The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stephenson: Stunning story that takes the formula of a tragedy and follows it literally. Jekyll is tempted to pursue his secret ("hyden") temptation that thwarts common morality, discovers way to make his temptation a reality, pursues it with exhilaration, almost gets away with it, then falls inescapably into own trap, ends with sacrifice of self. Great study for understanding what a tragedy is, but also what our own evil is. How has the Christian world forgotten this story? It's been given to Marvel comics, stripped of its self-condemning moral message, and transformed into superpowers for fighting the bad guys. Not that the Hulk is all bad, it's just a convenient transformation.
Resolutions When I Come to be Old - Jonathan Swift: Nice and short. Seems like the kind of thing you'd do once but revisit every year (personal mission statement, anyone?). Would like an explanation for some of the "behaving around children/young people" ones. "Not fond of children"?
Plato's Republic, Book III: What kids believe about death, what they read, what music they listen to, how much of life is consumed by sports/exercise; surprise, surprise, these things all make a difference in what kind of person they grow up to be. Not much of a surprise there, but probably is in the particulars. Main goals: courage and temperance, not getting a job and making money. What if you're not raising a "guardian"? Is it just vocational training for them then? It seems like today we'd want something like this "guardian" education (minus any "royal/noble" lies) in K-12, then vocational training after that in college or the equivalent... Revolutionary? Maybe give them like a set of "great" books to read in high school or something...
Federalist Papers #44 - James Madison: If we value the happiness of the people, we'll have a strong federal government. New Constitution isn't so much granting new powers as it is invigorating the original powers of the first one. The concern/argument for state governments appointing their own senators must have quickly waned, yet they put a lot of weight in it in the Fed. Papers. Makes me wonder what happened leading up to the 17th amendment that took this right away from the states.
The Sunless Sea - Rachel Carson: Most (not all) of our science readings in this set seem to fall into two camps: 1) original scientific works with original arguments; 2) magazine-type articles that explain the natural world. This falls into the second category and, as such, reads like a "perfect" Wikipedia article on the subject. It's the nature of the beast, though, and she does a great job explaining the details of this fascinating unseen world. Makes me wonder which of the mysteries she brought up have had more light shed on them since she wrote this (yes, pun intended).
The Process of Thought, Ch. 2 - John Dewey: We all are challenged to be honest in our quest for the truth, and there are many enchantresses that tempt us into comfortable conclusions along the way (social pressure, laziness, passions, etc.). There is no "magic method" that gets us right conclusions because our own character flaws are what thwart the journey. We work on our character flaws (be open-minded, wholehearted, intellectually responsible folks), marry that with good thinking methods, then we're on the right track. Interesting observation about the scientific establishment's tendency to support failing theories. Sounds almost like Kuhn. Scientists: take note, and don't fall under the enchantress's spells.
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