Books of the decade

By Mark Vernon on Friday, December 11 2009, 17:10 - General - Permalink

Choosing them is all the rage at the end of the noughties. Here're three with a philosophical bent. Any other suggestions?

On Religion, John Caputo This book appeared in 2001. Had those folk who waged battle in the God wars of the decade read it first, we might have had a more informed debate. Caputo aims to do a difficult thing: define religion. He does so with great verve, seeing that at heart, religion is a form of love – for good or ill.

The Athenian Murders, José Carlos Somoza It is rare for a novel to combine the excitement of the thriller with the insight of great philosophy. Umberto Eco manages it, and Somoza does too, in a plot that starts with an apparently minor conundrum and ends up engaging nothing less than the secret of knowledge itself. Brilliant.

The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Fantastical Journey Around Your Head, Raymond Tallis I read this book whilst taking a long train trip, and it was so engaging that when I got off, I’d swear I saw the world in brighter colours. Tallis combines the science of the body with the philosophy of consciousness and, pulling no punches, produces a truly remarkable exploration of what goes on with our heads.

Mark Vernon

The blog might be thought of as the first draft of what I've been thinking about, seeing, hearing and reading.

I am an English writer, journalist, and author, used to be a priest in the Church of England, live in South London, and am an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College, London. I am a founding member of The School of Life.

Do leave comments or contact me.

Comments

1. On Saturday, December 12 2009, 18:42 by Ian CHRISTIE

SUM - by David Eagleman, 2009
40 short stories about 40 different kinds of afterlife - funny, alarming, profound and all cleverly directing our attention at the end back to our lives here and now. As brilliant as anything in Borges or Calvino.

THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE WOLF, Mark Rowlands - brilliant weaving of philosophical reflections with memoir of life with a pet wolf in Ireland, France and America.

2. On Monday, December 14 2009, 09:42 by Mark Vernon

Entirely with you on Mark R's book. Don't know the other - yet.

3. On Tuesday, December 15 2009, 04:43 by James P Ward

Entirely with you on Eagleman's book SUM -- easily the best book I've read this year. If I understand correctly, he's going to give a sermon at School of Life in mid-2010. I'm keeping an eye on the schedule page for that.

4. On Wednesday, December 16 2009, 11:05 by Chris

Taylor's "A Secular Age" changed my life. While it's absurdly over-long, I would single this out as an exceptional philosophy book from the last decade.