An incredible work with much attention to detail and about as exhaustive as could possibly be without being Tolkien himself.
It's a reference book, for sure, so I haven't read it cover to cover, but I read all the prefatory materials, and have made extensive use of it for a paper I have been working on. (The Kindle version makes searching much easier!) Highly recommend for any Tolkien scholars interested in knowing what the professor (most likely) read or at least referred to.
Reviews and Comments
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Curtis rated The Pursuit of the Pankera: 4 stars
The Pursuit of the Pankera by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In the book Zeb, Deety, Hilda …
Curtis rated Trail of Lightning (1) (The Sixth World): 4 stars
Curtis rated Battle Ground: 4 stars
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #17)
"HARRY DRESDEN, CHICAGO'S ONLY PROFESSIONAL WIZARD, COULD BE ITS LAST Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long …
Curtis rated A Memory of Light: 4 stars
A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson (The Wheel of Time, #15)
Since 1990, when Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time® burst on the world with its first book, The Eye of …
Curtis rated Towers of Midnight: 4 stars
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson (The Wheel of Time, Book 13)
Towers of Midnight is a fantasy novel by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. It is the sequel to the novel …
Curtis rated Crossroads of Twilight: 3 stars
Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #10)
Crossroads of Twilight is a fantasy novel by American author Robert Jordan, the tenth book of his The Wheel of …
Curtis rated The Path of Daggers: 3 stars
The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #8)
From Publishers Weekly The eighth book of Jordan's bestselling The Wheel of Time saga (A Crown of Swords, etc.) opens …
Curtis rated A Crown of Swords: 3 stars
A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #7)
A Crown of Swords is a fantasy novel by American author Robert Jordan, the seventh book of The Wheel of …
Curtis rated The dragon reborn: 4 stars
The dragon reborn by Robert Jordan (Wheel of time ;)
El Dragón Renacido Libro 3 de La Rueda del Tiempo. tomado de La Rueda del Tiempo Wiki [link text][1]
Este …
Curtis reviewed Tolkien's Library by Oronzo Cilli
Review of "Tolkien's Library" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Curtis reviewed The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #2)
Review of 'The Great Hunt' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Forget Rand and co., I want more Bayle Domon.
Curtis reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan ([The wheel of time ;)
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. …
Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Figured I should start the series before the show comes out. Honestly, liked it better than I was expecting, given how long it's been out and the expectations that have been built up over the years. There are a lot of books left though…
Curtis rated The Farthest Shore: 4 stars
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
A young prince joins forces with a master wizard on a journey to discover a cause and remedy for the …
Curtis reviewed The Philosophy of Joss Whedon by Dean A. Kowalski
Review of 'The Philosophy of Joss Whedon' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Some good essays on various aspects of how Whedon's stories handle various philosophical ideas, areas of study that always intrigue me.
I have two relatively minor complaints. One is that a number of the essays cover the same ground, in particular existentialism and ethics. Granted, there is probably plenty to say on these topics, but there are few essays in this collection that don't mention either Nietzsche, Aristotle or Kant, and more than one mentions all three. Plato gets his share as well; the Ring of Gyges story pops up in several essays to make pretty much the same point multiple times. Props to those essayists who branch out into other areas, such as Amy H. Sturgis, who brings in Frederick Jackson Turner and Isaiah Berlin.
The second complaint is that some of the essays simply don't go deep enough, and a couple even seem to ignore obvious (to me) …
Some good essays on various aspects of how Whedon's stories handle various philosophical ideas, areas of study that always intrigue me.
I have two relatively minor complaints. One is that a number of the essays cover the same ground, in particular existentialism and ethics. Granted, there is probably plenty to say on these topics, but there are few essays in this collection that don't mention either Nietzsche, Aristotle or Kant, and more than one mentions all three. Plato gets his share as well; the Ring of Gyges story pops up in several essays to make pretty much the same point multiple times. Props to those essayists who branch out into other areas, such as Amy H. Sturgis, who brings in Frederick Jackson Turner and Isaiah Berlin.
The second complaint is that some of the essays simply don't go deep enough, and a couple even seem to ignore obvious (to me) examples that could make a stronger argument. As an example, in the final essay on the Dao of Firefly, Roger P. Ebertz does some work to bring in evidence from extra materials, including deleted scenes from the show Firefly and the canonical comic, Serenity: Better Days. However, in looking at Shepherd Book and contrasting him to Mal's character, he completely fails to reference the equally canonical Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale, which came out more than a year before this book of essays was published.
All in all, though, this is a good resource for anyone interested in Whedon's work and the philosophical questions he asks through it.