Recommended Reading

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” - Dr. Seuss

As a child, my father and I would visit our local library each Saturday. We would walk in with the stack of books we finished last week and walk out with a new stack. The following weekend, we would do it all over again. As a result, I grew up with a passion for reading.

The love of reading is something that should be shared. Therefore, in this post, I will mention two books I highly recommend.

Pursuits of Wisdom: Six Ways of Life in Ancient Philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus Paperback by John M. Cooper

Cooper’s Pursuits of Wisdom is the best book I’ve ever read about the classic Hellenistic philosophers. I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s a must-have for the library of anyone interested in philosophy.

Description on Amazon:
This is a major reinterpretation of ancient philosophy that recovers the long Greek and Roman tradition of philosophy as a complete way of life--and not simply an intellectual discipline. Distinguished philosopher John Cooper traces how, for many ancient thinkers, philosophy was not just to be studied or even used to solve particular practical problems. Rather, philosophy--not just ethics but even logic and physical theory--was literally to be lived. Yet there was great disagreement about how to live philosophically: philosophy was not one but many, mutually opposed, ways of life. Examining this tradition from its establishment by Socrates in the fifth century BCE through Plotinus in the third century CE and the eclipse of pagan philosophy by Christianity, Pursuits of Wisdom examines six central philosophies of living--Socratic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean, Skeptic, and the Platonist life of late antiquity.

The book describes the shared assumptions that allowed these thinkers to conceive of their philosophies as ways of life, as well as the distinctive ideas that led them to widely different conclusions about the best human life. Clearing up many common misperceptions and simplifications, Cooper explains in detail the Socratic devotion to philosophical discussion about human nature, human life, and human good; the Aristotelian focus on the true place of humans within the total system of the natural world; the Stoic commitment to dutifully accepting Zeus’s plans; the Epicurean pursuit of pleasure through tranquil activities that exercise perception, thought, and feeling; the Skeptical eschewal of all critical reasoning in forming their beliefs; and, finally, the late Platonist emphasis on spiritual concerns and the eternal realm of Being.

Pursuits of Wisdom is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding what the great philosophers of antiquity thought was the true purpose of philosophy--and of life.

The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Ronald Hutton

Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon is THE definitive account of the rise of Neopaganism. This is a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a pagan or interested in the subject.

Description on Amazon:
Modern pagan witchcraft is arguably the only fully-formed religion England has given the world, and has now spread across four continents.

This second edition of The Triumph of the Moon extensively revises the first full-scale scholarly study of modern pagan witchcraft. Ronald Hutton examines the nature and development of this religion, and offers a history of attitudes to witchcraft, paganism and magic in British society since 1800. Its pages reveal village cunning folk, Victorian ritual magicians, classicists and archaeologists, leaders of woodcraft and scouting movements, Freemasons, and members of rural secret societies. We also find some of the leading figures of English literature, from the Romantic poets to W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence and Robert Graves, as well as the main personalities who have represented pagan witchcraft to the public world since 1950. Thriller writers like Dennis Wheatley, and films and television programmes, get similar coverage, as does tabloid journalism. The material is by its nature often sensational, and care is taken throughout to distinguish fact from fantasy, in a manner not previously applied to most of the stories involved.

Meticulously researched, The Triumph of the Moon presents an authoritative insight into an aspect of modern cultural history which has attracted sensational publicity but has hitherto been little understood. This edition incorporates new research carried out by the author as well as research by others who have been inspired by this book over the twenty years since its first publication.