Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Nagel My rating: 3 of 5 stars I can’t say I appreciate the very short nature of the book, contrasted with the vastness of the subject. It’s just not a good fit. The result is a book that does cover, in brief, a lot of important viewpoints on the nature of knowledge. But it is as hard to read as a dry, academic book of 500 pages because of its brevity.

Crito meets Socrates at the prison where he is being held. Socrates execution has been delayed for a while (because of an Athenian tradition), but it will likely be held the day after (this dialogue). Crito explains why he came: to persuade Socrates into fleeing Athens before he is executed, because “apart from being deprived of such a companion … I will also seem to … have been able to save you if I had been willing to spend money, but not to have cared” and suffer a shameful reputation amongst the ‘many’.

Four Texts on Socrates: Euthyphro/Apology/Crito/Aristophanes’ Clouds by Plato My rating: 3 of 5 stars I bought this to study the three Plato texts. The introductions were illuminating, and the translation seemed fine with explanatory footnotes where necessary. I don’t understand Greek and have only skimmed other translations, but it was understandable and what more can you really ask for? View all my reviews

Summary Socrates begins his speech by defending his manners in advance, and criticizing his opponents for the same. He contrasts his simple, unadorned, and even clumsy speech with his opponents’: deceitful and clever. In so doing, Socrates seems to assert that the truth can not be attractive, as if any attractive statement must therefore be false. He also contrasts his inexperience in court (this is his first time) with his opponents.

War by Bob Woodward My rating: 3 of 5 stars Nice book on current affairs. It reads like a novel and jumps around a lot; personally, I like the pacing, I didn’t read it too deeply, and basically skimmed through it like a news article. It is interesting, of course, since the issues discussed are still ongoing, but maybe that’s because I don’t keep in touch with Western news outlets and whatever so it’s all new to me.

How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between by Bent Flyvbjerg My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’d love to love this book. I’ve tried my hand at quite a few ‘pop’-social-science books this past year — the type a certain group on twitter love recommending — but none of them clicked with me.

Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness by Kenneth M. Pollack My rating: 4 of 5 stars Good book. Enjoyed the snippets of military history as well as the thesis. View all my reviews

The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner My rating: 3 of 5 stars Took a while to finish this, due to some circumstances, so my memory of it is patchy. It’s a simple and brief history of economic thought. It’s primarily character-based, surveying the major personalities of economic thought in years past, and briefly covers their contributions to economics in the abstract. Not very informative in that regards, but that’s not the purpose of the book.

Summary The dialogue begins with Socrates and Euthyphro providing us some background. Socrates is going to court because a ‘young man’ named Meletus has brought against him the charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. Socrates trial is not the focus of this dialgoue, however. (Euthyphro, 2a-3e) From 4a-e, Euthyphro explains why he is at court. One of his servants killed Euthyphro’s slave in a drunken fit, and Euthyphro’s father had him thrown into a ditch while he got a local priest.