I am currently finishing up the audiobook version of The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles, and very much enjoying it.

Its exploration of Morality and Wisdom, as well as Magick, is brilliant and lots of fun to boot.

Highly recommended in these dark times,

Daniel

hi daniel,
"these dark times"

care to elucidate or do you mean the "headlines"?

cheers

tom

Tom, it's winter where Daniel lives, and during winter on the further ends of the hemispheres, daylight does not last as long and is not as bright.

hmmm.  maybe.

By dark times, I mean many things:

Global political instability, the re-arising of abject fascism as a mainstream political movement in the US and many European countries, the staggering debts of many countries (including the US), the decimation of the middle class and lower classes by ever shrinking portions of the economic pie, the depletion of world resources, the destruction life in the oceans, the ever-rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere, the threat that current crises in the Middle East threaten to drag large numbers of countries into complex assymetrical wars, the proliferation of nuclear weapons into the hands of people even crazier than, say, those who run the US, and I could go on and on and on.

Still, check out the book or audiobook: simply fantastic stuff.

Here in Norway, it is literally "dark times", haha! And good times as well, since Christmas is nearing. And though the layers of consumerism get thicker and thicker, still there is occasionally shining through all that: Christmas Spirit.

hi daniel,
yes dark times indeed.  i thought that (partial list) is what you were referring to.

"even crazier than, say, those who run the US",  that is a high bar indeed.

question:  do you see the majority (or any) of the items in your list as a result of complex bumbling or as a result of intentional manipulation?

so.  i will definitely check out the audio. thanks for the link.

tom

Thanks for the book recommendation! I started it yesterday and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'd been devouring some brilliant but dark reading material the past few months--Hannah Arendt, Ernest Becker, Elias Canetti--but the recent terrorist attacks have put me in the mood for lighter fare. This is perfect and timely, as lately I've also been reflecting on my first experiences with meditation as a teenager experimenting with Wiccan practice. I've long since moved on from that tradition, but I'll aways be grateful for what it taught me. As a pissed off little anti-authoritarian, the rule of three was an excellent place to start in forging a personal moral code. 

Funny, I've been an occasional lurker on this site for years, but never really felt compelled to add to the discussion. Thanks for all the info, guys, sorry to be such a creeper!