Sparks Commentary: 25 additional things about me

A continuation of my first and second “25 things about me” posts.

So for each of my four languages, I have actually read at least one work in that language, by a native speaker of that language, in the original.
For my native English, I have read several works, including “The Federalist Papers,” John Locke's “Second Treatise on Government,” nd William Blackstone's “Commentaries on the Laws of England.”
For Spanish, I have read Rafael Lapesa's “Historia de la lengua española” (“History of the Spanish Language”) in the original Spanish. I know that I mentioned this in a previous “25 things about me” post, but it seemed worth repeating here.
For French, I have read some essays by Voltaire in the original French, and plan to describe these essays elsewhere. I have also read four books in the original French. These include Baron de Montesquieu's “De l'esprit des lois” (“The Spirit of Laws”), Jean-Jacques Rousseau's “Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes” (rendered as “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality”), Jean-Jacques Rousseau's “Du contrat social, ou principes du droit politique” (“The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right”), and Alexis de Tocqueville's “De la démocratie en Amérique” (“Democracy in America”).
And for Ancient Greek, I have read the five primary sources about the trial of Socrates in the original Greek, including the four dialogues by Plato on this subject. I have also read Plato's ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ (“Politeia”), or “The Republic,” in the original Greek. And I've just started reading Aristotle's ΗΘΙΚΩΝ ΝΙΚΟΜΑΧΕΙΩΝ (“Ethicon Nicomacheion”), or the “Nicomachean Ethics,” in the original Greek.
Since the schools where I live don't offer Ancient Greek, I instead chose the harder option of learning it from a book (essentially my only option for doing this). I don't recommend learning a language this way if you can learn it from a classroom, even if it's a dead language like Ancient Greek. Nonetheless, I thought that I'd rather have a second-rate knowledge of Ancient Greek than no knowledge at all, since it will later allow me to read the New Testament in the original.
Since the first writing of this post, I have started learning Biblical Hebrew, another dead language. It's partly because I want to learn a language that is more challenging for English speakers, but also because I want to read the Hebrew Bible in the original one day (better known to Christians as the “Old Testament”). Updates to this will eventually follow.
The only class that I've ever received a “D” in was a middle school physical science class (although I did receive an “F” in college, as I describe in an earlier “25 things about me” post). The emphasis of that class was more on art projects than true science, so it was not to my liking, and I hated both the class and the teacher. Thinking of science in terms of these art projects, I began to think that the whole subject was a bit on the dumb side. But my dad (who was and is a biology teacher) convinced me not to judge all of the sciences by my bad experience with that teacher or that class. Thus, I have since had a healthy respect for the natural sciences, even when I do not understand them.
I admit freely that I don't know much about natural science, although I do know a few things about certain social sciences (such as educational psychology). But when someone got my dad a few audiobooks (over several birthdays) about the history of “Science & Discovery,” I happily listened to them with him. I enjoyed their historical and philosophical aspects, even while the science went way over my head. (Update, 2024: I have now finished listening to that series in its entirety.)
I once wrote (in a previous version of this “25 things about me” post) about some of my experiences with finance classes. I now have something to add to what I said previously: I have been listening to a series of audio presentations about the “Secrets of the Great Investors,” which are narrated by the business & economic journalist Louis Rukeyser. I have listened to them partly because of prior good experiences with that company's products (a company called “Knowledge Products”). I learned a little bit about investments by so doing, but have not actually invested any of my own money (or anyone else's). This is probably because I've never been much of a risk-taker, and I've always been very careful with money (my own and that of others).
I was basically an economics minor (technically, I got a certificate in economics), but I was never able to take a class in the history of economic thought. This was partly because I never knew such a class to be offered at these times and places, but also because I was giving the priority to other economics classes that are more useful in business. Thus, I tried to make up for this deficiency somewhat after my college graduation. I still am no expert on the subject, but I have listened to some audiobooks about it (from a series called “Great Economic Thinkers”) in my spare time. I actually finished that series recently. I am more interested in political philosophy than economic thought anyway, so my only readings in this area were Adam Smith's “The Wealth of Nations” and Karl Marx's “The Communist Manifesto.” Both of these are classics of political philosophy, as much as they are classics of economic thought.
Other audiobooks that I sometimes listen to these days are presentations about philosophy, both of the political and non-political kinds. I recognize that philosophy has a bad reputation among some fellow members of the religious right; but I can testify that philosophy is often consistent with religion, and even the anti-religious kind is sometimes worth knowing about as opposition study. That is, it helps you to understand people who see the world differently. I am glad that I've learned about this subject in my spare time.
These philosophy audiobooks include several different series offered by the same company (again, a company called “Knowledge Products”). These are divided into four series, which are as follows: “The World of Philosophy,” “The Giants of Philosophy,” “The Giants of Political Thought,” and “The United States Constitution.” All of them were quite valuable for someone like me who's into philosophy, and especially political philosophy (although I wouldn't necessarily recommend them to anyone else, since they are often somewhat technical).
Although my dad is a fellow member of the religious right, he encouraged me to consider studying philosophy in school, when I was thinking seriously about going into law school later on. He is into philosophy himself, and he has often enjoyed listening to some of these philosophy audiobooks with me. Like me, he has often received them as birthday presents, and we often listen to them together (and share them with each other). For me, it helps to have a friend with whom to discuss these kinds of things.
Although I have read and listened to many kinds of philosophy, this does not mean that I always believe them, or that I would accept what they say without question. Actually, I have a deep suspicion of people like Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche; and find very little to agree with in what I have heard of them.
When I was 21, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which is basically a form of autism. I believe that it affects me in both good and bad ways. In good ways, it allows me to focus on learning things that interest me, such as the kinds of things that I've been talking about in this post thus far. In bad ways, it makes certain kinds of social interactions a bit harder for me than they are for others. It is not a particularly severe form of Asperger's syndrome, since the most severe cases are usually diagnosed in early childhood. Nonetheless, I definitely struggle with it; and some of you may have seen the signs of it in my blog posts (if you have known what to look for).
People on the autistic spectrum are often known for long monologues, given at socially inappropriate times. I do believe that I engage in a certain amount of monologuing, but that my blog allows it to be expressed in more socially appropriate ways. If people don't want to read these monologues, they are perfectly welcome not to do so. Thus, only those searching for information arrive at my blog, and no one is forced to read it.
As I mentioned in an earlier version of this post, my childhood dream was to become a fiction writer. But after I graduated from college, I discovered that my real gift was for writing non-fiction. Thus, I have written a number of non-fiction posts for this blog, including a series of several blog posts about the United States Constitution (linked to here). If you put all of the posts in this series together, they would probably amount to a book.
Perhaps partially because of my Asperger's syndrome, I have not often enjoyed reading the kind of literature driven by characters and emotions. I tend to prefer reading non-fiction these days. I never took Honors English classes in high school, but not because of these kinds of concerns. I hadn't even been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome then, and did not yet see these things in myself. It was mainly because I wanted to have an easier school schedule that I decided to forgo Honors English at this time. This probably made my life considerably easier at that time, but I have sometimes wondered if I “missed out” on reading great literature despite these things.
I also struggle with a number of mood disorders, and I have to be on medication for all of them. Specifically, I have been diagnosed with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia (a word basically translating to “fear of crowds”). They make life difficult at times; and along with my Asperger's syndrome, they interfere with my ability to work full-time. Thus, I work only part-time as a math tutor, and have been doing so since 2012 at Yavapai College. (Indeed, this is why I have time to do all of the other things that I've been mentioning in this post.)
Because of the disabilities that I have mentioned, my church honorably excused me from full-time missionary service. This is a service that would normally be expected of males of a certain age in my church. But when I told them of the psychiatric problems that I knew myself to have, they saw fit to honorably excuse me from these duties. I have long considered this a blessing, which has made my life somewhat easier.
This is the first blog post in which I've shared anything about my mental health challenges. I did talk about my being honorably excused from full-time missionary service in this blog post, but never mentioned any of my disabilities by name there. I only mention these things now to help others who may have similar challenges, so that they might not feel so alone.
On a more positive note, when I watched PBS's television history of jazz by Ken Burns, it left an indelible mark on the way that I played piano. Since I play piano by ear, it helped me to listen to all of the different styles in the 19 hours of this series, so that I could learn how to play them when I wanted to. For someone like me who can't really sight-read, sheet music would not really help me much, so listening to the music was the only way in which I could operate.
I wrote an autobiography that I have never attempted to publish, nor am I very likely ever to do so. I think that my life is nowhere near as interesting as the historical events and people that I blog about, so I seldom write about my own life. When I do, I only publish certain things having to do with particular aspects of my life, and thus tend to post about it more thematically than chronologically.
I advertised a previous “25 things about me” post by saying that I was “The most boring person I've ever blogged about (and I've blogged about Jimmy Carter) … ”