Love, Love, Love: And Other Essays

by Charles Taliaferro

Book Overview

Three days before his death, my father, at 95 years old, held hands with me and repeated the word Love three times. The essays were written over five years. All are written with the aim of combining humor with seriousness. -from the author, Charles Taliaferro

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561012424
• ISBN13: 9781561012428
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Publishing Group Inc/Bloomsbury
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Forty-three succinct essays focusing on the human heart in all of its absurdities, dilemmas and joys

Love, Love, Love, And Other Essays: Light Reflections On Love, Life, And Death by Charles Taliaferro (Department of Philosophy, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota) consists of forty-three succinct essays focusing on the human heart in all of its absurdities, dilemmas and joys. 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. Love, Love, Love, And Other Essays is the kind of reading that impresses itself upon the appreciative mind of the reader long after the essays are read and the book placed back upon the shelf.

A recommended adventure

This is a book you'll want to buy for every thinking person you love! There is a churning yet sturdy beauty in Taliaferro's suite of essays. The starting points from which he writes his way through the immeasurable space of love inside human experience is deceptively illogical. This approach serves as an invitation to review some rational definitions of love, not as something to be apprehended, but rather a resource and principle form absolutely present in our individual consciousness at all times. Love, Love, Love is a surprisingly intimate reflection on the obstacle course of reconciliation, loving and living faithfully inside some of the most pressing personal and political circumstances of our contemporary society. -- A highly recommended adventure and I'm grateful for its influence. Kris Lowe

An Unexpected Delight

Funny how a little detour can proffer unexpected delight. Googling for a quote by Mozart (W.A.) about "..love, love, love..," I happened upon Love, Love, Love and Other Essays by Charles Taliaferro. As it turns out, Taliaferro, a professor of philosophy of religion, was not quoting Mozart but his own 95-year-old father, three days before his death. Perhaps because of this reader's limitations, as tender as the essays about his last hours with his father are, the effect of several of Taliaferro's other essays has lingered longer. His self-deprecating humor, for instance, about being in the world and of the world seems to have taken up residence in my heart. Although apparently well traveled and not an innocent, Taliaferro seems to interpret his experiences as if from the ivory tower, no matter where he goes. The essay about his foray into jury duty still incites a chuckle, as does the story about tree huggers. And then there is the essay about his charismatic dog, Tiepello, who stops traffic on his looks alone. None of the essays is more than a few pages. While this was initially a bit of a relief, I began to wish they would go on a little longer. My fear that the words of this notable philosopher of religion would be ponderous or sermonic proved unfounded. They were neither. In fact, instead of succumbing to cynicism in the essays in which he addresses the effects of 9/11, and issues of religious fanaticism, Taliaferro argues in favor of loving goodness over hating evil. If not a new idea, it is one heard too seldom and one worth reviving. Mozart, I learned later, evidently wrote from Paris in 1778, to his friend Lady Wallace, "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." While Taliaferro's father seems not to have mentioned Mozart in his conversation with his son, it may be safe to say he knew his audience.

Short Essays on the Spiritual and the Every Day

Poignant and quirky observations by a college professor of philosophy. Events like walking the dog, extending a dinner invitation or the death of a parent are given a depth of reflection that most of us are rarely able to put into words. "Love, Love, Love" inspires deeper thought on life's small and momentous events.

Wisdom and Insight from Everyday Life

Charles Taliaferro, a first-rate philosopher, has written an accessible, insightful, enjoyable book on a range of topics from everyday life--from love in friendship and family to what pets can teach us. Charles is a masterful communicator who not only uses words with wit and punch, but he also incorporates literature and art and the breadth of his own life experiences and travels into an engaging, humorous, and moving book. Don't miss this one!