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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  1679 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Book Thread Time

- This Life by Martin Hägglund - I was sceptical of this book at first because it appeared to be another one of those "atheists tries to disprove the existence of God with facts and logic". Instead it goes at it from another direction, arguing that eternity is not desirable and that the finitude of a lifetime is what gives it meaning. It starts out arguing that the experience of grief over the loss of a person can only be understood properly in a secular sense and tries to illustrate how even deeply religious persons like C.S Lewis, Martin Luther and Augustine failed to find comfort in their beliefs when experiencing loss. The book covers a lot of terrain and shifts between being a work of philosophy, self-help book, Marx explainer and a rallying cry to strive for democratic socialism. I wouldn't been able to do it justice in recounting it here, but I highly recommend it.

- The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan - A history of the world centered around trade and trade routes from ancient times up until today. I still have about a quarter left of it, but for someone like me who hasn't read much history in adulthood this one is really interesting and easy to digest.

- Mannen i skogen (The man in the forest) by Jens Liljestrand - A biography of Vilhelm Moberg, which felt topical to read this summer since there was a small storm in a pond this summer when the Sweden Democrats sort of tried to "claim him" as one of them in a speech. After reading the biography, I have a hard time seeing how any political party could be able to claim him.





galen  ·  1679 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey, I'm also reading This Life! This book is the shit. I'm not totally convinced by his preachy-atheist arguments (religion is not only unnecessary but also always genuinely harmful), but his work to construct a way of being without the classic atheist turn of "man I'd love to believe in God if I could" is so good. Has been pretty influential for me personally.