Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with Kids

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The around-the-house scenes and conversations he presents are equal parts hilarious (for years, Hank kept up a facade of not knowing the alphabet to worry his dad) and profound (4-year-old Rex: “I think that, for real, God is pretend, and for pretend, God is real”). This approach is funny and interesting in some chapters, but in others comes across as condescending. The riches, power, and honour of a monarch arise only from the riches, strength, and reputation of his subjects.

Therefore, the sovereign may judge what opinions and doctrines are averse, who shall be allowed to speak to multitudes, and who shall examine the doctrines of all books before they are published. The most interesting parts were the anecdotes from people living in those countries, and I wish there had been more of those.When you find one that does (like Tim Macintosh Smith’s immortal Travels in Dictionary Land, or Stephen Clarke’s A Year in the Merde) they are something special.

These books are good (and often excellent) for what they are, but they never really give you a feel for what it is like to live in a country. Overall I did enjoy this book, it is nostalgic for someone who's lived somewhere that doesn't run smoothly, but maybe not so interesting for someone who hasn't. Because a successive covenant cannot override a prior one, the subjects cannot (lawfully) change the form of government. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Georgia; a JD from Yale Law School; and a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; he also served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Fun anecdotes abound, and Hershovitz demonstrates how to engage children by taking them seriously, teaching them to ask questions, and encouraging them to explore the world—things adults can learn from, as well. At the end of this comes an interesting section (darkness is suppressing true knowledge as well as introducing falsehoods), which would appear to bear on the discoveries of Galileo Galilei. Hobbes sees the main abuse as teaching that the kingdom of God can be found in the church, thus undermining the authority of the civil sovereign. An enormously rich and mind-expanding book, which anyone will gain from reading, especially parents.