Philosopher Book Tag

Have you ever checked your stats to see what weird terms lead people to your blog? I do. I did that a while ago, saw that someone found my blog by searching for “natire book tag” (I guess they were searching for a nature book tag) and decided to google that too to see where it led. It led to various book tags and since I enjoy doing such posts, I decided to do one here today — the Philosopher Book Tag! It’s the first I’ve ever heard of it. I found it on Crooked Fingers, a Live Journal blog, but it was created by Between Lines & Life, a booktube channel.

Philosophy was one of my favorite subjects in school and it’s something I’m still interested in and still try to read up on from time to time, though not as often as I’d like. I’m not well versed in philosophy, so I’m not sure this tag will go well since I didn’t read all the questions before starting.

Thales is considered the first known philosopher.

Which text introduced you to philosophy or which text would you like to read to get you into philosophy?

“Nature” and “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“The Farthest Shore” by Ursula Le Guin

At first I didn’t like this cover but then I saw it at a certain angle and the eye seemed to glow…SO COOL!!!

Quick summary:

In this story, we are introduced to Arren, prince of Enlad, an island in the north of the Earthsea archipelago. Something is causing wizards, sorcerers, and others with magical propensities to lose their abilities. Arren is sent to Roke, the island where wizards are trained, to find out why. Ged Sparrowhawk, who is now Archmage on Roke, decides to go on a quest to solve this problem with Arren in tow. They visit various islands in the South and West Reaches of Earthsea where they try to figure out what is stealing the magic in Earthsea. Finally, with the aid of a dragon, Ged gets an idea of what the cause might be and travels to The Dragon’s Run and Selidor islands to find out. On Selidor, Ged and Arren travel to the land of the dead to resolve the loss of magic. The adventure is a success, Ged returns magicless and retires to his homeland, Gont, and Arren is crowned king of Earthsea.

My reaction:

This is the third book in the Earthsea series and I didn’t like it much. The first book was great, filled with Ged’s adventures as he runs from and then chases his shadow. The second book was not exciting but wasn’t a bore either because Tenar escapes and frees herself. This book too wasn’t a bore but it’s adventure was subdued. For most of the book, the reader is either in Arren’s thoughts or kicking it from a distance with the narrator, simply analyzing the actions of characters and their thought processes.