Author: Andrew Hui
Aphorisms — or philosophical short sayings — appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? How do religious or philosophical movements arise from the enigmatic sayings of charismatic leaders? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more.
With clarity and precision, Hui demonstrates how aphorisms — ranging from China, Greece, and biblical antiquity to the European Renaissance and 19th century— encompass sweeping and urgent programs of thought. Constructed as literary fragments, aphorisms open new lines of inquiry and horizons of interpretation. In this way, aphorisms have functioned as ancestors, allies, or antagonists to grand systems of philosophy.
Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, the history of the book and the history of reading, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on what it means to think deeply about this pithiest of literary forms.
Andrew Hui is associate professor of humanities at Yale-NUS College, Singapore. He is the author of The Poetics of Ruins in Renaissance Literature.
What We Are Reading Today: A Theory of the Aphorism
What We Are Reading Today: A Theory of the Aphorism
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Birds of the Tropical Andes’
Authors: Owen Deutsch & Michael J. Parr
Spanning much of the western part of South America, the Andes are home to some of the world’s most magnificent birds, from exquisite hummingbirds to fabulous flamingos.
This beautifully illustrated large-format book celebrates the splendor and extraordinary diversity of Andean birds and the habitats they depend on.
It draws on the latest findings from the field and sheds light on the lush alpine and forested terrains that make this avifauna so rich and plentiful.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Paper: Paging Through History’
- Each papermaker refined their formula to allow ink to glide but not soak, creating sheets that were durable and portable
Author: Mark Kurlansky
“Paper: Paging Through History” by Mark Kurlansky, published in 2016, is a sweeping, detailed chronicle of how paper, arguably one of humanity’s most versatile inventions, traveled from its origins in ancient China across continents and centuries to reshape civilizations.
Kurlansky, an American journalist known for his deep dives into everyday materials, traces how humans moved from parchment and silk to mulberry bark and linen rags.
Oral narrators once carried knowledge across generations; paper allowed that information to outlive them.
Each papermaker refined their formula to allow ink to glide but not soak, creating sheets that were durable and portable.
The watermark, made from a simple wire design, left a faint imprint that branded the paper. That part was owned by the papermaker, not the paper mill, and customers began choosing paper based on those marks.
Paper was introduced to Europe by Arabs, who brought refined papermaking techniques to the continent. Europeans initially hesitated to adopt paper widely because oral tradition was the preferred way to share important stories; they felt that writing it down cheapened its value.
Over time, through trade and cultural contact in regions like Andalusia and along the Silk Road, paper gradually gained acceptance and became widely used.
Kurlansky delves into how the use of paper birthed various industries. It offered people with an entrepreneurial spirit the ability to make a living.
Papermakers changed the art world, too, with the introduction of special papers, such as watercolor paper.
Paper also shifted the world of journalism: Broadsheets, magazines, pamphlets, almanacs and, of course, books became more widely available at a lower cost. Yesterday’s newspaper would also be reused to line things like bird cages or to wrap food with.
It helped popularize things like playing cards, wrapping paper, wallpaper, paper fans, greeting cards and paper money, and lent itself to important medical, legal and political documents, such as the US Declaration of Independence.
“Paper: Paging Through History” was such a captivating read that I often paused to reflect, and I told everyone around me about the book. One moment that stood out was the 19th-century French campaign in which women were encouraged to donate their old handkerchiefs and linen to papermakers, as it might one day return to them in the form of a love letter.
Today, paper remains a vital medium where thoughts, plans, and dreams are recorded.
It might seem mundane, but in an increasingly digitized world, its ability to let a narrative stand the test of time is history itself, like this very book.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Life’s Devices’ by Steven Vogel
Life on Earth is subject to the pull of gravity, the properties of air and water, and the behavior of diffusing molecules, yet such physical factors are constraints that drive evolution and offer untold opportunities to creatures of all sizes.
With an illuminating foreword by Rob Dunn, this Princeton Science Library edition of “Life’s Devices” includes examples from every major group of animals and plants along with illustrative problems and suggestions for experiments that require only common household materials.
What We Are Reading Today: Ridding the World of Landmines
- Afghanistan and Angola are two of the countries, among other nations, with a large number of landmines
Authors: Kjell Bjork
This book offers a study on how global treaties can be used to establish successful national programs concerned with mine action programs, focusing on the capacity of world governments to implement the convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.
Afghanistan and Angola are two of the countries, among other nations, with a large number of landmines.
This book sets out to answer the research considering the disparate levels of success among countries committed to implementing the Mine Ban Treaty, according to a review on goodreads.com.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Laminar Flow Theory’
- The Navier-Stokes equations, first derived in the 18th century, serve as an accurate mathematical model with which to describe the flow of a broad class of real fluids
Author: P. A. LAGERSTORM
Fluid mechanics is one of the greatest accomplishments of classical physics.
The Navier-Stokes equations, first derived in the 18th century, serve as an accurate mathematical model with which to describe the flow of a broad class of real fluids.
Not only is the subject of interest to mathematicians and physicists, but it is also indispensable to mechanical, aeronautical, and chemical engineers, who have to apply the equations to real-world examples, such as the flow of air around an aircraft wing or the motion of liquid droplets in a suspension.
