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Plato having a conversation with himself, speaking on behalf of Socrates, as Socrates, with three author-biased interlocutors, trying to define the perfect society, "Kallipolis", and how it should be ruled. Turns out, it should be ruled by philosophers, or "philosopher-kings", as they're at the highest level of selflessness, knowledge and understanding, after 25+ years of mental molding, to be the ideal but reluctant politician.

Anyone with modern sensibilities can constantly see the frequent fallacies of his argumentation. Science-based they are not - rather, half-truths veiled in the guise of philosophy and therefore "truth". No matter how hard it tries to be impartial, and by the final appendix not at all, it's easy to see Plato's own biases in plain sight.

That being said, The Republic is an incredibly influential work and for good reasons; Plato puts in his brain cells to define, with his best understanding and intentions, what would make up the ideal state, using human well-being as the barometer. By modern standards, it's pseudoscience at best, but it's very thought-provoking and opens up a whole new world for classical literature and how you think of, approach or interpret modern displays of power and manipulation in the government. I would say it's fundamentally important to read this to understand where we are now as societies and why.

The Republic is "easy" to read in terms of structure and vocabulary - sort of - but it also requires truckloads of patience to understand and internalize some of Plato's allegories.

I'm sure you'll also enjoy, among many topics, the Allegory of the Cave - which originates from this book.

Everything about Columbus to the finest detail - and sometimes it's perhaps too fine. We don't know a lot about Columbus; often the data simply isn't available. It often sounds as if Morison is piecing together some blank spots with strong assumptions - too strong to be consistently convincing - but what do I know.

The writing is often quite technical due to Morison's background, and for better or worse (depending on the reader) it probably provides the most complete picture of Columbus and his journeys we could possibly have. It's not a book for thrill seekers, you read it to acquire the balanced, realistic and multi-faceted understanding of the four Columbus adventures.

I would highly recommend this as a reading experience to be able to discuss Columbus in a less one-dimensional manner. Morison himself was from a different time, back when voicing out your opinion in a colorful way seemed to be the norm. Instead of 'one-dimensional', he might prefer to call you 'dull-witted' instead. That might in fact be noteworthy, that this academic man, on occasion, calls people or their decisions essentially moronic. It may have been the thing to do almost a 100 years ago, now it tends to eat into one's authority.

How to rate your national poet's work? One would have to consider the historical significance also, if you're so inclined.

It's a collection of poems, meant to mold, improve and create the Finnish national spirit in the 19th century. The translation that I read is archaic language, thus hard to parse. If I should be blunt, it's war propaganda written by a priest no less, with frequent references to "blood", and glorification of one's sacrifice, during the Finnish War. However, there are also beautiful descriptions of the Finnish landscapes and nature.

There are many reviews here, most likely from students, who are half-forced to read this and may seem to find it quite the simple-minded bore. It seems more like a trend to despise everything to do with Finnish national pride with the youth these days. It's not that I particularly enjoyed the read, but I'd suggest to take a more open mind on these topics and try to approach the material more thoughtfully, instead of stressing out about your home work deadlines and therefore crucifying the work - which seems to often be the case.

There are moments of true beauty here, although I'm not so sure that the Finnish translation from the original Swedish is entirely without its flaws - though I haven't read the original - and would be quite useless at such attempt - even more so than with the archaic Finnish.

One could've easily seen this is as suitable propaganda for the Finnish Reds as well, as it's significantly targeting the lowest ranks, but it didn't quite suit the purposes, being anti-Russian imperialism.

Overall, while sometimes I had no idea what's going on, I found the themes quite repetitive and transparent propaganda, which is of course what you'd like to do to reach the masses. I understand the importance the material had in its time and it's historically somewhat interesting to go through at least once. I'm sorry for the past generations who I hear had to learn the entire content by heart; it's not worth of such commitment.

Despite how the content obviously has deeply resonated with Finns for understandable reasons, I'd say the material fails to speak to the modern audiences due to our current interconnectedness, a plethora of technological advancements and to a degree more nuanced understanding of the world. That is not to say we might not need a bit of primal behavior and morale boost from "The Tales of Ensign Stål", if, knock on wood, the world were to become more unstable.