classics digests, reflections and reviews
memoirs, autobiographies
Being Accountable The Autobiography of George Müller, also known as The Life of Trust, should be titled The Life of an Account Manager. For starters, Müller gives a detailed account of all the money that has passed through his hands, in his capacity as a missionary and director of orphanage in Bristol. Second, he also painstakingly records the actions he has taken and choices he has made in the same […]
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T. S. Eliot writes that culture is what makes life worth living. Zweig drives that point home with his haunting memoirs, and his own life. He committed suicide together with his wife shortly after finishing his memoirs. European culture had been irrevocably lost to him, and life without culture was not worth living. The act of writing the memoirs was a heroic attempt to preserve European culture, which was preserved […]
Read moreA young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere – ‘Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,’ as Herbert says, ‘fine nets and stratagems.’ God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous. –C. S. Lewis “Surprised by Joy” All the books were beginning to turn against me. Indeed, I must have been blind as a bat not to […]
Read moreA Chinese writer, Lu Xun, writes that comedy is when one witnesses the destruction of what is bad, and tragedy the destruction of what is good. By that definition, this book is the ultimate tragedy, a witness of the utter destruction of many innocent human beings, not only of the body but also of the soul, as people were either mercilessly slaughtered or reduced to mere beasts surviving on instincts […]
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Most Accessible and Inspiring A combination of autobiography, philosophical and theological treatise, and confession of love for God. One of the, if not the, best I’ve ever read. A book that renews the mind, warms the heart and uplifts the spirit. Saint Augustine was an Early Church Father and one of the most influential figures in the history of Christianity, and yet his Confessions relate to ordinary people in so many […]
Read moreA Fascinating and Unique Autobiography Jung explores many fields that are both familiar and strange, such as astrology, alchemy, philosophy, psychology and religion. For someone with limited knowledge and experience, Jung is quite understandable, as he conveys his ideas and feelings very well despite the broad scope and complexities of the subjects. He has a truly synthesizing mind. It’s a unique autobiography, because, instead of a record of events in […]
Read more“I shall never forget how I was roused one night by the groans of a fellow prisoner, who threw himself about in his sleep, obviously having a horrible nightmare. … I wanted to wake the poor man. Suddenly I drew back the hand which was ready to shake him, … At that moment, I became intensely conscious of the fact that no dream, no matter how horrible, could be as […]
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