Previously: The Seven Lamps Project (Introduction) In my previous post about the Seven Lamps Project. I mentioned that I’d be reading through each chapter and hopefully summarizing each as a blog post. This is meant to help me absorb and wrestle with the material, since I’m forced to put it in to my own words (other than quotations of course). The end goal is to synthesize this work with the practice of software architecture.

I’m starting a new project that I expect to take a while. I’d like to do a very careful reading1 of John Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture, taking notes with a mind towards eventually synthesizing and harmonizing Ruskin’s views of physical architecture with a conception of software architecture. This isn’t the first time I’ve read the book. My previous reading was casual and mostly consisted of reading it before bed on a Kindle (a poor way to do analysis during reading).

Sertillanges speaking about “hard science” in The Intellectual Life — Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods: The sciences, without philosophy, discrown themselves and lose their direction. The sciences and philosophy without theology discrown themselves more lamentably, since the crown they repudiate is a heavenly one; and they go more irremediably astray, for earth without heaven cannot find the path of its orbit, nor the influences that give it fruitfulness. And a continuation of the previous quote:

Often times I read multiple books at the same time. I usually always have a book in progress on my kindle, one on my desk, and another floating around somewhere between my nightstand or day bag. While I can’t say that this makes my reading any faster, one thing it does do is give me an opportunity to compare different things books say, or in the case of books on a particular area of philosophy, understand their particular philosophical application as it pertains to situations in another book.

I know I haven’t written much here recently, most of it has been going into my physical commonplace book. I have, however, taken some time to update my quotes page with some of the quotes pulled from books and articles that I’ve recently read. A lot of these get written down in my commonplace book as I draw connections (either in writing or sometimes in drawing) between different sources. Without context or reading some quotes may not be as useful to others, but there is beauty in wordplay regardless.

I think this quote sums up my feelings about social media, and especially about political discussions on social media: … the masters smile at you with superior assurance, but death is in their hearts. They tell you they suited the apparatus to the circumstances, but you notice that from now on they can only suit themselves to the apparatus. — Martin Buber in I and Thou Which happens to coincide with this quote from another book I recently finished:

Blogging, it has been pointed out, is in decline. I agree with Alan Jacobs in hoping for a blogging renaissance, I don’t think it’s likely to come, at least not in the format he (and I) want it to come. In his recent post on the subject he writes: I am still hoping for a Blogging Renaissance, but lately I’m thinking that one necessary element of a true renaissance will be to get the readers of blogs on the same page as the writers.

Months ago I finished Alan Jacobs’ book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. I found the book to be incredibly enlightening, and I believe it is a well researched and fascinating look at the lives of its five main protagonists. While slightly academic, I recommend it for anyone interested in Christian responses to the philosophical and cultural underpinning of World War II. There was, however, a nagging thought that has been itching at the back of my mind for the last nine months since finishing it.

Earlier this week I read an article by Esther O’Reilly about Jordan Peterson being a “Noble Pagan”. While this particular commonplace book entry isn’t necessarily about Peterson specifically, it covers something she mentions related to Peterson’s raison d’être that caught my eye [emphasis hers]: In actuality, Peterson’s entire project rests on his view of the world as a forum for action. So quit play-acting and start acting, he exhorts. Set your house in order.

I’m working my way through “A House for My Name” by Peter J. Leitbart. It recently comes highly recommended from a few different sources1. I’m really only at the beginning of the book, but I wanted to share an interesting bunny trail that a particular passage led me on. On page 532, Leitbart states If you want to return to the Garden [of Eden], you have to travel west, and moving east is moving away from the Garden.