My Book Reviews

Returning to Fyodor Dostoevsky My small Dostoevsky Library Over my lifetime I have read most, but not all, of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s books.  Here I will review seven of them which I have on my shelves and have read many times over the years. I was first introduced to his work by one of my favourite and most inspiring philosophy lecturers, Rev. Fr. Patrick Carmody, M.A., M.Phil., a wonderful scholar whom I have mentioned so often in my on-line musings.  From the first encounter with this nineteenth century Russian novelist I was hooked. Why? The answer was quite simple; because in his novels I encountered the deepest of philosophical questions inextricably intertwined with the lives of wonderful characters, so well drawn by a masterful author. Russian universities in the nineteenth century simply did not offer philosophy as a subject of study or as an academic specialisation whatsoever, so it devolved to the responsibilities of novelists and litterateurs to educate ...

My copies of these three books reviewed here We don’t turn to books simply for knowledge. We pick them up for many reasons beyond the learning of new facts or information: for entertainment, for sheer pleasure, for the aesthetics of their production as a distinct artefact, for inspiration and also for comfort. The three books I wish to review here have served to comfort me in the last several days after having come unscathed from a traumatic car crash. I searched my shelves and picked up these three slim volumes: 1. My copy of this book This Book Will Make You Calm , Quercus, 2014 by Dr Jessamy Hibberd & Jo Usmar.  This book works akin to a basic cookbook for a neophyte in the culinary arts. To use a much over-used, even abused, cliché, “it does what it says on the tin.” The title says it all and the book fulfils the promise written large on the cover. The message of this short volume is that we can choose to feel better. Further, the views and comments within are...