THIS SEASON’S PICKS start off with different perspectives on philosophy and ethics. John Stackhouse’s latest presents an evangelical Protestant indebted to theological ethicists, while Nicholas Austin offers a solid dialog between medieval theological ethics and virtue theory. Also spotlighted are memoirs in which belief has played an integral part of people’s lives.
Masha Gessen describes the rise of totalitarianism in Russia, Matt Taibbi reports on the death of Eric Garner, and Nate Blakeslee documents the struggles of O-Six, an alpha female wolf in the Rockies.
In an interview with LJ, Gretchen Rubin expands on a concept developed in her earlier work about habits, Better Than Before: the idea that people fall into one of four categories based on how they respond to expectations.