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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1009 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on The Eternal Dissident: Rabbi Leonard I. Beerman and the Radical Imperative to Think and Act.

It seems strange that a Rabbi would proclaim himself agnostic and have his first sermon be about how Adam ought to have eaten the whole fruit of knowledge and not just part of it, but I have to agree with the introduction that there is an authenticity to it. Beerman, if he is to be believed, was inspired by the Spinozan God-as-nature idea, and argued that authentic doubt can be a religious stance.

The tropes fit perfectly into today's leftism: social justice, activism, inequality, racism, oppression, but these things must have made a different impression before Current Year. Various dubious aspects pepper the narrative, like support for the Rosenbergs. If there's one thing I've taken away from it, it is the reminder that I'm not exactly a church-goer myself, and that perhaps a renewed study of my relation to God is in order.

The Nutmeg of Consolation.

Its hard to read these books, knowing the series is coming to an end. Where do I go from here?

Suppose Hornblower is the obvious next suggestion, but the question is whether you want something in the same niche or something in the same spirit. The former is easy to find, the latter is hard.

I guess I like the same spirit. Like an overarching series of interesting characters just doing their thing and growing over time. Its also kind of low stakes which is fine.

I might go and check out Hornblower or Sharpe next and see what comes of it unless I get a better suggestion.

Have you read The Baroque Cycle?

The Baroque Cycle

No, but I do like Neal Stephenson from Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, so I'll look into it. Thanks.

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