Like a computer’s operating system, or the brain’s default mode network, I always like to be engaging with a philosophy book in my day’s “brain background.” (And by engaging with, I mean physically engaging with: marking up, highlighting, dog-earring, and scribbling upon.)
This winter, I am having some difficulty choosing my next default mode book. A.C. Grayling (@acgrayling) is a fabulous writer, and he is able to make complex topics understandable. I suspect his 340 page book, The Frontiers of Knowledge will be difficult for me to put down, potentially making it a distraction from my daily work projects.
On the other hand, The Oxford Handbook of Causation, at a whopping 767 pages, isn’t going to be a weekend read—it’s going to have challenging content that will I will undoubtedly struggle with ( half the fun!); however, it does cover a subject I have been interested in for years, in reference to several of my key subject areas: philosophy, medicine, and physics.
So, which way to go?
I am not sure, but I am thinking this may be one of those times to deep-read in parallel.