tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post8863749181749151126..comments2024-01-23T17:14:04.067-05:00Comments on Jaltcoh: Challenging the premise of "the books that have influenced me the most" memeJohn Althouse Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-28531199521147545412010-03-23T17:59:38.073-04:002010-03-23T17:59:38.073-04:00Oh, but the authors in my list don't concentra...Oh, but the authors in my list don't concentrate on "public affairs, not the private individual." That's why I thought you might have been referring to the bloggers/journalists who influenced Klein.John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-20035713285393790212010-03-23T17:18:20.402-04:002010-03-23T17:18:20.402-04:00Yours, plus some I glanced at from theirs. I did s...Yours, plus some I glanced at from theirs. I did see one respondent who mentioned "Dune" -- a dreadful novel.Richard Lawrence Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01951947957345891398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-32125047086468432172010-03-23T13:05:47.403-04:002010-03-23T13:05:47.403-04:00Do you mean the writers in my list or Klein's ...Do you mean the writers in my list or Klein's or Yglesias's?John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-18487590625757318542010-03-23T12:42:50.110-04:002010-03-23T12:42:50.110-04:00The writers you cited concentrated almost entirely...The writers you cited concentrated almost entirely on the intellect and, more narrowly, on public affairs, not the private individual.Richard Lawrence Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01951947957345891398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-63378283972881770402010-03-23T10:13:11.911-04:002010-03-23T10:13:11.911-04:00I don't know that "who one is" actua...I don't know that "who one is" actually denotes anything beyond one's thoughts, feelings, and actions.John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-688341612089584532010-03-23T10:09:19.477-04:002010-03-23T10:09:19.477-04:00"...books that influenced my thinking about m..."...books that influenced my thinking about my thinking...."<br /><br />These responses are all about thinking. But as you say in a later post, what about books influencing who one is -- books about being (And I don't mean "Being and Nothingness.") <br /><br />Or maybe I'm asking too much. Maybe the intellect is what books most legitimately influence. Being emotionally influenced by a book can be a big mistake. Untold numbers of smart people have been led into misery or delusion by great writers: Kafka, Dostoevsky, Salinger, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung...and on and on. <br /><br />By not by Shakespeare or Chekhov!Richard Lawrence Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01951947957345891398noreply@blogger.com