Here's an excerpt from a good series on Montaigne the Guardian UK ran last year, written by Sarah Bakewell, who just published a well received book on Montaigne: To take just one example of how we can derive wisdom from Montaigne: his Essays give us a wealth of anecdotes exploring ways of resolving violent confrontations. As a teenager in Bordeaux, Montaigne had witnessed one Continue Reading …
Beverly Cleary on the Moral Improvement of Children
As I read books to my kids (and listen to them in the car to keep them from beating on each other), I look for the message of the stories. Are they learning the Tao of Pooh? The heavy handed Christianity of Narnia? The LSD lessons of Lewis Carroll? Of late, we've made our way through five or six books by Beverly Cleary, author of books about Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, The Continue Reading …