My Library Tour 2024 | Part 1

[@marco_acpinheiro]

I fully watched this video and will see part 2! I'm from Portugal and I super like your style and books, it's not very common to have this type of library, congrats on that!

[@Steve-Duh-Rino]

Cool. My library is now inside my Kindle after moving to a smaller beach condo. Every square inch of space is at a premium when one downsizes. You have great books in your possession.

[@hatethenewyou]

Very impressive library for someone who has only been into reading for a couple years. I appreciate the depth you went into with each work rather than just showing the spines and not delving into what the work means to you, whether you have read it or not.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Thank you! I hope my banter added some value!

[@veelife-i]

I really liked The Prophet. It touched me 😊 hope you like it too

[@hephaestusfortarier249]

I've been waiting for this video haha, awesome brotha

[@Fitness4London]

Awesome video. My favourite Russian novel is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. It flows really well and doesn't feel like a long novel once you get immersed in its web of relationships.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I would agree!

[@haa8408]

Thank you very much for the video . Great recommendations to beginners and avid readers !!!

[@sonoelettra7297]

Great video! Thanks for showing us your bookshelves. I really enjoyed how you presented the books by sharing some insights about the content and not just quickly showing the cover. You seem to have experimented different collections/editions for philosophy books. Maybe you could make a video about the ones you would recommend and why?

[@TheActiveMind1]

For most of them, it was a matter of what's available. Some of them are only offered in a specific print or in other cases, it was a matter of choosing Hackett/Penguin because I already have others from those publishers

[@NoorAli-qc8ik]

I needed a new bookshelf, since the old one is completely full... So, definitely stealing your bookshelf style :)

[@TheActiveMind1]

I take no credit! My wife is the mastermind behind the decor and organization but I did accumulate some of the accessories

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

Love the wide selection of books you’ve got here! You have fantastic production quality and I was wondering: what is the mic you use on your collar?

[@TheActiveMind1]

It’s a RODE Wireless Me. I used that just in case the camera audio was poor at the angles I had it

[@tonybennett4159]

Well, I was with you at the beginning with your range of Russian writers but I began to feel a bit inadequate when you got into the books on philosophy. As a younger reader I made a start on Plato and Nietzsche, but ultimately they defeated me. I doubt that my older brain would do any better! My first taste of Russian literature was Gorky's "My Childhood" which was a revelation as it vividly explored the psyche of a young child faced with life changing events, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in Russian writers. It opened me to reading Tolstoy, Lermontov, Turgenev etc in quick succession. Sometimes all we need is a single trigger. As someone who is interested in theatre no discussion of Russian literature would be complete without the plays of Chekhov. It seems that Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" has fallen out of favour, but I remember liking it very much. Maybe it suffered because the film over-romanticised the themes. Speaking of films, one director who made films with the density of books was Andrei Tarkovsky and his film "Mirror" is like a stream of consciousness memoir and captures the feel of what it would have been like to be a Russian during that time. An undoubted masterpiece.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I’ve actually been watching Andrei Rublev from Tarkovsky this week! But I do need to read Gorky, Pasternak, and more Russian authors. The culture is so rich in literary talent

[@Sarah_Jean86]

I see you have mostly the Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky translations of Dostoyevsky. How do you like those translations? I have Brothers Karamazov and C&P in those translations and I find them great, although some don’t like them. Great bookshelf tour by the way….I def get my book recs from videos like these.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Thank you! I like the P&L translations. From what I've heard they are a closer translation but the drawback is that can leave the dialogue or writing sounding a bit dry or awkward at times. That said, I haven't read other translations so I can't definitively hail these as THE translations to read of Dostoevsky

[@stefashaler8340]

I'm a 74 year old woman who just found out I'm a dude bro! I love it even though I don't know what it means. Thanks for the tour of your interesting bookshelves.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Hahah sometimes I don’t know either! Certain books or authors get associated with a particular type of male reader but I just lean into the humor

[@hdcbpxsytahdcbpx]

❤‍🔥❤‍🔥

[@theYankss]

Love your Library! Do you plan to read Ethics of Spinoza or some Deleuze work?

[@TheActiveMind1]

Ethics will appear in my part 2 of the tour! But I have not ventured into Deleuze yet

[@RJRobertson-fd8xy]

Brock, wonderful bookshelf tour, part 1. Look forward to part 2. I am glad that you are choosing not only what interests you but also what enriches you for that is the true accomplishment of reading with a purpose. I now, going on my two year literary, philosophy (and more) journey, I think I have amassed over 600 books to my previously almost nonexistent library. As for me, my most enjoyable acquisition is a 20-volume first edition set of Charles Dickens printed in 1870 that I stumbled upon in a thriftstore for only $2.99 a volume (if they only knew). Thanks for unwittingly helping to inspire me in this endeavor. Much peace to you for imparting your thoughts and to your wife for sharing you with us.

[@TheActiveMind1]

That is a great deal! I still need to get to Dickens and other English literature

[@theplatinumpoo4447]

I asked for it... we got it 😃

[@MadiCovington]

i wonder who helped organize this 🤔

[@TheActiveMind1]

you should write down some of these recs 😘

[@nobody-vo7ei]

you have nice clean white teeth.

[@DimitrisRebelYell]

So you're quite handsome in profile as well. :)

[@TheForeignersNetwork]

I say this in the most loving way possible: I would encourage you to expand your philosophical horizons beyond white European men. There is plenty of eastern philosophy and female philosophers that are completely ignored by your bookshelf--I would recommend Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamikakarika as an introduction to eastern philosophy, and Liber Divinorum Operum by Hildegard von Bingen as an introduction to female philosophy.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Couple things to consider here. 1) As I’ve stated before, I’m a fairly new reader so my low quantity of your desired identities is not a result of malicious intent but a consequence of mostly the prominence of Western books in my region of the world (western politics and philosophy are more studied and available in the west). It’s also a matter of chance and my personal curiosity. 2) I don’t merge all European countries, ethnicities, and histories under “white”. There’s immense difference between British, French, German, or Russian writing/culture/history. 3) You used the word “ignored” which implies a level of intent. There are plenty of women and diverse ethnicities I’ve read and plan to read. I’ve never stated otherwise

[@TheForeignersNetwork]

@@TheActiveMind1 I didn't mean it as a statement of malicious intent, I meant it simply as an observation of absence. Keep reading!

[@TheActiveMind1]

I’ll be sure to add your recommendations to my list, thank you!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@TheActiveMind1Well said! The west is interesting and diverse and worth understanding since we live here!