In forty-three brief essays from the life of a philosopher, Charles Taliaferro guides us toward the heart of human being in all of its absurdity and joy. Electrocuted by his coffee maker during class, battling dragons on his rooftop, and accompanying his father to the border between life and death, Taliaferro recommends to us a life vulnerable to silliness, pain, and the depths of love they create in us. Hilarious and sobering, Love, Love, Love investigates what we need most to live humanely, humorously, faithfully, and well.
Charles Taliaferro is professor in the Department of Philosophy at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
You cannot help but reflect on his [Charles Taliaferro] thoughts long after reading his essays. Reader Views Charles Taliaferro has always struck me as a paradigmatic philosopher-equal parts creative thinker, careful scholar, and passionate teacher. In these short essays, occasioned by the great and small exigencies of his own life, as well as by the broader flow of cultural events that impinge on us all, he brings the full richness of his philosophical training and insight into the service of thinking and living well, day to day. Ultimate issues are treated with a deftness and disarming simplicity, and yet richly complex echoes of their wisdom will linger long after these pages are read. It's good to see a philosopher who is so well respected and accomplished in the academic world courageously appraise the ordinary things of life to be as worthy of his disciplined thought as the extraordinary tools and texts he brings to bear on them. -- Tom Morris, bestselling author of If Aristotle Ran General Motors, The Stoic Art of Living, The Oasis Within The essays evince broad reading that takes in history and the classics. There are essays devoted to Shakespeare, Tolkien, and Chesterton, but such also make regular appearances throughout the essays, along with Dante, Chaucer, T. S. Eliot and more. We learn lessons from the Trojan and Peloponnesian wars, Waterloo, the siege of Stalingrad, and the lives of the saints. Love, Love, Love is a fun and satisfying read filled with humor and wisdom. -- Mark D. Linville Annali D'Italianistica Drawing from personal experience within the context of his own life and personal observations, Professor Taliaferro writes with a combination of wit and wisdom that engages, entertains, and occasionally inspires. -- Susan Bethany Midwest Book Review
