Blog posts by region

I was once asked whether I covered world history on my blog. The answer is a simple “yes.”

Here is a sort of table of contents for my blog posts. Each link shows you the most recent posts in that category, up to 20 of them (at least, where there are that many).

A review of “Friedrich Nietzsche” (audiobook)

“There are no facts, only interpretations.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

He was the most controversial thinker in the entire history of philosophy …

I have never been a fan of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, or any part of his philosophy that I have ever heard about. He may be the most controversial person in the entire history of philosophy. He attacked virtually every aspect of the existing culture, and advocated disturbing ideas in their place. But there are still people today who believe in his ideas, so I thought that it would be worthwhile to know something about them. Thus, I listened to this audiobook (narrated by Charlton Heston), to learn about him. I was not disappointed, and learned much about him and his ideas – much of it disturbing, as you will see in this post.

Some thoughts about classical education

“[Chaerephon] went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him … whether anyone was wiser than I was, and the Pythian prophetess answered, that there was no man wiser.”

“When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can the god mean? and what is the interpretation of his riddle? for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great. What then can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men?”

– Socrates at his trial, as recorded in Plato's “Apology”

Classical education, in this context, is the study of Ancient Greece and Rome

Classical education, in this context, is the study of Ancient Greece and Rome. It was once all the rage in Western schools, but that changed drastically in the 1960's. At that time, some thought the subject to be too focused on the “dead white guys” (as they saw them). There was also an increased focus on math and science education after the then-recent Sputnik crisis, and less focus on humanities education. The Classics survived (and still live on today), but are no longer seen as being “central” to Western education in the way that they were seen before. This is a shame, because the Greeks and Romans influenced so much of who we are today. They had a great influence on our art, sculpture, architecture, theater, drama, literature, philosophy, science, and even our form of government. If history is about understanding who we are and how we came to be that way, the Classics actually have much to tell us about our identity as a people, and how it came about.

The “Forum Romanum,” better known as the Roman Forum

What is “linguistics,” and why is it important?

“If you are considering becoming a linguistics major, you probably know something about the field of linguistics already. However, you may find it hard to answer people who ask you, ‘What exactly is linguistics, and what does a linguist do?’ They might assume that it means you speak a lot of languages. And they may be right: you may, in fact, be a polyglot! But while many linguists do speak multiple languages—or at least know a fair bit about multiple languages—the study of linguistics means much more than this.”

– Website of the Linguistic Society of America

Linguistics is the scientific study of language

I am an amateur “linguist,” in both of the popular senses of that word. In everyday speech, the word usually means someone who knows a lot of languages (I have some basic knowledge of about four myself). But the word also has the meaning of someone who studies linguistics, a different but related discipline. In the words of the Linguistic Society of America, “Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and many topics are studied under this umbrella.” (Source: LSA website) They further state that “while linguists may be better informed if they know multiple languages, the work of a linguist actually involves learning about Language, rather than learning different languages.” (Source: LSA website)

6 great ideas for possible history movies

I sometimes wish that I had the money to make a Hollywood movies about history – or even several of them. I have all kinds of ideas about historical movies that would be great for this. Some of them might even make money – at least, if they were done right. But since I don't think I'll be able to do this myself, I'll put these ideas out there, and hope that some Hollywood producer will take some of my best ideas. (They wouldn't even have to give me screen credits for them … )