I have been reading. I am ignoring the dummies.
I finished Andrew Jackson 225 p. (Robert Remini) Henry Clay, The Essential American 492 p. (David, Jeanne Heidler) All the Colors of the Dark 608 p. (Whitaker) this year. I keep The Federalist Papers paperback open on the desk. It is a puzzle to read, but fun to decrypt. I use CoPilot AI for everything from dictionary to teacher. It increases my comprehension but greatly lengthen the time it -takes to read a book. I do not read. I study. On average I can work through 30-60 pages of non-fiction per day.
I have read fiction but I do not prefer it. All the Colors of the Dark was an excruciating read for 272 pages, and then it got interesting. I only felt I was consumed by the book once. The rest of the time it was a laborious read. My daughter encouraged me to join a book club. “Let someone else pick out the books you read,” she said. “You might learn something new.”
She was correct. I did learn something. I learned that All the Colors of the Dark was one of the worst books I have ever read, but through perseverance and a strong commitment, I finished. Truly, a miserable book.
I dumped Facebook and Instagram. Today, I dumped Bluesky. I may write about social media later. What I have to say won’t change anything. I am just happy to be free of the illusion that the internet promotes socializing or individual media. It does neither.
Corporations own everything because corporations persist. Individuals die. I am unique among 8,100,000,000 people on Earth (we have that in common), but the Earth is not sustained by its uniqueness. Sameness wins the battle every time. Uniqueness is a precious flower. I guard it.
I will write more. Writing makes me happy.
I have almost finished reading James Buchanan 143 p. Jean Baker. I have started a few other books in order to preview where I might go next. Trita Parsi’s Treacherous Alliance, the Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S. 284 p. Yale University, rips the sheets off the bed on page one! I read three chapters with little effort and much interest. Very readable.
I have Roger Lowenstein’s America’s Bank, The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve on the book cart of “Will Read Next” books. I hope to read several more biographies, then conclude the nineteenth century with Karl Rove’s book on President McKinley and tariffs. In order to better understand the world of Thomas Jefferson, I am reading Paul Cartledge’s Democracy A Life as a prelude to readings by Isocrates and Demosthenes, which provided the moral basis for democracy.
For most of my years I believed the Framers read Gibbon’s Rise and Fall to study and learn why the Roman Empire fell. I thought that was required reading. Only after reading Henry Clay’s biography and after many discussions with AI, did I learn the Framers were more concerned with Greek history, and their creation of democracy. The Romans were Democracy’s first politicians. The Greeks were Democracy’s philosophers and creators. This has revealed a void in my learning and I am enjoying how Greek history is realigning my understanding.
I will not be able to read all the wonderful books I have purchased through the years. At last count, there are 1,500 in the house in three rooms. I feel a deep sadness when I see how little I know about the world; books sitting idle for want of a reader. I love reading Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy, and Voltaire’s Letters. I also have Thomas Jefferson’s Writings. I only use them for casual reading.
My goal is to read the more important biographies from Jackson to McKinley so I can more fully understand the history and creation of the Federal Reserve. I find biography to be the better lens through which to see history. The past is better revealed through narrative than periodicals. But the primary reason to read is for enjoyment. There are no fast rules about what to read. I am retired now. I am learning to focus on what retirement means for me. It takes time to learn that. It is different for everyone, is my guess.
Reading and writing is a good way to finish this life. I am very excited to have time to attend to those activities as I avoid the dummies who run the world.