Well, here we are, almost a year since I have posted on this
blog. As usual, I will apologize. But I will also explain myself. For several
years, one things that has been a serious obstacle to keeping up with this blog
has been work: the demands of my professional life have made it difficult to
find the time or maintain the energy to contribute to this blog up to a standard
I like to hold for myself.
But over the past few years another – equally serious –
obstacle has emerged: I work in a university. Moreover, I work in what is the
most left-wing university in my country. Universities today have become the most
intolerant environments one can find in what used to be called the free world.
And for me, someone of a conservative disposition, this means that it has become
a dangerous place. I am in the ideological closet, by necessity. There is a
very real fear that something appearing on this blog, however anodyne by
current standards of online political discourse, could make my career untenable.
This has had an effect on the content of the blog. In the
old days I explored political ideas and put forth opinions here that I dare not
do now. Instead, I find myself to have mainly adopted the persona of the
harmless antiquarian. This keeps me out of trouble. But I must admit, blogging
is simply not as much fun anymore. It does not give me the kind of release
I used to appreciate from blogging.
So I will be re-thinking whether The Spectacled Avenger is
still a viable project. I have this post, and about three more lined up, so we’ll
see how it goes after that. Now, to the post…
As is the custom, I give below the list of books I read during
the previous year, with ones I particularly enjoyed in bold. In terms of
patterns, it looks like I read a fair amount of 17th-century English
prose (Bacon, Browne, Cudworth, Donne, Felltham, John Smith). The Scottish
Enlightenment was also well-represented (Hutcheson, Kames, Robertson, Adam
Smith).
* * * * *
ANONYMOUS. The
Parliamentary Register; or History of the Proceedings and Debates of the House
of Commons (Vol. XVII). London: J. Debrett, 1785.
ANONYMOUS. Quoniam
Attachiamenta. T. D. Fergus (ed. and trans.). Edinburgh: Stair Society,
1996.
BACON, Sir
Francis. The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall. London: John
Haviland, 1625 (facsimile, Menston, UK: Scolar Press, 1971).
BENTHAM, Jeremy. An Introduction to the Principles of
Morals and Legislation. J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart (eds.). London:
Athlone Press, 1970.
BOLINGBROKE, Henry St. John, Viscount. Letters and
Correspondence, Public and Private (Vol. IV). Gilbert Parke (ed.). London:
G. G. and J. Robinson, 1798.
BOURINOT,
Sir John George. Parliamentary Procedure and Practice in the Dominion of Canada
(3rd edition). Toronto: Canada Law Book Company, 1903.
BROWNE,
Sir Thomas. The Works of Sir Thomas Browne (Vol. II: Pseudodoxia Epidemica).
Geoffrey Keynes (ed.). London: Faber and Faber, 1964.
BUCHANAN,
James M. and Gordon TULLOCK. The Calculus of Consent (Selected Works of
Gordon Tullock, Vol. 2). Charles K. Rowley (ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Liberty
Fund, 2004.
BUCHANAN,
James M. and Richard E. WAGNER. Democracy in Deficit: The Political Legacy
of Lord Keynes (Collected Works of James M. Buchanan, Vol. 8).
Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 2000.
BURKE,
Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: J. Dodsley,
1790.
COUPLAND,
Douglas. Player One: What Is to Become of Us (CBC Massey Lectures).
Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2010.
COUPLAND,
Douglas. Life after God. New York: Washington Square Press, 1994.
CUDWORTH,
Ralph. A Treatise of Freewill. John Allen (ed.). London: John W. Parker,
1848.
DAVIES,
Robertson. The Rebel Angels. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1983.
DONNE,
John. Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. Anthony Raspa (ed.). Montreal
and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1975.
DRURY, John
(ed.). The New Testament: The Authorized or King James Version of 1611.
New York: Everyman’s Library, 1998.
DRYDEN,
John. The Works of John Dryden (Vol. V: The Works of Virgil in English,
1697). William Frost and Vinton A. Dearing (eds.). Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 1987.
DRYDEN,
John. The Works of John Dryden (Vol. VI: The Works of Virgil in English,
1697). William Frost and Vinton A. Dearing (eds.). Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 1987.
ERSKINE
MAY, Thomas. A Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of
Parliament. London: Charles Knight & Co., 1844.
FELLTHAM,
Owen. Resolves: Divine, Morall, Politicall (3rd edition).
London: Henry Seile, 1628 (facsimile, Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,
1975).
FIELDING, Henry. A Journey from This World to the Next.
London: Everyman’s Library, 1973.
FRANCIS,
Philip. The Letters of Junius. John Cannon (ed.). Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1978.
FRONTO,
Marcus Cornelius. Correspondence
(Vol. II). C. R.
Haines (trans.). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1929.
GALBRAITH,
John Kenneth. The Great Crash, 1929. Boston: Mariner Books, 1997.
GASKELL,
Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1972.
GELLIUS,
Aulus. Attic Nights (Vol. III). John C. Rolfe (trans.). Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1993.
GROSSMAN,
Dave. On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and
Society. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
HAYEK,
Friedrich A. The Road to Serfdom (Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, Vol. 2).
Bruce Caldwell (ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
HAYEK. Friedrich A. The Constitution of Liberty.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
HAYEK,
Friedrich A. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (Collected Works of
F. A. Hayek, Vol. 1). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
HODDER,
Edwin. The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, K. G. (Vol. I).
London: Cassell and Company, 1886.
HODDER,
Edwin. The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, K. G. (Vol. II).
London: Cassell and Company, 1886.
HODDER,
Edwin. The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, K. G. (Vol.
III). London: Cassell and Company, 1886.
HUTCHESON,
Francis. A System of Moral Philosophy (Vol. I). Glasgow: R. and A.
Foulis, 1755 (facsimile, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1969).
JUSTINIAN. The
Digest of Justinian (Vol. 1). Alan Watson (ed.). Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.
KAMES,
Henry Home, Lord. Sketches of the History of Man (Vol. II). James A.
Harris (ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 2007.
KATZ,
Arthur M. Life after Nuclear War: The Economic and Social Impacts of Nuclear
Attacks on the United States. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company,
1982.
LOYSEAU,
Charles. A Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities. Howell A. Lloyd
(trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
LUCIAN. Works
(Vol. VII: Dialogues of the Dead, etc.). M. D. Macleod (trans.). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1961.
MANDEVILLE,
Barnard. The Fable of the Bees: Or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits (Vol. I).
F. B. Kaye (ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924.
MENCKEN, H. L. Prejudices: First, Second, and Third
Series. New York: Library of America, 2010.
MENCKEN, H. L. Prejudices: Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth
Series. New York: Library of America, 2010.
MILEVSKY,
Moshe Arye. The Day the King Defaulted: Financial Lessons from the Stop of
the Exchequer in 1672. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
MISES,
Richard von. Probability, Statistics and Truth. New York: Dover
Publications, 1981.
MUSONIUS
RUFUS. That One Should Disdain Hardships: The Teachings of a Roman Stoic.
Cora E. Lutz (trans.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2020.
NARVESON,
Jan. The Libertarian Idea. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press,
1988.
PINCOURT,
Charles and James LINDSAY. Counter Wokecraft: A Field Manual for Combatting
the Woke in the University and Beyond. Orlando, FL: New Discourses, 2021.
POPE,
Alexander. The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems (Poems of Alexander Pope,
Vol. II). Geoffrey Tillotson (ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1962.
POPE,
Alexander. An Essay on Man (Poems of Alexander Pope, Vol. III-i).
Maynard Mack (ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1964.
RAND,
Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Plume, 2005.
RICARDO,
David. On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Piero Sraffa
(ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951.
ROBERTSON, William. The Works of William Robertson, D.
D. (Vol. I: History of Scotland). London: Cadell and Davies et al.,
1817.
ROBERTSON, William. The Works of William Robertson, D.
D. (Vol. II: History of Scotland). London: Cadell and Davies et al.,
1817.
ROBERTSON, William. The Works of William Robertson, D.
D. (Vol. III: History of Scotland). London: Cadell and Davies et al.,
1817.
ROBERTSON, William. The Works of William Robertson, D.
D. (Vol. IV: History of the Reign of Charles V). London: Cadell and Davies et
al., 1817.
RUSKIN,
John. Præterita and Dilecta. New York: Everyman’s Library, 2005.
SCHELLING,
Thomas C. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1980.
SCHOPENHAUER,
Arthur. Essays and Aphorisms. R. J. Hollingdale (trans.). Harmondsworth,
UK: Penguin, 2004.
SHAFTESBURY,
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men,
Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. III). Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 2000.
SHAKESPEARE,
William. The Tempest. John Munro (ed.). London: Eyre and Spottiswoode,
1958.
SHAKESPEARE,
William. Richard the Second. John Munro (ed.). London: Eyre and
Spottiswoode, 1958.
SHAKESPEARE,
William. Titus Andronicus. John Munro (ed.). London: Eyre and
Spottiswoode, 1958.
SHELLENBERGER,
Michael. San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities. New York: Harper,
2021.
SMITH, Adam. Essays on Philosophical Subjects.
London: T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, 1795 (facsimile, Hildesheim: Georg Olms,
1982).
SMITH,
John. Select Discourses. London: W. Morden, 1660.
SPARTIANUS,
Aelius et al. Scriptores Historiae Augustae (Vol. I). David Magie
(trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
THOMPSON,
Sir D’Arcy Wentworth. On Growth and Form (abridged edition). J. T.
Bonner (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961.
THORSRUD,
Harald. Ancient Scepticism. Berkeley: University of California Press,
2009.
TOCQUEVILLE, Alexis de. Democracy in America (Vol. I).
Phillips Bradley (ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
TOCQUEVILLE, Alexis de. Democracy in America (Vol. II).
Phillips Bradley (ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
WILLIAMS,
Bernard. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University press, 1985.
WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig. Private Notebooks, 1914-1916.
Marjorie Perloff (ed.). New York: Liveright Publishing, 2022.
WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig. Zettel. G. E. M. Anscombe and
G. H. von Wright (eds.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967.
WORTLEY
MONTAGU, Lady Mary. Letters. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1992.