Why Every Thinker Needs 'The Practical Cogitator' on Their Shelf
A Timeless Wisdom Anthology in Digestable Chunks
My well-thumbed copy of The Practical Cogitator, Copyright 1945
I buy and actually read all the books I review here at The Insomniac Workshop and include Amazon links to relevant items. For your convenience, of course.
I first stumbled on my personal copy of The Practical Cogitator or The Thinker’s Anthology many years ago. I was working twenty hours a week at the Helen Hall Library in League City, Texas to supplement my G.I. Bill tuition assistance and Hazelwood Act assistance, as a means of putting myself through college. One Saturday morning we were having one of our periodic book sales and there it was. I had re-shelved this volume about a hundred times I suppose. Now I could buy it and finish it. Mine, I tell you; all mine. I should explain — I’m a compulsive reader (don’t ask) and I used to joke that I had read the first paragraph of every book in the library in the course of my reshelving duties.
What is this book, in a nutshell? Get to the point, you say. Bueno, presta atención ahora, pela’o. It is a selection of essays, opinions, and musings from history’s greatest thinkers. It does not push or advocate any particular agenda; the selections favor no political persuasion or religious adherance. Charles P. Curtis, Jr. and Ferris Greenslet compiled this volume with well-defined parameters. These include (as laid down by the them):
Nothing that is probably already too familiar or too accessible.
Nothing that is purely inspirational, nothing sentimental. And yet nothing cynical. Nobility of thought keeps on the crown of the road, out of the gutters.
Nothing that is not worth re-reading. So things that can be chewed over almost indefinitely. Pieces that are tough enough, juicy enough to chew. Some that are scarcely worth reading only once.
As between the ancient and the modern, the modern. When we have used the ancient, it is becuse we know of nothing better since.
I think Charles and Ferris would be very gruntled to see their anthology so well used. Do not judge; getting this volume re-bound is on my list, as SWMBO would say.
Parts (Topics) and Authors
For ease of organization and navigation the book is divided into thirteen Parts, each a topic. Some of the Parts have subdivisions. The Parts do follow a progression but in my opinion, the fun of this book is just opening it at random; few entries are very long but all are gems, in their own way. They are:
Man in Search of Himself
He solicits His Past
He Turns to Nature
And scrutinizes Her
And Himself
He Lives With His Fellows
They Better Their Condition
They Must Have Peace, Security, and Liberty
And Justice
He Seeks Solace and Beauty
And Friendship and Love
And Even Something More
He Takes Better Aim
The authors of the included works are all over the map. The common denominator is that the wisdom has weathered the test of time rather well, although we live with the reality of human impermanence; you will be surprised at how well some of the predictive speculation turned out for us. Many authors you will of course be familiar with.
For just one example, just a couple of weeks ago I was sitting in a waiting room, enjoying the peculiar narrow-chair hospitality of our efficient medical system and enjoyed a piece by DaVinci while I waited. In the style of an art tutorial he first lays out his personal “sculpture vs painting” opinions. Wow. Tell us how you really feel, Leo. He then takes a deep dive into how he attains visual perspective in his paintings of battle scenes by mathmatical distribution of dust particles generated by cannonball explosions and the galloping hooves of retreating horses. In his own (translated to English) words. You’re not going to get that personal account in a history book. It had the vibe of an ad hoc lecture, if you get my drift. This is just one example.
My Ever-So-Humble Opinion
This is one of those books that I would recommend to anyone with a curious nature and an open mind. This book is for the reader that enjoys snippets or two-page essays that take minutes to read but hours to digest and unfold in your mind. Guys, disregard the dad joke book you keep in the bathroom; take this one with you instead but don’t leave it there.
Ladies, I cannot and will not likewise suggest bathroom habits to you, but don’t worry. There are many women authors (Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Madame du Deffand, Emilily Brontë, and more. Just because the writings are old, that does not imply patriarchal toxicity. I jest.
This book is available from Amazon here.
I hope this book review of The Practical Cogitator by Charles P. Curtis, Jr. and Ferris Greenslet opened a new reading and ruminating porthole for you. If so, or if not so (see what I did there?), please hit the subscribe button for more utterly fascinating and useful content.
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And tell me where I got it right or wrong… SWMBO insists that the possibility exists before the collapse of the wave function.
Content for Your Perusal
The Broken Medical System From a Customer’s Point of View Article
Haven Short story
Drifting at Dusk Vignette
Power Lines Short story