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August 05
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Jon
is currently reading:
The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East (Paperback)
by Abraham Rabinovich
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August 03
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Jon
gave
to:
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (Paperback)
by George Berkeley
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my rating:
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read in June, 2008
Jon said:
"Decided to reread this for the first time since college, and ended up getting a surprising amount out of it on my own. In response to Locke's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Berkeley sought to overcome metaphysical and epistemological skeptic...more
Decided to reread this for the first time since college, and ended up getting a surprising amount out of it on my own. In response to Locke's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Berkeley sought to overcome metaphysical and epistemological skepticism by claiming that "mind" is the only substance in existence, and that the external world is essentially a collection of accidents incidental to the mind (be it individuals' minds or God). By discounting the possibility of abstract ideas, Berkeley cleverly tried to outmaneuver Locke by reducing appearances of "external things" from ideas brought before the mind to ideas brought about by the mind. In so doing, he sought to overcome skepticism by making it impossible for the external world to have any substantive existence in-and-of-itself. Hence, "esse est percipi" (being is perceiving). Overall, Berkeley deserves high praise for making an honest and concerted attempt to do away once and for all with the problems inherent in philosophical skepticism, but his greatest contribution was incidental, as he further paved the way for Kant's attempts to reconcile the continential essentialists (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz) with the English empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, Hume)....less
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Jon
gave
to:
The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace (Hardcover)
by Aaron David Miller
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Jon said:
"Despite being excessively anecdotal and meandering at times, Miller's book is useful and interesting on several accounts. First, he provides one of the best available outlines of the history of America's role in Arab-Israeli peace processes, especial...more
Despite being excessively anecdotal and meandering at times, Miller's book is useful and interesting on several accounts. First, he provides one of the best available outlines of the history of America's role in Arab-Israeli peace processes, especially the Carter-Sadat-Begin Camp David negotiations, as well as the Baker-Arafat-Rabin Madrid and Oslo processes. Second, he details his personal role in the recent and ongoing roles in the frustrated Wye River and Camp David negotiations between Clinton, Assad, Arafat, and Barak in the late 1990s (as well as his role in the Bush administration's half-hearted peace process/road map efforts in 2002). Additionally, Miller gives a brief prescriptive outline for future US efforts at Arab-Israeli peace which provides surprisingly little insight given Miller's background. On a side note, Miller has been accused of being one of "Israel's lawyers", but if he is, this book certainly doesn't reflect any bias. In fact, The Much Too Promised Land is probably one of the most even-handed books on such a touchy and polarizing subject....less
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Jon
is currently reading:
Kant's Life and Thought (Paperback)
by Ernst Cassirer
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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July 21
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Jon
is currently reading:
A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People (Paperback)
by Steven Ozment
bookshelves:
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Jon
gave
to:
Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present (Hardcover)
by Michael B. Oren
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Jon said:
"Not as good as Oren's other book I just read (Six Days of War), but very interesting nonetheless. Conceptually dividing the history of America's relationship with the greater Middle East into categories of power, faith, and fantasy, Oren tells how th...more
Not as good as Oren's other book I just read (Six Days of War), but very interesting nonetheless. Conceptually dividing the history of America's relationship with the greater Middle East into categories of power, faith, and fantasy, Oren tells how these three interrelated factors shaped America's presence in--and attitude(s) toward--the region. Although Oren covers much of this multifaceted history, including the relatively unknown aspects of American interests in the Middle East before WWI, he seemingly hurries through the post-WWI period in the last 200 pages (while devoting 400+ to the admittedly less eventful pre-WWI period). Furthermore, in the post-WWI sections of the book Oren tends to emphasive the Jewish/Israeli aspects of America's relations with the Middle East much more than the Arab. While this doesn't skew one's overall perspective on the topic (Oren's simply too good and objective a historian for such biases), it would nonetheless be nice to have more space devoted to issues such as the Sadat-Carter relationship, the Iran-Iraq war, and America's involvement in the Arabian peninsula. Overall, this book is definitely worth reading, especially for its portrayal of America and the Middle East between 1776 and 1914....less
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July 17
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Jon
gave
to:
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (Paperback)
by Michael B. Oren
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Jon said:
"Oren's book focuses on the diplomatic and strategic--as opposed to operational and tactical--aspects of the "earthquake" in Middle East and superpower politics. Although sufficient attention is devoted to the internal debates within the mil...more
Oren's book focuses on the diplomatic and strategic--as opposed to operational and tactical--aspects of the "earthquake" in Middle East and superpower politics. Although sufficient attention is devoted to the internal debates within the militaries of the states involved, Oren is best when describing the decision-making underpinning the decisions leading up to and trying to end the war, especially the Egyptian and Israelis. Easily the best book on the Six Day War....less
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July 12
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Jon
gave
to:
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan (Hardcover)
by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
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my rating:
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read in August, 2006
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Jon
gave
to:
The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq (Paperback)
by George Packer
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my rating:
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read in October, 2007
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July 07
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Jon
gave
to:
Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (Hardcover)
by Robert L. Beisner
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my rating:
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read in May, 2007
Jon said:
"Beisner does a good job of portraying Acheson's pivotal roles in several defining events of the postwar world: the Iran, Greek, and Turkish crises in the late 1940s, the formation of European and transatlantic security institutions, the creation and ...more
Beisner does a good job of portraying Acheson's pivotal roles in several defining events of the postwar world: the Iran, Greek, and Turkish crises in the late 1940s, the formation of European and transatlantic security institutions, the creation and rearmament of West Germany, the loss of China to the communists, and the outbreak and prosecution of the Korean War. Acheson's relationship with Truman is especially well-documented. ...less
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