Sunday Salon

This week I struggled through Martin Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics. I was under the impression that most find Heidegger's work either the hallmark of genius or the epitome of obfuscation. I found it the latter. There were some interesting parts, but for the most part I found it too dense for it to make any sense to me. I was very interested when I picked it up at the book store. It starts with the question: Why is there being instead of nothing? However, Heidegger seems to think that an exploration of Ancient Greek etymology will answer the question. I, however, strongly disagree and would therefore not reccommend this book to anyone.

I am currently out of town visiting my in-laws, which led to the age old problem of what books to bring with me while traveling. I tried to "travel light" and brought the following:

• Mistakes Were Made by Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson


• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell


• The Lais of Marie de France

I am reading the last two as part of the What's In A Name Challenge.

This week I bought Moral Clarity by Susan Neiman and convinced my wife to buy two books to read on vacation that were on my TBR list: Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Lang and Napoleon's Pyramid by William Dietrich.