Comments on: The Challenge of Affluence http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sun, 27 May 2012 00:43:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Great Academic Opening Sentences « Lifer On Earth http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188661 Great Academic Opening Sentences « Lifer On Earth Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:25:04 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188661 [...] Filed under language, linguistics, books LanguageHat.com details a post in CrookedTimber.org < Link > asking readers to nominate the best opening paragraphs from academic books. The post , as [...] [...] Filed under language, linguistics, books LanguageHat.com details a post in CrookedTimber.org < Link > asking readers to nominate the best opening paragraphs from academic books. The post , as [...]

]]> By: LiferOnEarth http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188057 LiferOnEarth Sat, 24 Feb 2007 17:54:30 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188057 "Life is Difficult" from "The Road Less Travelled " by M Scott Peck. This is the ultimate truth, the root of all that we do or believe in. In literature, the entire foreword of Ayn Rand's " The Fountainhead". “Life is Difficult” from “The Road Less Travelled ” by M Scott Peck. This is the ultimate truth, the root of all that we do or believe in. In literature, the entire foreword of Ayn Rand’s ” The Fountainhead”.

]]> By: Geoff K http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188051 Geoff K Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:18:16 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188051 And lest we neglect the best first lines of essays, how about Orwell on Gandhi: "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent." (Actually, I cheated: the sentence goes on from there, but it sounds well this way.) And lest we neglect the best first lines of essays, how about Orwell on Gandhi:

“Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.”

(Actually, I cheated: the sentence goes on from there, but it sounds well this way.)

]]> By: han http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188043 han Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:18:39 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188043 Here is my favorite, from Camus's <i>The Myth of Sisyphus</i>: "There is only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest -- whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories -- comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer. And if it is true, as Nietzsche claims, that a philosopher, to deserve our respect, must preach by example, you can appreciate the importance of that reply, for it will precede the definitive act." Here is my favorite, from Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus:

“There is only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer. And if it is true, as Nietzsche claims, that a philosopher, to deserve our respect, must preach by example, you can appreciate the importance of that reply, for it will precede the definitive act.”

]]> By: han http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188042 han Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:17:10 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188042 "Every art and applied science and every systematic investigation, and similarly every action and choice, seem to aim at some good; the good, therefore, has been well defined as that at which all things aim." Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics “Every art and applied science and every systematic investigation, and similarly every action and choice, seem to aim at some good; the good, therefore, has been well defined as that at which all things aim.”

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

]]> By: dearieme http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188039 dearieme Sat, 24 Feb 2007 08:12:46 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188039 These are all so wordy. Surely the very best writers can do much of the business with the title? I particularly like the chemistry book "Nonexistent Compounds". These are all so wordy. Surely the very best writers can do much of the business with the title? I particularly like the chemistry book “Nonexistent Compounds”.

]]> By: language hat http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188015 language hat Sat, 24 Feb 2007 01:17:49 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188015 In the village with the prosaic name of "Railroad" (Zheleznodorozhnyi) just outside of Moscow, there is a curious hillside above the river Pekhorka, just behind the buildings of the once supersecret Moscow Aerodynamic Laboratory. At first glance the steep terrain appears wild and overgrown, but closer inspection reveals traces of extensive architectural structures beneath the tangle of vine and brambles: a marble esplanade, flanked by stairs and balustrades, leading down to a lower terrace emplaced with fountains and pools, all long dry and derelict. This finely carved wreckage was once the central adornment of the summer home of the first family of Russian capitalism, the Riabushinskys of Moscow. These ruins serve as an architectonic symbol of the fate of the early Russian entrepreneurs: enormous creative efforts and impressive achievements destined to become a stairway to nowhere. Or so it seemed until recently. —James L. West, <i>Merchant Moscow</i> (1998) In the village with the prosaic name of “Railroad” (Zheleznodorozhnyi) just outside of Moscow, there is a curious hillside above the river Pekhorka, just behind the buildings of the once supersecret Moscow Aerodynamic Laboratory. At first glance the steep terrain appears wild and overgrown, but closer inspection reveals traces of extensive architectural structures beneath the tangle of vine and brambles: a marble esplanade, flanked by stairs and balustrades, leading down to a lower terrace emplaced with fountains and pools, all long dry and derelict. This finely carved wreckage was once the central adornment of the summer home of the first family of Russian capitalism, the Riabushinskys of Moscow. These ruins serve as an architectonic symbol of the fate of the early Russian entrepreneurs: enormous creative efforts and impressive achievements destined to become a stairway to nowhere. Or so it seemed until recently.

—James L. West, Merchant Moscow (1998)

]]> By: rhomboid goatcabin http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188009 rhomboid goatcabin Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:43:38 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188009 The closing paragraph of William James's "The Will to Believe" (1896): "I began by a reference to Fitz James Stephen; let me end by a quotation from him. 'What do you think of yourself? What do you think of the world?... These are questions with which all must deal as it seems good to them. They are riddles of the Sphinx, and in some way or other we must deal with them... In all important transactions of life we have to take a leap in the dark... If we decide to leave the riddles unanswered, that is a choice; if we waver in our answer, that, too, is a choice: but whatever choice we make, we make it at our peril. If a man chooses to turn his back altogether on God and the future, no one can prevent him; no one can show beyond reasonable doubt that he is mistaken. If a man thinks otherwise and acts as he thinks, I do not see that any one can prove that he is mistaken. Each must act as he thinks best; and if he is wrong, so much the worse for him. We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snow and blinding mist through which we get glimpses now and then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? 'Be strong and of a good courage.' Act for the best, hope for the best, and take what comes. . . . If death ends all, we cannot meet death better.' [Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, p. 353, second edition. London, 1874.]" The closing paragraph of William James’s “The Will to Believe” (1896):

“I began by a reference to Fitz James Stephen; let me end by a quotation from him. ‘What do you think of yourself? What do you think of the world?… These are questions with which all must deal as it seems good to them. They are riddles of the Sphinx, and in some way or other we must deal with them… In all important transactions of life we have to take a leap in the dark… If we decide to leave the riddles unanswered, that is a choice; if we waver in our answer, that, too, is a choice: but whatever choice we make, we make it at our peril. If a man chooses to turn his back altogether on God and the future, no one can prevent him; no one can show beyond reasonable doubt that he is mistaken. If a man thinks otherwise and acts as he thinks, I do not see that any one can prove that he is mistaken. Each must act as he thinks best; and if he is wrong, so much the worse for him. We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snow and blinding mist through which we get glimpses now and then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? ‘Be strong and of a good courage.’ Act for the best, hope for the best, and take what comes. . . . If death ends all, we cannot meet death better.’ [Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, p. 353, second edition. London, 1874.]”

]]> By: » Blog Archive » Friday Fun Link - Best Opening Paragraphs For Academic Titles (Feb 23, 2007)LibrarianActivist.org http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188003 » Blog Archive » Friday Fun Link - Best Opening Paragraphs For Academic Titles (Feb 23, 2007)LibrarianActivist.org Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:03:01 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188003 [...] There are lots of lists of best opening and closing lines/paragraphs of books. But how about a list of best opening paragraphs from academic titles? [...] [...] There are lots of lists of best opening and closing lines/paragraphs of books. But how about a list of best opening paragraphs from academic titles? [...]

]]> By: language hat http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-188002 language hat Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:44:27 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-188002 Toward the evening of a gone world, the light of its last summer pouring into a Chelsea street found and suffused the red waistcoat of Henry James, lord of decorum, <i>en promenade</i>, exposing his Boston niece to the tone of things. —Hugh Kenner, <i>The Pound Era</i> (1973) Toward the evening of a gone world, the light of its last summer pouring into a Chelsea street found and suffused the red waistcoat of Henry James, lord of decorum, en promenade, exposing his Boston niece to the tone of things.

—Hugh Kenner, The Pound Era (1973)

]]> By: jrochest http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-187981 jrochest Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:13:21 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-187981 "I began with the desire to speak with the dead. This desire is a familiar, if unvoiced, motive in literary studies, a motive organized, professionalized, buried beneath think layers of bureaucratic decorum: literature professors are salaried, middle-class shamans. If I never believed the dead could hear me, and if I knew that the dead could not speak, I was nonetheless certain that I could re-create a conversation with them..." Stephen Greenblatt, <i>Shakespearean Negotiations</i>. “I began with the desire to speak with the dead.

This desire is a familiar, if unvoiced, motive in literary studies, a motive organized, professionalized, buried beneath think layers of bureaucratic decorum: literature professors are salaried, middle-class shamans. If I never believed the dead could hear me, and if I knew that the dead could not speak, I was nonetheless certain that I could re-create a conversation with them…”

Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespearean Negotiations.

]]> By: Woodlawn http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-187977 Woodlawn Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:05:24 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-187977 "The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, presents itself as “an immense accumulation of commodities,” its unit being a single commodity. Our investigation must therefore begin with the analysis of a commodity." --Karl Marx, <i>Capital</i>, opening paragraph of Vol. 1. Succinct. “The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, presents itself as “an immense accumulation of commodities,” its unit being a single commodity. Our investigation must therefore begin with the analysis of a commodity.”—Karl Marx, Capital, opening paragraph of Vol. 1.
Succinct.

]]> By: han http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-187971 han Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:20:59 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-187971 "A great many things keep happening, some of them good, some of them bad. The inhabitants of different countries keep quarreling fiercely with each other and kings go on losing their temper in the most furious way. Our churches are attacked by the heretics and then protected by the Catholics; the faith of Christ burns bright in many men, but it remains lukewarm in others; no sooner are the church-buildings endowed by the faithful than they are stripped bare again by those who have no faith. However, no writer has come to the fore who has been suffieienctly skilled in setting things down in an orderly fashion to be able to describe these events in prose or in verse. In fact, in the towns of Gaul the writing of literature has declined to the point where it has virtually disappeared altogether. Many people have complained about this, not once but time and time again. "What a poor period this is!" they have been heard to say. "If among all our people there is not one man to be found who can write a book about what is happening today, the pursuit of letters realy is dead in us!" I have often thought about these complaints and others like them. I have written this work to keep alive the memory of those dead and gone, and to bring them to the notice of future generations. My style is not very polished, and I have had to devote much of my space to the quarrels between the wicked and the righteous. All the same I have been greatly encouraged by certain kind remarks, which, to my no small surprise, I have often heard made by our folk, to the effect that few people understand a rhetorical speechifier, whereas many can follow a blunt speaker." -Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks “A great many things keep happening, some of them good, some of them bad. The inhabitants of different countries keep quarreling fiercely with each other and kings go on losing their temper in the most furious way. Our churches are attacked by the heretics and then protected by the Catholics; the faith of Christ burns bright in many men, but it remains lukewarm in others; no sooner are the church-buildings endowed by the faithful than they are stripped bare again by those who have no faith. However, no writer has come to the fore who has been suffieienctly skilled in setting things down in an orderly fashion to be able to describe these events in prose or in verse. In fact, in the towns of Gaul the writing of literature has declined to the point where it has virtually disappeared altogether. Many people have complained about this, not once but time and time again. “What a poor period this is!” they have been heard to say. “If among all our people there is not one man to be found who can write a book about what is happening today, the pursuit of letters realy is dead in us!” I have often thought about these complaints and others like them. I have written this work to keep alive the memory of those dead and gone, and to bring them to the notice of future generations. My style is not very polished, and I have had to devote much of my space to the quarrels between the wicked and the righteous. All the same I have been greatly encouraged by certain kind remarks, which, to my no small surprise, I have often heard made by our folk, to the effect that few people understand a rhetorical speechifier, whereas many can follow a blunt speaker.”

-Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks

]]> By: Sam http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-187966 Sam Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:47:28 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-187966 Travel and travellers are two things I loathe--and yet, here I am, all set to tell the story of my expeditions. But at least I've taken a long while to make up my mind to it: fifteen years have passed since I left Brazil for the last time and often, during those years, I've planned to write this book, but I've always been held back by a sort of shame and disgust. So much would have to be said that has no possible interest: insipid details, incidents of no significance. Anthropology is a profession in which adventure plays no part; merely one of its bondages, it represents no more than a dead weight of weeks or months wasted en route; hours spent in idleness when one's informant has given one the slip; hunger, exhaustion, illness as like as not; and those thousand and one routine duties which eat up most of our days to no purpose and reduce our "perilous existence" in the virgin forest to a simulacrum of military service... -- Claude Levi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques Travel and travellers are two things I loathe—and yet, here I am, all set to tell the story of my expeditions. But at least I’ve taken a long while to make up my mind to it: fifteen years have passed since I left Brazil for the last time and often, during those years, I’ve planned to write this book, but I’ve always been held back by a sort of shame and disgust. So much would have to be said that has no possible interest: insipid details, incidents of no significance. Anthropology is a profession in which adventure plays no part; merely one of its bondages, it represents no more than a dead weight of weeks or months wasted en route; hours spent in idleness when one’s informant has given one the slip; hunger, exhaustion, illness as like as not; and those thousand and one routine duties which eat up most of our days to no purpose and reduce our “perilous existence” in the virgin forest to a simulacrum of military service…
—Claude Levi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques

]]> By: KRS http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/comment-page-2/#comment-187958 KRS Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:15:21 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/02/19/the-challenge-of-affluence/#comment-187958 Jeff (62) - It's the opening of Virgil's Aeneid: Arma virumque cano. Arms and the man I sing. Jeff (62) –
It’s the opening of Virgil’s Aeneid:
Arma virumque cano.
Arms and the man I sing.

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