Will Buckingham

"I give you my son...may you and the holy saints do with him what you will", 31 December 2015

This review is from: The Descent of the Lyre (Kindle Edition)
I was immediately caught up in this story, right from the introduction where the reader is invited up a vividly described forest path in the Bulgarian Rhodope Mountains to a chapel. Among the frescos is an image of a saint, his wrists bandaged and a guitar over his shoulder.
The story of the (fictional) saint, Ivan Gelski, is beautifully show more told; from his youth under the brutal Ottoman regime, taking him across Europe. The reader sees parallels (at times) with Christ; elsewhere with Orpheus, the musician of mythology whose home was in this part of Bulgaria.
Utterly different and beautiful; a recommended read. show less

Happiness: A Practical Guide by Will Buckimgham.

I picked up this book which was bright yellow with a happy face on it that seemed to be advertising a practice “how to” approach.
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We see a tritis on happiness in multiple forms, we see happiness is subjective
Happiness is defined as Endymion Istic happiness as a pleasure and happiness as flourishing.

Psychology, positive psychology, social scientists, various philosophers, ethics, scientists, utilitarianism, religion, show more cultural, etc.

Thoughts: this was an enjoyable, funny at times and educational. This had interesting exercises to use that helped flesh out more of what was covered in the chapters.

Why finished this read: I was drawn in from the beginning definitions, this book was packed with diverse and interesting things on happiness and I didn’t want to miss anything. show less

A compendium of sketches, 1 to 6 pages each, of the work of 108 of the world's philosophers from 700 BCE to the present, plus a "directory" of one-paragraph descriptions of 59 additional philosophers. One striking thing, to my mind, is how "dark" the period from 250 CE to 1500 CE really was, with most Western philosophy being religion-drenched junk -- the Renaissance and Age of Reason arrived not a moment too soon. As far as relatively recent philosophy of science is concerned, there are no show more parts delving into interpretations of quantum physics or the concept of structural realism. Another shortcoming, I'd say, is the relentless referencing of centuries "ordinalistically" (e.g. "the 18th century" instead of "the 1700s") -- just because a practice is standard and commonplace doesn't mean it isn't also annoying and perverse. show less

The Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia are remote, not particularly easy to get to and are often overlooked and ignored by outsiders and travellers. For Will Buckingham though, they seemed perfect, even more so when he found out about the sculptors who lived there. Cobbling together a research fund he became an anthropologist in training and started to make his way out there.

He had in mind finding three sculptors, Matias Fatruan, Abraham Amelwatin, and Damianus Masele. Each of them had a show more particular set of skills in their carving and to discover the cultural references that help define their art. It was a world that still had its roots deep in their past even though the modern world had tried to push and pull them in different directions. Their art is something that they saw cannot be taught to anyone as each sculpture is as much the work of the ancestors as it is the work of the craftsmen.

The title of the book comes from a conversation that he has with Fatruan. He accuses people like Buckingham, of being one of those that come and enquire about all aspects of their lives and culture, but who can never fully understand them because they do not have the same deep links with the ancestors that are all around them.

It is a culture that has been mostly suffocated by the catholic religion, but if you know where to look then you can still see glimpses of the earlier traditions still shining through. He is prepared to stay with the villagers and get to know the people at a much deeper level. This closeness to the villagers has its own problems, he gets very ill and is treated as a Tanimbarese would be by using herbal medicines and witchcraft. One of the things that he learnt from this trip, is that he does see just how much of a problem a visiting anthropologist can cause to a society. He learns as much about himself as he does about the three sculptors that he is visiting. He is a talented writer and this book is full of evocative descriptions of the villages that he is living in and the people that he meets on his day to day routines. Well worth reading if you want to discover a little more about this part of the planet. show less