A sometimes touching but ultimately banal discourse by a father to his son, offering advice on how to get along in life. A bestseller in Savater's native Spain, this is a monologue to the author's son (whose name provides the book's title) on the question of ethics, which he defines as the freedom to choose and to realize what one is choosing. Like philosophers through the centuries, he asks how human beings, as moral agents, are to have a good life. The answer, he says, lies in making good decisions: recognizing that which we should truly want (i.e., that which is truly for our good) and then choosing it. The author advises his son on how he should treat others, that is, to put himself in their place—to have ``sympathetic justice'' or compassion for them. Like any good parent, especially one interested in ethics, Savater discusses sexual ethics, stating that much of the fuss made over so-called sexual immorality stems from innate human fear of pleasure. He then turns to political philosophy, writing that in a democracy, all citizens are politicians, directly or indirectly. The answer here, as it is in much of the volume, is to be accountable—but accountable primarily to oneself. In a brief epilogue, he tells the youth not to take the treatise too seriously. He should be interested in how to live the best possible life, but he must also know how to laugh and, above all, to make his own decisions. Savater draws examples from a wide variety of sources, from Aristotle to Citizen Kane. At the end of each chapter he provides a minilibrary of quotations from authors like Spinoza, Shakespeare, and John Stuart Mill. Almost all the ground covered has been better treated by others. The father/son conceit is reminiscent of St. Augustine's familiar ``De Magistro,'' of whose style Savater's will remind the reader.
Pub Date: June 7, 1994
ISBN: 0-8050-3271-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1994
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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