required reading
As a starting point for this blog, I think it is necessary to provide some background for what work I've found inspirational for my own worldview and how I think about the world. I find myself needing to grapple with these, in places where my perspective now deviates. Do not take the below as endorsements, as readers may be quick to assume I'm a west-coast Straussian, an anarcho-capitalist, or reactionary centrist given the below.
Philosophy
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
Singlehandedly got me to stop doing college libertarian activism, a phrase which still makes me cringe.
Natural Right and History by Leo Strauss
Still the best defense of the idea of Natural Right, defended from a non-religious perspective.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
The most important work on metaphysics and philosophy of science for my worldview.
Political Economy
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard
While a milquetoast welfare-state capitalist now, I think Rothbard's descriptive analysis of what the state is, and what it isn't, remains fully accurate, even if I think the men with guns are inevitable now.
The Machiavellians by James Burnham
The best summation on practical skepticism towards democracy.
After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
Likely the best book on our current philosophical malaise and where we may go from here.
Leisure and Recovery
Slack, Bring Back the Sabbath, Sabbath Commentary by Zvi Mowshowitz; Sabbath Hard and Go Home by Benjamin Hoffman
Ideally in this order, this collection of essays provides some context within which someone may structure a weekly day of rest in an overconnected, overconsumptive world.
Tobacco and the Soul by Michael P. Foley
Insofar as one smokes, I wish to orient it towards the good. This essay provides some initial direction towards one's practice with tobacco and nicotine.
How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price
In my ongoing attempts to use consumptive technology less, this is a fun, practical manual to making your phone a tool and not a depression-inducing nuisance.