cook Escobar]], [[Albert Sun]], [[Shane Goldmacher]]

    2. Since leaving office in 2021, former President Donald J. Trump has spent more than $100 million on lawyers and other costs related to fending off various investigations, indictments and his coming criminal trials, according to a New York Times review of federal records.
  9. Mar 2024
    1. Theindexer will want a feel, before they begin, for the concepts that willneed to be flagged, or taxonomized with subheadings. They mightskim the book – reading it in full but at a canter – before tackling itproperly with the software open. Or they may spend a while, as apreliminary, with the book’s introduction, paying attention to itschapter outline – if it has one – to gain a sense of what to look outfor. Often, having reached the end of the book, the indexer will returnto the first few chapters, going over them again now that they havegained a conceptual mapping of the work as a whole.

      It's no wonder that Mortimer J. Adler was able to write such a deep analysis of reading in How to Read a Book after having spent so much time indexing the ideas behind The Great Books of the Western World.

      Indexing requires a solid inspectional read at minimum, but will often go deeper into contexts which require at least some analytical reading. To produce the Syntopicon, one must go even further into analytical reading to provide the proper indexing of ideas so that they may be sub-categorized and used for deeper analysis for things such as comparison and contrast of those ideas.

  10. Feb 2024
    1. ‘Jirt’, as the childrencalled Tolkien (short for J.R.R.T.)
    2. He had helped Murray with the very firstentry in the Dictionary – A: not only the sound A, ‘the low-back-wide vowelformed with the widest opening of the jaws, pharynx, and lips’, but also themusical sense of A, ‘the 6th note of the diatonic scale of C major’, and finallythe algebraic sense of A, ‘as in a, b, c, early letters of the alphabet used toexpress known quantities, as x, y, z are to express the unknown’. Ellis washappy to see these and other results of his work on the printed page, includingthe words air, alert, algebra.

      He here is A. J. Ellis

    1. The bad reader is lost amonggood books. He lacks the highest pleasure available to man,according to Mrs. Woolf. If she is right, none but a fool would refuseto learn to read as well as he can.
    2. Reading is not a passive activity
    1. In November 1945, three months after the atomic bombings,Oppenheimer stood firmly behind the scientific attitude, saying, “It isnot possible to be a scientist unless you believe that the knowledge ofthe world, and the power which this gives, is a thing which is of in-trinsic value to humanity, and that you are using it to help in the spreadof knowledge and are willing to take the consequences.”
  11. Jan 2024
  12. Dec 2023
    1. When the Keynesian settlement was nally put into eect, afterWorld War II, it was oered only to a relatively small slice of theworld’s population. As time went on, more and more people wantedin on the deal. Almost all of the popular movements of the periodfrom 1945 to 1975, even perhaps revolutionary movements, couldbe seen as demands for inclusion: demands for political equality thatassumed equality was meaningless without some level of economicsecurity. This was true not only of movements by minority groups inNorth Atlantic countries who had rst been left out of the deal—such as those for whom Dr. King spoke—but what were then called“national liberation” movements from Algeria to Chile, whichrepresented certain class fragments in what we now call the GlobalSouth, or, nally, and perhaps most dramatically, in the late 1960sand 1970s, feminism. At some point in the ’70s, things reached abreaking point. It would appear that capitalism, as a system, simplycannot extend such a deal to everyone

      How might this equate to the time at which Rome extended its citizen franchise to larger swaths of people and the attendant results which came about? particularly the shift towards an empire versus a republic?

      These seem to have been happening in the case of America with Donald Trump attempting to become a modern day Julius Caesar. To whom is Trump indebted?

  13. Nov 2023
    1. How to Read a Book. Los Angeles: KCET Los Angeles, 1975. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rizr8bb0c.

      13 part series including:<br /> - 01:33:02 Part 8: How to read Stories - 01:46:13 Part 9: What Makes a Story Good - 01:59:24 Part 10 How to Read a Poem - Shakespeare sonnet 116, "admit" definition - Wordsworth poem about London and nature - 02:12:49 Part 11: Activating Poetry and Plays - 02:26:09 Part 12: How to Read Two Books at the Same Time - 02:39:29 Part 13: The Pyramid of Books

      2023-11-29: Since the original video was removed, one can also view the series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPajsb520dyzNw9mHsZnrzi5w9N_amS7E

    1. It would seem that people who spend too much time online experience more anxiety. Could it be that we've evolved to only be able to manage so many inputs and amounts of variety of those inputs? The experiencing of too much variety in our environments and the resultant anxiety may be a result of the limits of Ross Ashby's law of requisite variety within human systems.

      This may also be why chaos machines like Donald Trump are effective at creating anxiety in a populace whose social systems are not designed to handle so many crazy ideas at once.

      Implications for measurements of resilience?

    1. Richard Carter says: November 16, 2023 at 5:38 am   (Edit) Mortimer Adler read books more than once? I guess that made sense from someone whose name was an anagram of ‘Mr Read-More-Lit’!

      Mortimer Adler's name is an anagram of "Mr. Read More Lit".

      via Richard Carter at https://boffosocko.com/2023/11/14/55819838/#comment-422743

    1. How to Read (and Understand) Hard Books<br /> Jared Henderson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laXcJyx9xCc

      A short overview of Adler and Van Doren's How to Read a Book

      Not bad, though Henderson accidentally reads "syntopical" as "synoptical".

    1. http://richardcarter.com/sidelines/a-good-reason-not-to-write-in-books/

      That book annotating monster Adler indicated that if he read books second and subsequent times that he would generally purchase a new copy and mark it up afresh. Doublemonster!

      See: How to Read a Book. Los Angeles: KCET Los Angeles, 1975. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rizr8bb0c. It was one of the later episodes as I recall.

    1. Eco was aware of this predicament. As a university profes-sor, he knew that the majority of students in Italian univer-sities seldom attended classes, that very few of them wouldcontinue to write and do research, and that the degree theyeventually earned would not necessarily improve their socialconditions. It would have been easy to call for the system tobe reformed so as not to require a thesis from students ill-equipped to write one, and for whom the benefit of spendingseveral months working on a thesis might be difficult to jus-tify in cold economic terms.

      Some of the missing piece here is knowing a method for extracting and subsequently building. Without the recipe in hand, it's difficult to bake a complex cake.

      Not mentioned here as something which may be missing, but which Adler & Van Doren identify as strength and ability to read at multiple levels including inspectionally, analytically, and ultimately syntopically.

      To some extent, the knowledge of the method for excerpting and arranging will ultimately allow the interested lifelong learner the ability to read syntopically even if it isn't the sort of targeted exercise it might be within creating a thesis.

  14. Oct 2023
    1. But sometimes Alter’s comments seem exactly wrong. Alter calls Proverbs 29:2 “no more than a formulation in verse of a platitude,” but Daniel L. Dreisbach’s Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers devotes an entire chapter to that single verse, much loved at the time of the American Founding: “When the righteous are many, a people rejoices, / but when the wicked man rules, a people groans.” Early Americans “widely, if not universally,” embraced the notion that—as one political sermon proclaimed—“The character of a nation is justly decided by the character of their rulers, especially in a free and elective government.” Dreisbach writes, “They believed it was essential that the American people be reminded of this biblical maxim and select their civil magistrates accordingly.” Annual election sermons and other political sermons often had Proverbs 29:2 as “the primary text.” Far from being a platitude, this single verse may contain a cure to the contagion that is contemporary American political life.

      Ungenerous to take Alter to task for context which he might not have the background to comment upon.

      Does Alter call it a "platitude" from it's historical context, or with respect to the modern context of Donald J. Trump and a wide variety of Republican Party members who are anything but Christian?

    1. There was former Ohio congressman Anthony Gonzalez (R) — a former professional football player — who deemed the hostility he faced after opposing Trump too much of a risk for his family. Former Wyoming representative Liz Cheney (R) described similar fears from other legislators, as did former Michigan representative Peter Meijer (R). That these three are all former legislators is not a coincidence: They resigned or were beaten in primaries largely because they saw how the party had turned against them. See also: Romney, Mitt.

      The threat of physical violence is silencing those in power even on the right. We're already at war except for the bullets.

    1. I'm not so much saying Adler and Van Doren were trying to prevent readers from coming to grips with the unresolved issues of American history illustrated in this example. But I am suggesting that the idea that there's a "message" in these foundational texts and they know what it is and our job is to find out, is flawed. Too deterministic, too hierarchical, too supportive of a master narrative that needs to be challenged so truth can be appreciated in its complexity.

      Amen!

    1. And we found this greatpsychology term—“psychogenic fugue”—describing an event wherethe mind tricks itself to escape some horror. So, in a way, LostHighway is about that. And also the fact that nothing can stay hiddenforever.
    1. this little discussion we're having reminds me of a lecture I once gave many years ago shortly after how to read a book was first published which which I said that I thought that solitary 02:17:34 reading was almost as much advice as solitary drinking

      Solitary reading [is] was almost as much a vice as solitary drinking. —Mortimer J. Adler, in Part 11: Activating Poetry and Plays

  15. Sep 2023
    1. This is one of the challenges of being reactive to the public mood, rather than shaping it. Donald Trump, too, launched his first presidential campaign by elevating arguments and rhetoric from right-wing media, but he also shaped what the media was talking about. DeSantis has largely followed the trends, and the trends shift.

      While Donald J. Trump seemed to hold say over what was trending and the media was discussing, Philip Bump notices that Ron DeSantis seems to be trailing or perhaps riding the trends rather than leading them.

      Is this because he's only tubthumping one or two at a time while Trump floats trial balloons regularly and is pushing half a dozen or more at time?

    1. I used to give oral examinations at St John's in Chicago and one of the one of the reasons why an oral examination is so much better than the written examination is the professor can never in a written examination say to the student what did you mean by these words 00:47:05 but in oral examination a student often repeats words he's read in the book and you're saying now Mr Jones what you just said is exactly what Hobbs said or what Darwin or 00:47:18 lock said now tell me in your own words what Locke or Hobbes or Darwin meant and then the student has remembered the words perfectly can't tell you in his own words no and you know he has he has noticed of the sentence right he's just 00:47:30 memorized or sometimes he actually can do it and then you say that's very good Mr Jones but now give me a concrete example of it yeah and he failed to do that guy those are the two tests I've always used to be sure the student really grasps the meaning of the key 00:47:42 sentence

      Mortimer Adler gave oral examinations at St. Johns in which he would often ask a student to restate the ideas of writers in their own words and then ask for a concrete example of that idea. Being able to do these two things is a solid way of indicating that one fully understands an idea.

      Adler and Van Doren querying each other demonstrate this once or twice in the video.

      related: - https://hypothes.is/a/rh1M5vdEEeut4pOOF7OYNA - https://hypothes.is/a/iV5MwjivEe23zyebtBagfw

      Where does this method sit with respect to the Feynman Technique? Does this appear in the 1940 edition of Adler's book and thus predate it all?

    1. "verbalism" is the besetting sin of those who fail to read analytically.
    2. Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature.
    3. Mortimer]. Adler

      Searching for "commonplace" and "card" in the text doesn't reveal anything positive.

      re: https://hypothes.is/a/NiMaVO_iEeuNF7N35U9BpA

      It would seem that Adler considered the method a simple bit of memory storage and not as a thinking tool or processing tool.

      Is there anything we can find that is dispositive to this?

    4. Adler, Mortimer J., and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book. Revised and Updated edition. 1940. Reprint, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972.

      Progress

      • Started reading on 2021-07-28 at 1:26 PM
      • Read through chapter 6 on 2022-11-06 at 1:40 PM

      Annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:47749dd5c860ea4a9b8749ab77a009da<br /> Annotation search

    1. Underlines and margin notes in an unknown hand are interspersed throughout the texts. Volume I includes a daily devotional page that has been used as a bookmark. The back endpapers of Volume IV has been copiously annotated.

      Jack Kerouac followed the general advice of Mortimer J. Adler to write notes into the endpapers of his books as evidenced by the endpapers of Volume IV of the 7th Year Course of The Great Books Foundation series with which Adler was closely associated.

    1. Wills, Garry. “After 54 Great Books, 102 Great Ideas, Now—Count Them !—Three Revolutions.” The New York Times, June 13, 1971, sec. BR. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/13/archives/the-common-sense-of-politics-by-mortimer-j-adler-265-pp-new-york.html

      It's not super obvious from the digitized context (text), but this review is in relation to The Common Sense of Politics (1971) by Mortimer J. Adler.

      Wills criticizes Adler and his take in the book as well as the general enterprise of the Great Books of the Western World.

      There seem to be interesting sparks here in the turn of the Republican party in the early 70s moving into the coming Reagan era.

    2. This done, Adler can say that young crit ics of “the System” are not true revolutionaries. Real revolutionaries work within the System — since the System is the Revolution.

      How does the general idea of zeitgeist of the early 70's relate to the idea of "revolution"?

      See also: Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (1970)

  16. Aug 2023
    1. Imagine the younger generation studying great books andlearning the liberal arts. Imagine an adult population con-tinuing to turn to the same sources of strength, inspiration,and communication. We could talk to one another then. Weshould be even better specialists than we are today because wecould understand the history of our specialty and its relationto all the others. We would be better citizens and better men.We might turn out to be the nucleus of the world community.

      Is the cohesive nature of Hutchins and Adler's enterprise for the humanities and the Great Conversation, part of the kernel of the rise of interdisciplinarity seen in the early 2000s onward in academia (and possibly industry).

      Certainly large portions are the result of uber-specialization, particularly in spaces which have concatenated and have allowed people to specialize in multiple areas to create new combinatorial creative possibilities.

    2. Adam Smith stated the case long ago: "A man withoutthe proper use of the intellectual faculties of a man, is, ifpossible, more contemptible than even a coward, and seemsto be mutilated and deformed in a still more essential part ofthe character of human nature."

      This seems apropos to the situation in which I view Donald J. Trump.

    1. Barzun, Jacques. “The Great Books.” The Atlantic, December 1952. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1952/12/the-great-books/642341/.

      Barzun heaps praise on Great Books of the Western World with some criticism of what it is also missing. He finds more than a few superlative words for the majesty of the Syntopicon.