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Second reading.

Wow! I'm blown away by this horrible story from the end of the second world war. It is told by a woman who goes through extreme lengths to survive. As the russians take Berlin she adapts and learns russian, all the while reflecting on the events in an intense prose.

The work consists mainly of Mises critique of several views on history, mostly the materialist view.

"The story of Great Britain's commercial coinage is, above all else, as John Roger Scott Whiting puts it, "a story of the initiative of local authorities, companies and individuals in the face of state ineptitude""

"[...] the only point of a childhood is that it leads to manhood, and [...] the only point of education is to teach the child to transcend himself" Interesting read, quite inspiring too. One feels encourage to read more of the classics, although the author often uses several different authors to argue the same point.

An interesting, albeit a deeply flawed, work.

"We experience life as a continuity, and only after it falls away, after it becomes the past, do we see its discontinuities. The past, if there is such a thing, is mostly empty space, great expanses of nothing, in which significant persons and events float"

Interesting. Its essay-like prose has me enthralled. Cole weaves together his main characters (Julian) perception: a mix of memory, philosophy and thoughts on a variety of topics.

I have a hard time agreeing with Kirk when he for example writes that "[during the middle ages] the feudal West engaged in the enormous adventure and tragedy called the Crusades." How is this religious war anything but a tragedy? He also seems to take a positive view of the feudal society and indeed describes it as "free". The serfs are not slaves, but serfs bound by the land. Whats the difference? They have religion

Interesting. The FED was established as a lender of last resort in 1913 (as an american version of the Bank of England). One difference being that the FED is privately owned, intended to be a private-public partnership with semiautonomous, privately funded reserve bank supervised by a public board.

"[...] as the world leaves us, we pursue it; as it collapses we cling to it. And since we cannot uphold it, as it falls we fall with it; we fall with that to which as it falls we cling." - Pope Gregory.

So far I am unimpressed by Kirk. Kirk gives a shallow description of different important period of western civilization.

Knausgård begins his analysis of Hitler by reviewing the work of Klemperer, a professor who's famous diary sheds a light on life inside the third reich. Interesting.

Mises defines liberalism in terms of private property, indeed almost symonous with capitalism but within the political realm. I find Mises a bit too drastic in his characterisation of liberalism and his treatment of idealogical opponents lacks moderation.

Interesting. Knausgård is comparing different authors with each other and develops his views on what it means to be an "I". The "I" is a purely social construction and cannot be understood outside of it. To develop this idea he delves into mysticism, sociology and an analysis of a poem by Paul Celan.