In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero, Duke of Milan, is ousted by his brother and exiled to an island. With the help of a friend, Prospero manages to take with him his beloved library.
Prospero, like his creator, lived in a time when boundaries between disciplines were not as rigid as they are today. Prospero's books would have dealt with the cosmos—spiritual and material, inner and outer—as a whole.
In this blog, I try to do the same. I'm not Prospero, just a student rummaging through his library and writing in the margins. Prospero's Books is a blog about seeing the world as a whole, by looking at
Welcome! Please join the conversation.
—Kenneth W. Davis
(Note: Although I admire Peter Greenaway's film Prospero's Books, this blog is not directly about that film. )
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Karmen, at Chaotic Utopia, has posted one of her best-ever "Friday Fractals," an Earth-like planet she has formed by plugging a just-right seed number into a fractal formula. She writes:
As I toyed with the different settings, I couldn’t help notice how such intricate beauty was born out of chaos. Now, I could be speaking of the fractal, or of our planet. I’ll let you decide.
(Please check out the video she has posted, of the fractal Earth being formed.)
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Stuart Kauffman: Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion
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Harriett Hawkins: Strange Attractors: Literature, Culture and Chaos Theory
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Michael Frayn: The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe
The playwright and novelist on the role of human beings in the cosmos.
Philip Davis: Shakespeare Thinking
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Desmond Graham: After Shakespeare
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Paul Davies: Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life
A new take on the "anthropic principle," suggesting that "life, and ultimately consciousness, aren't just incidental byproducts of nature but central players in the evolution of the universe." The Prospero's Books 2007 Book of the Year.
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Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
A scientist's passionate effort to demonstrate "why there almost certainly is no God," fundamentally flawed by the author's insistence on defining religious language simplistically.
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh: The Elixir and the Stone: The Tradition of Magic and Alchemy
From the Holy Blood and Holy Grail authors, a fairly objective (so far; I'm 100 pages in) history of Hermeticism.
Leonard Smith: Chaos: A Very Short Introduction
I love this series, so I was excited to see this book (the 159th) added. It's good writing, and Smith helpfully draws examples from a wide range of subject areas.
William Dietrich: Napoleon's Pyramids
A historical thriller, recommended by Jay, a regular reader of this blog. Thanks, Jay!
Rainer Maria Rilke: Rilke's Book of Hours
Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy's beautiful translation of one of my favorite books of poems.
Christopher Hodapp: Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C.
A witty and well-researched survey by my friend and lodge brother Chris Hodapp.
Colin McGinn: Shakespeare's Philosophy: Discovering the Meaning Behind the Plays
A philosopher's fascinating and clearly written review of six plays: Dream, the four great tragedies, and the Tempest.
Jeff Hoke: The Museum of Lost Wonder
A truly wonderful graphic book about life, the universe, and everything. Includes cut-out models. The Prospero's Books Book of the Year for 2006.
John Gross, ed.: After Shakespeare: An Anthology
A fascinating collection, with commentary, of "writing inspired by the world's greatest author."
Geoff Ward: Spirals: The Pattern of Existence
A survey of the spiral and its three-dimensional cousin, the helix, in art, ritual, life, the universe, and everything.
John L. Brown and Cerylle A. Moffett: The Hero's Journey: How Educators Can Transform Schools and Improve Learning
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Frances A. Yates: The Art of Memory
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Jill Line: Shakespeare and the Fire of Love
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James Gleick: Chaos: Making a New Science
I've been rereading parts of this 1987 book, which first introduced the concept of chaos to a wide reading public. It's an even better book than I remembered.
Harold J. Morowitz: The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex
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Steve Berry: The Templar Legacy: A Novel
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Martin Lings: Sacred Art of Shakespeare: To Take Upon Us the Mystery of Things
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The Colours of Infinity: The Beauty, and Power of Fractals
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Kurt Brown, editor: Verse & Universe
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John Allen Paulos: Once Upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories
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Fred Adams: Origins of Existence: How Life Emerged in the Universe
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Rowan Williams: Writing in the Dust: After September 11
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Sandy Eisenberg Sasso: Naamah, Noah's Wife
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Dava Sobel: The Planets
An entertaining history of humanity's relationship with the Solar System, "through the lens of popular culture."
Anthony Stevens: Jung: A Very Short Introduction
A highly readable introduction, part of a series I've found excellent before.
Kim Zetter: Simple Kabbalah
The best short introduction of several I've read, especially in this unabridged reading by Theodore Bikel.
Stephen Trimble: The People: Indians of the American Southwest
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Richard Smoley: Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy
An entertaining and engaging survey of gnostic traditions.
Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams: The View from the Center of the Universe : Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos
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Ervin Laszlo: Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos : The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality
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Stephen Greenblatt: Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
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Anonymous: Meditations on the Tarot
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