Mary Daly

Mary Daly

My name is Mary Daly. This is a common name, because all the Irish families in the world, for several hundreds of years, have named their daughters, and even sometimes their sons, after our Lady. When I was in a Catholic high school, I was once in a math class with 12 students, five of whom were named Mary. Although the name is slightly less common now, it is a fashion not likely to die while Jesus lives. Among the innumerable host of Mary Dalys, there is one writer of enviable competence and considerable fame who has a poor reputation among orthodox Catholics. It has been suggested that I alter my own name so as not to be confused with her.
Photo of Mary & Mike

The Story of Science

Author(s): 
Joy Hakim

Hakim's The Story of Science is an attractive but frustrating piece. Her comprehensive portrayal of the history of physics is extensively researched and beautifully illustrated, but marred by a steady stream of errors of science and history and an irritating political and philosophical drumbeat about things like population control and the proper separation (only now known to man) between religion and science.

The Joy of Science

Author(s): 
Joy Hakim

Joy Hakim is a talented story-teller, as readers of her American history series can attest. Her presentation of the history of science, ably illustrated with colored images of scientists and their apparatus and their books will engage the student and readily acquaint him with all that he is likely to be expected to know (in the politically correct sense) about the history of science.

It is the "politically correct" aspect that warrants some caution.

The Trivium: the Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

Book cover: The Trivium: the Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
Author(s): 
Sister Miriam Joseph, C.S.C.

This little gem was used as a freshman college course after the author met philosopher Mortimer Adler and understood the importance of teaching basic language skills as the foundation of other learning. After some years of study, she put together this course in the Trivium, the three language arts – of word relations (grammar), concept relations (logic), and composition (rhetoric). The result is a primer in Aristotle's Categories, a demanding course in logic, and a prerequisite to good composition.

Poetic Knowledge

Book cover: 'Poetic Knowledge'
Author(s): 
James S. Taylor

Poetic Knowledge, by James Taylor, is a difficult read. He wishes to present, from both history and philosophy, a solid argument for an education that is more intuitive and interior than what we find in the schools today. His background and bibliography are impressive, including a period of study with John Senior in the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas, famous as an early ferment in the revival of classical education.

Joan of Arc

Book cover: Joan of Arc
Author(s): 
Mark Twain

Saint Joan of Arc is one of the most astonishing saints of all time. Prayerful, as all saints must be, humble, generous, and patient, Joan served God by leading the armies of France to boot the English from their soil in 1431. Not a usual task for a girl in her late teens, saint or not. And afterwards, to make it perfectly clear that the English were engaged in an act of godless aggression, Joan was burned as a witch after a trial that was unjust, illegal and cruel in every detail.