AP

Little to much editorializing but the author is obviously well versed in the thought of each thinker. What was valuable for me was how each thinker’s ideas were consistently linked to the structuralist project.

Indispensable.

Some good stuff but yea a bit too academic. Wasn’t so interested on debates about hardness and impenetrability or what books Locke read and in which year. Later essays were best.

Emphasis on the “towards” part of the title, expect some significant and pedantic restating of ideas from Kant and Marx. It’s good but not really what I’m looking for in such a book. The last chapter he finally gets to the material history and its fine.

Nice combo of political and military history of the empire. I don’t care so much for military history but for such a militaristic empire it makes sense to read a military history. Highly readable and rarely gets bogged in minutiae.

Over-theorized but still has some good analysis.

Upper Austrians are weird stereotype confirmed

Easily one of the worst history books I have ever read. Embarrassingly bad, close to being slop but not quite since there are a few interesting facts and an attempt at theorization. Its such a broad period so serves me right for trying to cheat and get an overview over widely different times, places and people. Atlaic bullshit, needless reminders about how recently nation-states were invented and failed comparisons to Rome are just the tip of the iceberg.

Excellent.

Lesson learned: marry your sister instead of your daughter

That anecdote from Silvestrov about Pärt saying he wished he had written Bésame Mucho made the book. Overall a pretty good mixture of music theory, history and cultural analysis.