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Prisoners’ take on “The Storyteller,” by Mario Vargas Llosa
The Storyteller, by Mario Vargas Llosas, is a complex book that interweaves two different narratives, one by a writer, one by a storyteller; the book explores the people of the Amazon rain forest in eastern Peru from the 1950s … Continue reading
Psalm 23
The Old Testament Psalms are constant reminders of how easily humans forget divine blessings and have to be reminded by daily prayer. The Psalms have been human prayer companions for centuries. The Psalms are some of the greatest literature ever … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Reflections on the Psalms
Tagged books, Love, Old Testament, psalms
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Cyberspace, Virtual Reality, AI, and All that Stuff
First, disclaimers: much of the stuff about virtual reality and gaming is gibberish to me. I am not interested, and I don’t play games or engage in virtual reality (at least the sophisticated forms). At the same time, I am … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity
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The Sea Mark: A Poem
I published a book about John Smith several years ago entitled The Sea Mark. Smith himself wrote a poem of that name. Inspired by Smith, here is my version of the Seamark. Seamark I have searched, the pages of history To … Continue reading
Bucephalus
One of my heroes of the past is Alexander the Great. This is due in part to Plutarch, whose portrait of Alexander, in his Parallel Lives, is arguably one of the reasons I became a historian. Plutarch’s story of the taming … Continue reading
Grunter’s Plea: The Ancient Philosophy of Vegetarianism
One of the more fascinating tales of Homer in the Odyssey is that of the bewitching of Odysseus’s men by the witch Circe. Odysseus and his men have arrived at an unknown wooded island. Odysseus sends a detachment of men … Continue reading
Posted in European history, General Essays, Natural History
Tagged Homer, Plutarch, Vegetarianism
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Icons
We live in a world of icons: cloth, stone, digital, metal, paper: money, electronic devices, flags, statues, scriptures, media stars, and so on. Icons have been the stuff of human worship for centuries: the Hebrews worshiped the golden calf, early … Continue reading
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Sibyl’s Leaves
One of my favorite authors is Michel de Montaigne, author of Essays. In Montaigne’s final essay, “Of Experience,” he traces his experience with the disease of kidney stones. He wrote about his anxiety and fears, his expectation of death, which became … Continue reading
Posted in books, European history, Michel de Montaigne
Tagged books, Montaigne, Poem
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The Shawl
The Shawl, by Cynthia Ozick, is a small book combining a brief short story and a short novella that are connected together by the central characters, an event in the past, and a shawl. This book has many themes combined … Continue reading
When is a Historian Judge and Jury?
Over a century ago, the world became intrigued by the theories of Sigmund Freud and his interpretation of humans as irrational, rather than rational, creatures. People wondered about the significance and consequences of irrationality in courts of law, legislatures, schools, … Continue reading
The American Plutarch 