Miscellaneous

I've always meant to read more William James or, failing more by James, more about James (“Do not read history. Read biography for it is life without theory.” Disraeli). Early on, I read his Varieties of Religious Experience [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James#Philosophy_of_religion]

Background: When I was the editor of Gilbert Magazine [http://www.chesterton.org/explore-the-acs/gilbertmagazine/], I was responsible for the "Tremendous Trifles" column. It was occasionally hard to find a sufficient amount of interesting GKC material to fill the page, so John Peterson sent me a file full

If you're intrigued by Dostoyevsky but can't bring yourself to read any of his lengthy fiction, get a copy of Henri de Lubac's The Drama of Atheist Humanism. It ranks in my top 10 books of all time. The reader will be rewarded with

My electronic friend, Michelle Reitemeyer, recently had to abandon Blogger. Some of you may recall that I came close to such a decision myself. It's hard to abandon electronic real estate that you've developed over years, but Michelle felt like she had no other choice, given

That's a picture of a bowling alley at the Atlantic Garden Saloon in Sandusky, Ohio, toward the turn of the century. I've spent a lot of time in bowling alleys (season high average winner, with a 112, in fifth grade). In every bowling alley, there are

Background: When I was the editor of Gilbert Magazine [http://www.chesterton.org/explore-the-acs/gilbertmagazine/], I was responsible for the "Tremendous Trifles" column. It was occasionally hard to find a sufficient amount of interesting GKC material to fill the page, so John Peterson sent me a file full

The garden received a devastating blow last weekend: I discovered that my grape crop (my self-proclaimed garden "crown jewel") has pretty much been wiped out by a fungus disease (Anthracnose). This is year three for my vines. For grape growers, you know that means that this was supposed

It's hard to pick a favorite essay from I'll Take My Stand, but the lead essay by John Crowe Ransom, "Unreconstructed but Unregenerate," is a leading candidate. The essay spends ample time criticizing what Joseph Pieper condemned as the world of "total work,

Random Gin Thoughts Is it me, or do women drink "gin and tonic," whereas men drink "tonic and gin" (as in, "making love to his tonic and gin")? I've tried many types of gin since going on my gin kick two years

"A new report from sociologists has discovered the number one cause of prison overcrowding – the NFL."