NoodleFoodlers (E-mail) | Recent Comments NoodleCaboodle (Info) | Archives | Blogroll RSS Feed (Via E-mail) | OList.com
A daily dose of philosophical food for your noodle!

Friday, August 08, 2008 Values of Harry Potter By Diana Hsieh @ 12:38 AM I'm delighted to announce that Ari Armstrong's book Values of Harry Potter is now available for purchase. I read an advance copy of the book last month. I loved it. Here's my official endorsement of it. I've read all the Harry Potter novels multiple times, discussed them at length with friends, read essays analyzing them, and even published an essay of my own. Yet Ari Armstrong's Values of Harry Potter offered me a delightful array of fresh insights into J. K. Rowling's works. It offers fans of Harry Potter a unique opportunity to explore the core values of the novels, to discover why we find them so captivating and so inspiring. Readers will develop a deeper appreciation for Rowling's achievement in portraying life-loving, courageous heroes. They will discover compelling answers to any half-formed questions and doubts about the significance of her Christian themes. When I re-read the Harry Potter series -- as I'm eager to do again -- I will gain far more insight and inspiration from them than ever before, thanks to Values of Harry Potter. For a bit of a taste of the actual item, Ari has posted a PDF with extracts of the book on his web site. I recommend the book to all fans of Harry Potter, but particularly to people interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. You'll find much of interest in it -- much that you didn't notice on a first or second or third reading of the books. So go order your copy now! Labels: Fiction, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [0]    Tuesday, June 24, 2008 An Inspiring Story of Courage:"Infidel" By Gina Liggett @ 1:03 AM Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an extraordinary woman who grew up in an East African tribal-Islamic society, experiencing first-hand the endemic brutality and repression of the culture. By virtue of her courageous spirit and questioning mind, she freed herself and fled to the West. Her autobiography, Infidel, is a truely inspirational read. I've written a review of this book that was published in the March 2008 issue of American Atheist Magazine. You can read the review here. Labels: Recommendations   E-mail Gina Liggett    PermaLink ()    Comments [1]    Friday, June 20, 2008 Software Recommendation: EndNote By Diana Hsieh @ 1:27 AM Sometime early in graduate school, Paul recommended that I buy EndNote, a program for managing citations in writing. Since I've found it an invaluable time-saver, particularly for large projects like my prospectus and dissertation, I'm passing on the recommendation to other academics and writers. The program allows you to maintain a database of citations, easily insert them into your papers, and then format them in whatever format you want, e.g. Chicago 15th A. In addition to standard formats, you can customize existing formats or create your own. It handles parenthetical citations, footnotes/endnotes, and bibliographies. In addition, it allows you to make notes on sources, include keywords and abstracts, etc. So for my dissertation, EndNote has served as a master database of sources. So I know that I've skimmed, read, and/or taken notes on a source; I know what sources I need to review or read as I write each chapter; I know whether a source will likely be helpful. For me, EndNote is software that I cannot write without. The program is available for Mac and Windows. EndNote "X1" is a bit pricey: $110 for students and $220 for non-student educators from the Academic Superstore. However, I've found that it's well-worth the price. With every paper I write, the program has saved me enormous amounts of time in preparing citations and bibliographies. Labels: Academia, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [5]    Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Manassas Restaurant Recommendation? By Diana Hsieh @ 9:47 PM Paul and I will be visiting the Manassas Battlefield Park in Virginia this Sunday with my parents. Can anyone recommend a good and hearty but reasonably-priced restaurant -- say $15-25 per entree -- on Route 66 back to the Capitol Beltway? Somewhere along the Beltway north to the western end of the Metro Red Line (i.e. to Medical Center or Grosvenor-Strathmore stations) would also be fine, as my parents will be dropping us off at one of those stations. I wouldn't wish to travel more than a few miles from our main route. So... any recommendations? Labels: Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [0]    Saturday, January 05, 2008 Seasonique By Diana Hsieh @ 7:05 AM Sometimes Mother Nature is wise and wonderful. Sometimes she's a nasty old hag in need of improvement from modern medicine. Case in point: Seasonique. (Warning to the men: I'm about to discuss the female reproductive system. Steel yourself!) Seasonique is the birth control pill that produces only four periods per year, i.e. every three months. The research indicates that it's as safe and effective as monthly-cycle pills. I just finished my first three-month pack. I suffered absolutely no ill effects. From what my doctor told me, it's actually a lower dose of hormones than my prior pill (Ortho/Novum 135). This pill does not merely eliminate the hassle of the monthly period, this particular pill allows a woman to have more sex. And here at NoodleFood, we're all in favor of that. Hence, this post. Labels: Love/Sex, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [0]    Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Christmas Shopping By Diana Hsieh @ 9:24 AM From The Objective Standard: A subscription to The Objective Standard is the perfect gift for your active-minded friends and relatives. The journal presupposes no specialized knowledge and will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in cultural or political issues. (While supplies last, we can even provide recipients with the complete set of back issue.) You can give a gift of The Objective Standard via this gift subscriptions page, by mailing or faxing this order form or by calling 800-423-6151. The page on gift subscriptions also notoes: "Gift subscriptions can be given to institutions, such as libraries, too. And, although institutions pay the institutional rate, gifts to institutions are sold at the regular rate of $59 for a one-year subscription ($109 for two years). Promote your values widely; give liberally!" Labels: Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [2]    Sunday, September 30, 2007 We the Living By Diana Hsieh @ 12:43 AM I'm super-excited by the recent announcement from the Ayn Rand Bookstore that the audiobook of Ayn Rand's We the Living will be available on CD in October. Until now, it's only been sold on cassette. It'll be available on both regular CD and MP3 CD. The MP3 CD is just $45, whereas the regular CD is $120. I love We the Living intensely: Kira is the Randian hero/heroine with whom I most strongly identify -- by a long shot. So I'm really looking forward to listening to it. (I wonder if it will also be available for download via Audible. I hope so!) Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [3]    Saturday, August 25, 2007 Galt’s Speech Dissected and Discounted By Diana Hsieh @ 5:07 AM Onkar Ghate's excellent course A Study of Galt's Speech is currently half price from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. It's part of their big fire sale on audiocassettes. (I love cheap!) Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [3]    Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Red Pawn By Diana Hsieh @ 7:34 AM Last year, one of my favorite courses at OCON was Dina Schein's Savoring Ayn Rand's Red Pawn. Not only was it delightful to talk about my absolute favorite work of Ayn Rand's outside her novels, but Dina did an excellent job of taking us step-by-step through the literary analysis. Finally, it's available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. Hooray! Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [2]    Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Good Stuff and Awesome Stuff By Diana Hsieh @ 7:05 AM Registered users of the Ayn Rand Institutes's web site now have access to... The Ayn Rand Multimedia Library Thanks to an exclusive permission generously granted by the Estate of Ayn Rand, aynrand.org is now able to offer its registered users, free of charge, an expansive collection of Ayn Rand audio and video recordings. This unprecedented selection includes lectures, interviews, and the complete series of Ayn Rand's Ford Hall Forum lectures. The ARI Lecture Series: The Complete Video Collection On September 12, 2002, Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, inaugurated the ARI Lecture Series before a crowd of 600 with a lecture titled "9/11--One Year Later: Why America Is Losing the War!" Since then ARI speakers have delivered about six free public talks per year on topics ranging from ethics to foreign policy to history. As a registered user of aynrand.org, you now have access to the lecture portion of each of these talks. A complete selection of full-length video and audio recordings, including the Q-&-A sessions that followed, is available at the Ayn Rand Bookstore. The second is cool, but the first is simply awesome. I've listened to most of the recordings of Ayn Rand already. I particularly enjoyed the Ford Hall Forum lectures, for the reasons explained here. Even those well familiar with the in-print Objectivist corpus will likely find interesting tidbits to tweak their brains in these recordings. And, as I said about the Ford Hall Forum lectures, "those who wish for some small first-hand glimpse of the real Ayn Rand, undistorted by ax-grinding critics, will find these lectures to be an invaluable treasure." Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [5]    Saturday, February 10, 2007 Flemming Rose By Diana Hsieh @ 7:36 PM A while back, Ari Armstrong reported on Flemming Rose's December lecture in Denver. Even better, he posted the whole speech in MP3 format. Also, the full set of lectures from the fall 2006 Boston weekend conference "The Jihad Against the West" is now available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. That version of Flemming Rose's talk was definitely better than the one given in Denver. I really enjoyed talking to Flemming Rose while he was in Denver. He's a remarkable -- and very admirable -- man. Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [0]    Monday, January 15, 2007 Conservatism By Diana Hsieh @ 6:13 AM Hooray! Brad Thompson's excellent 2006 OCON lecture "Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea" is now available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. Here's the description: This lecture examines the intellectual history of the neoconservatives and their plan for governing America. Dr. Thompson introduces the neocons by tracing the evolution of their thought from their youthful Trotskyism in the 1930s to their anticommunist liberalism in the 1940s and '50s and finally to their development of a new kind of conservatism in the 1960s and beyond. The neoconservatives are generally regarded to be the most intellectually impressive faction of the post-war intellectual Right: they seem to take ideas seriously, they seem to be principled, they seem to support the principles of the American founding, and they seem to support capitalism. But, as Dr. Thompson demonstrates, behind their rhetorical facade, the neocons scorn principles, they scorn morality, they scorn capitalism and, ultimately, they scorn America. Despite their pro-American rhetoric and their appeals to, and defense of, America's ideals and institutions, Dr. Thompson demonstrates that the neoconservatives advocate singularly un-American principles: mysticism over reason, altruism over egoism, duty over rights, collectivism over individualism, socialism over capitalism, war and empire over peace and trade. Dr. Thompson's lecture focuses on the neocons' attempt to transform the Republican Party and the conservative intellectual movement into a permanent ruling majority, their pragmatic philosophical method, their advocacy of a conservative welfare state, and their attempt to turn America toward a form of Platonic republicanism. Ultimately, he argues, the neoconservatives are a threat to a free society. Audio CD; 2-CD Set: $21.95 (90 min., with Q & A) Also, someone recently pointed me to this conservative attack on Brad Thompson's excellent article "The Decline and Fall of American Conservatism" from The Objective Standard. The critic begins with some serious confusions about Thompson's basic position, plus some Divine Command Theory: "As always with libertarians, he offers a subjective philosophy rather than an objective set of standards for behavior, which is what morality requires and is why morality is dependent on God." More inanity ensues. And to top it off, the post ends with the following: "For all his talk of conservatism, there is nothing of America or its Judeo-Christian/Western inheritance that his egoism would conserve. This kind of extreme selfishness is the rot that has destroyed the rest of the West and conservatives do well not just to reject it but to fight against it tooth and nail." Well, at least he knows who his enemies are. Labels: Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [4]    Friday, August 18, 2006 Darryl-Wright-O-Rama By Diana Hsieh @ 9:52 AM It's Darryl-Wright-O-Rama at the Ayn Rand Bookstore. Dr. Wright's very fascinating -- albeit dense and technical -- lecture from the 2005 OCON has just been released: "Ayn Rand and the History Of Ethics" Can reason prescribe the ends human beings should seek in life, as well as the means to those ends? This has been a central question in the history of ethics, and it is also a central question in Ayn Rand's Objectivist ethics. This lecture explores Ayn Rand's view on this question, bringing out its distinctive and important features and contrasting it with some of the most influential historical views, including those of Aristotle and Hume. 100 min., with Q & A -- Audio CD; 2-CD set: $23.95 or Audiocassette: $19.95 This lecture is fascinating, but also quite dense and technical. So if you don't have some familiarity with the history of ethics, including the standard categories of "consequentialism" and "deontology" and the standard questions about ultimate values, then you'll probably have trouble understanding it. However, if you have those meta-ethical basics, you're sure to find it worthwhile. The lecture does have a particularly interesting discussion of how to think of Ayn Rand's metaethics inductively. That's helped me understand it better, since before it always had something of the feel of a floating abstraction. Dr. Wright's other lecture courses are also on sale -- 50% off! Bonus clearance sale: 50% discounts on four other Darryl Wright titles! Offer good through October 1, 2006 Reason And Freedom This course extensively analyzes Ayn Rand's groundbreaking principle that the mind cannot function under coercion--and uses this principle as a case study in philosophic methodology. Audiocassette; 6-tape set; 7 hrs., with Q & A -- Regular price: $79.95, Sale price: $39.95 Advanced Topics In Ethics This course develops new perspectives on key topics in the Objectivist ethics. It focuses on two broad issues: the significance of the fact that everyone acts on some philosophy, and the dependence of the concept "value" on the concept "life." Audiocassette; 5-tape set; 6 hrs., with Q & A -- Regular price: $68.95, Sale price: $34.45 The Philosophy of Motivation Is achieving a value equivalent to avoiding a disvalue? Is pursuing life the same as avoiding death? This course, given by Dr. Wright, explores Ayn Rand's important distinction between "motivation by love" and "motivation by fear." Audiocassette; 6-tape set; 7 hrs., with Q & A -- Regular price: $79.95, Sale price: $39.95 Modern Political Philosophy: Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau This course contrasts Hobbes' and Rousseau's arguments for political absolutism with Locke's intransigent defense of individual rights and limited government. Dr. Wright corrects standard misinterpretations (such as the assertion that Hobbes' theory is egoistic and pro-capitalist, or that Locke endorses altruistic limitation on property rights), and compares their views with those of Ayn Rand. Audiocassette; 6-tape set; 7 hrs.,with Q&A -- Regular price: $69.95, Sale price: $34.95 I can't say anything about Modern Political Philosophy: Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, since I haven't listened to it yet. However, the other three courses are excellent. I would particularly recommend Advanced Topics In Ethics first and foremost, then Reason And Freedom, then The Philosophy of Motivation. Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [0]    Thursday, August 03, 2006 Two Lecture Courses on Sale By Diana Hsieh @ 7:04 AM The Ayn Rand Bookstore is selling two of Leonard Peikoff's excellent lecture courses at a substantial discount: Induction in Physics and Philosophy By Leonard Peikoff These historic lectures present, for the first time, the solution to the problem of induction--and thereby complete, in every essential respect, the validation of reason ... (13 hrs., 42 min., across 7 sessions, with Q & A) Audio CD; 14-CD set: Regular price: $210 Sale price: $145 Audiocassette; 12-tape set: Regular price: $180 Sale price: $125 The Dim Hypothesis: The Epistemological Mechanics by which Philosophy Shapes Society By Leonard Peikoff This 15-session course--part lecture, part discussion--was presented live to a worldwide audience by phone and on the Internet. It is based on Dr. Peikoff's The DIM Hypothesis (book-in-progress), in which he looks at the role of integration in the culture and in practical life ... (22 hrs., 9 min., with Q & A) Audio CD; 30-CD set: Regular price: $310 Sale price: $215 Audiocassette; 15-tape set: Regular price: $265 Sale price: $185 The sale ends on October 1st. Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [35]    Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Virtue is Expensive By Diana Hsieh @ 7:01 AM Tara Smith's new book, Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, seems to be selling reasonably well, despite its painful price tag of about $80. The Ayn Rand Bookstore has sold out of copies for the moment. And its sales rank on Amazon has been amazingly strong for a book of that price for the past few days I've sampled: #14,903 on Saturday, #35,080 on Sunday, and #65,420 on Monday. I haven't had a chance to read it in full yet -- and I don't expect to do so for a few weeks. However, both Paul and I read the chapter on integrity for the 1FROG meeting this past Saturday. I thought it exceedingly well done. It was clearly and engagingly written with a good presentation of the core ideas, plus more fascinating little tidbits than I could count. As I was reading, the thought that stood out most clearly in my mind was that the chapter didn't just illuminate the nature, justification, and requirements of integrity in an abstract way. If a person reads it with an eye toward his own life, i.e. without sinking into detached rationalism, the chapter will help him practice the virtue of integrity better in countless ways in his own life. I expect similar delights from the rest of the book. For folks unable to afford the present hefty price tag, you might request that your (university) library purchase the book. Also, I strongly suspect a cheaper paperback to appear within the next year or so. However, if you can afford the current price tag, the book looks to be worth it. Labels: Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [11]    Thursday, February 23, 2006 An Update on Andy Bernstein Lectures By Diana Hsieh @ 2:58 PM As an update on this inquiry about the lectures by Andy Bernstein on sale at the Ayn Rand Bookstore this month, I thought I should mention that Andy was kind enough to reply to my inquiry. And based upon his recommendation, I've decided to buy: Kantianism vs. Objectivism in The Fountainhead -- Sale Price: $14.36 (List Price: $17.95) Ayn Rand's Characters as Philosophic Archetypes (Parts 1 & 2) -- Sale Price: $88.74 (List Price: $147.90) Atlas Shrugged as the Culmination of the Romantic Novel -- Sale Price: $14.36 (List Price: $17.95) Philosophic and Literary Integration in Atlas Shrugged -- Sale Price: $63.67 (List Price: $90.95) (I saved over $90!) I'm looking forward to listening to them, although I'll probably wait until I listen to The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. (I recently bought the unabridged audio books with my Audible subscription.) That might be a few months though, since I can't afford to lose myself in the pleasure of listening to Ayn Rand novels when I'm utterly swamped by graduate school. Labels: Announcements, Recommendations   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [2]

NoodleFoodlers Diana Hsieh Paul Hsieh Greg Perkins Paula Hall Guest NoodleFoodlers Gina Liggett Roderick Fitts Brandon Byrd Blog Stuff Recent Comments RSS Feed Posts by E-Mail NoodleFoodlers Archives Ask a Question Blogger Trackbacks Technorati Trackbacks Reader Map Objectivism OActivists E-mail List OBloggers E-mail List OAcademics E-mail List Ayn Rand Lexicon False Objectivism Collection The Objective Standard The Undercurrent FIRM (Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine) Ayn Rand Institute Ayn Rand Society DC Objectivist Salon Front Range Objectivism Good Stuff Diana's NetFlix Friends Paul Hsieh's GeekPress Meredith Brickell Ceramics The Balboa Experiment Blogroll GeekPress Politics without God We Stand FIRM Principles in Practice The Undercurrent Daily Improvisation Flibbertigibbet Gus Van Horn Rule of Reason Ari Armstrong Free Colorado Spark A Synapse Rational Jenn TUAW Mac Gems Mac OS X Tips O'Reilly Mac Blog Go Fug Yourself waiterrant.net Overheard at College Overheard in New York Whedonesque Volokh Conspiracy Marginal Revolution Little Green Footballs Instapundit.com Dynamist Blog Fly Bottle Joanne Jacobs Tim Sandefur Travels with Daisy Jamie's Travel Log Lifehacker 43 Folders Daytipper 3 Things Today LifeHack GTD in Academia DIY Life Steve Pavlina Thrutch Software Nerd Myrhaf Try Reason! Ms. Think One Reality Valzhalla Galileo Blogs 3 Ring Binder The Little Things Optional Values Wayne's Dirty Lab Lyle's Blog Robbservations Making Progress Applying Philosophy The Eleutherian Laureate Individualist Outlook Kindredist Erosophia Pedagogically Correct History At Our House Non-Trivial Pursuit Haight Speech TalkObjectivism The Edge of Reason Leitmotif Shaving Leviathan Philosopher Stone Rhyme of the Day Mudita Journal Shawn Klein Wall of Separation The Torch Capitalism Magazine Tom G Palmer Liberty and Power TheAgitator.com Positive Liberty Daily Dish EconLog Randex Talking To Myself Secular Foxhole Acid Free Paper Mike's Eyes Capitalist Lion The American Individualist Armchair Intellectual Literatrix Witch Doctor Repellent Benevolent Misanthropy Truth, Justice... Philosophical Detective Classical Values One Minute Case Francisco Gutierrez PhilosopherEagle noumenalself Ad Hoc Alexander Marriott KatieAllisonGranju.com Tightly Wound Cranky Professor Discriminations Leiter Reports Wickens.ca Stark Relief Passing Thoughts USS Clueless Anger Management Cox & Forkum Semper Vigilo Abandon Caution Purr Se Tom Rowland American Individualist peltz at hand Archives March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008