Tiffany A

NOT YOUR USUAL SUMMER READ


summer is a fantastic time to indulge in some reading. the day is longer and thus more full with activities and also opportunities to hide away in between some well written pages. when in uni, it usually meant catching up with bibliography that didn't get fully covered in the semester, but as boring as this may sound, it wasn't! there were subjects that we'd want to cover and read about but there just wasn't time, so summer was the best excuse. one such book, which i re-read one past summer was the "history of beauty" by one of my favorites... umberto eco. we've mentioned him again on this blog (only because he's so darn fantastic).
{via} sure, this was excellent reference material. it provides a good walk-through of basic historical periods and their ideals of the concept of beauty. it discusses and makes you think about why this and not another standard, what is beautiful, and if ugly just another form of it. through this book you can get an initial (or even deeper) understanding and most importantly questioning, of what standards and ideas led to what ideals of beauty. you will notice details perhaps overlooked before, references to things expected such as the idealistic nature, or things unexpected, like the beauty in decay and morbid.

the author is a philosopher as well, so this questioning makes sense. his writing style is both academic yet at the same time exciting and engaging. it is written entirely in a way that will make you feel like you're on an adventure to understand some of the spiciest bits of history. additionally, it has a pretty rich collection of references in itself, quotes, excerpts and so on.

however, perhaps because it is written the way it is, because the subject is so controversial (after all will we ever know what beauty means?), and certainly because it takes you on a mental trip through various lands in different times, it is a fun read for the summer. it will cover that sense of wanderlust so intricately intertwined with warm weather and long days of sunshine. it will also cover a good bit of that giddy feeling you get when you learn bits of history that weren't in school books, and are a bit gossip-y. if there is one type of gossip i find even remotely interesting, it is the one that peeks into the lives of amazing people of periods i'll never live in.

quite a while ago, and well after this book came out, he published another one, "on ugliness". it has been on my radar for too long, but i will leave you with a review of this one for now.

what is on your summer reading radar? do you like to read outdoors?

xoxo
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