- \n
- I read Eleanor Nesbitt’s\u00a0Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>. I knew little to nothing about Sikhism apart from the so-called 5 Ks before reading the book, and really enjoyed learning more. Guru Nanak seems quite impressive:
\nGuru Nanak instructed his Sikhs to get up early, before dawn, to bathe, and then meditate during this amrit vela<\/em> (ambrosial time). Guru Nanak\u2019s formulaic summary \u2018nam dan ishnan<\/em>\u2019 (meditate, give, bathe) adds the necessity of generosity (AG 942). Another more recent formulation commands Sikhs: \u2018nam japo, kirat karo, vand chhako<\/em>\u2019 (meditate, work, and share the proceeds). This threefold mnemonic is the basis of Sikh ethics. Life should be lived meditatively, industriously, and generously.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- I followed that with Damien Keown’s Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>. Flagged a bit for me in later chapters, but overall quite interesting. Keown was the founder and former co-editor of the\u00a0Journal of Buddhist Ethics<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n
- I also read Owen Davies’\u00a0Paganism: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>. A bit longer than the other books, but admirably covered a fairly enormous scope with admirable brevity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Longform Journalism<\/h2>\n
Here’s the best of the online nonfiction writing I read in June:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Tim Gorichanaz’ meditations for\u00a0The Smart Set<\/em><\/a> on what constitutes a library.<\/li>\n
- Cathy O’Neil’s short piece for Bloomberg<\/a> articulating some fairly simple reasons we should be wary of the motives of tech companies.<\/li>\n
- Michael Dirda writing in the Washington Post<\/em><\/a> about changing views of the Midwestern United States.<\/li>\n
- Jack Schneider’s \u00a0guest post for the Washington<\/em> Post<\/a>\u00a0about some of the problems with single number ‘school grades’ that many homebuyers rely on to rate the quality of schools in prospective neighborhoods they’re thinking of living in.<\/li>\n
- Margaret Morales writing for the Sightline Institute<\/a> about zoning and its impact on housing segregation, using the specific example of Seattle.<\/li>\n
- Our friend Megan O’Gieblyn writing in the\u00a0Boston Review<\/em><\/a> about the deterioration of Midwestern\u00a0waterways (and the Great Lakes especially).<\/li>\n
- Anders Fjellberg writing for Norwegian newspaper\u00a0Dagbladet<\/em><\/a> about the quixotic, charming, tragic story of Anders J. Smedsvik.<\/li>\n
- Megan McArdle writing for\u00a0Bloomsberg<\/em> about economic mobility in Utah and the role of the LDS church’s welfare practices.<\/a><\/li>\n
- Chuck Collins interviewing\u00a0Brooke Harrington in The Nation<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>about her recent book outlining some of the problems with wealth management as it’s practiced globally for the very, very rich.<\/li>\n
- Vann R. Newkirk II’s article in\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em><\/a>\u00a0about Medicaid’s role in ending de jure segregation in the United States.<\/li>\n
- Bryan Stevenson writing in the NYTRB<\/a> about blackness and policing injustices in America.<\/li>\n
- It had been sitting in my Pocket queue for 9 months, but I finally read Jordan Kisner’s utterly fascinating article in the Guardian<\/a> about Loretta Mayer and Cheryl Dyer’s efforts to render rats sterile. Worth it just for the opening five paragraphs. Wow!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Featured Image: “Reading”<\/a> by Andy Roberts.\u00a0
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-inject\/images\/cc.png?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Books The good news? I read a lot for my dissertation in June 2017. Even better news? Much of it was pleasurable (at least for me)–a lot of “Objectivist” poetry, biographical material on Williams and Zukofsky, and histories of late 1920s-early 1930s little magazines. I won’t list any of it here, since I’m saving these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[16,17,18],"class_list":["post-6198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reading","tag-books","tag-literature","tag-reading"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/8515538001_4a12feab52_k.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Steel Wagstaff","author_link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/author\/steel\/"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/8515538001_4a12feab52_k.jpg?fit=1022%2C688&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/8515538001_4a12feab52_k.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd6z5D-1BY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6298,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-october-and-november-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":6198,"position":0},"title":"My October and November Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"November 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last reading update, I mentioned that I had read the first book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. Since then, apart from reading for my dissertation, that's pretty much\u00a0all\u00a0I've read. I just finished\u00a0The Yellow Admiral, which means that I've read 18 of the 21 books (one left unfinished at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bollard, Photos by Clark","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/35332790134_ebb6938e70_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/35332790134_ebb6938e70_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/35332790134_ebb6938e70_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/35332790134_ebb6938e70_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/35332790134_ebb6938e70_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6078,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-november-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":6198,"position":1},"title":"My November 2016 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"December 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Books My reading pace slowed a bit in November (the US elections and their sad aftermath have provided me with lots of avenues for distraction and worry), but I still managed to keep up my love affair with books, though I picked a fair amount of duds this month. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm Reading"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm Reading","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Books","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/liwf2uhxs0q-annie-spratt.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/liwf2uhxs0q-annie-spratt.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/liwf2uhxs0q-annie-spratt.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/liwf2uhxs0q-annie-spratt.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/liwf2uhxs0q-annie-spratt.jpg?fit=1200%2C704&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6188,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-april-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":6198,"position":2},"title":"My April 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"May 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books My leisure reading of books slowed down a bit in April, as I continued getting sucked into lots more longform than I had intended and, on a happier note, did a lot more reading for my dissertation (good news!!!). Here's some of what I read last month for pleasure.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm Reading"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm Reading","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead moles on a fence in Yorkshire.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2464682583_75238b8f03_b_moles-yorkshire.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2464682583_75238b8f03_b_moles-yorkshire.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2464682583_75238b8f03_b_moles-yorkshire.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2464682583_75238b8f03_b_moles-yorkshire.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6117,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-december-2016-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":6198,"position":3},"title":"My December 2016 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"January 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books As the year limped its way to a close, I tried to keep up my torrid reading pace. I slowed down considerably from my October\/November frenzy, and spent a lot more of my free time reading and writing on dissertation related topics (hi, Objectivist poets!) but still managed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm Reading"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm Reading","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6177,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-march-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":6198,"position":4},"title":"My March 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"April 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books If March had a theme for me, I suppose it would have been 'Occupy'? I may be several years late to the movement, but most of what I read this month seemed to have been written by someone involved in the Occupy protests and movements of the past half-dozen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm Reading"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm Reading","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The People's Library","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/6253846737_e626eed66f_b.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6155,"url":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/my-january-and-february-2017-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":6198,"position":5},"title":"My January and February 2017 Reading","author":"Steel Wagstaff","date":"March 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Books My leisure 'book' reading continued to slow over the past couple months, and I haven't had as much time for this blog, so I'm going to roll my January and February reading recap into a single post. Here's what I read for pleasure (i.e. not for work or for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Convergence, Long Room, Trinity College","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/14153958438_d3b3869add_k.jpg?fit=1100%2C717&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6202,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198\/revisions\/6202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelwagstaff.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Cathy O’Neil’s short piece for Bloomberg<\/a> articulating some fairly simple reasons we should be wary of the motives of tech companies.<\/li>\n
- I followed that with Damien Keown’s Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>. Flagged a bit for me in later chapters, but overall quite interesting. Keown was the founder and former co-editor of the\u00a0Journal of Buddhist Ethics<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n