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Standing by Words Wendell Berry Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition Wendell Berry  The Language Wars Henry Hitchings  Technique in Fiction Robie Macaulay  Read to Write Donald Murray  The Accidental Connoisseur Lawrence Osborne  Invitations to the World: Teaching and Writing for the Young Richard Peck  Signposts in a Strange Land Walker Percy  Another Sort of Learning James Schall  

The Italian author Umberto Eco belonged to a rare breed—a medievalist of encyclopedic erudition, a creative philosopher and a talented novelist. Prompted by his recent death, Eco’s first novel, The Name of the Rose , has resurfaced in bookstands everywhere.  The virtue Aquinas opposes to curiositas is not humility , but studiousness , that is, knowledge pursued well.  The parallel between the monastery with the vast library and a globalized world with Internet access should now be clear. Aquinas thought of curiositas as largely caused by acedia —i.e. spiritual laziness or aimlessness. Who among us has not wasted hours on Wikipedia rather than completing the task at hand?   [Full text]

A Student's Guide to Intellectual Life by Jean Guitton Human Love by Jean Guitton  The Soul of a Lion by Alice von Hildebrand  Man, Woman, and the Meaning of Love by Dietrich von Hildebrand