Acclaimed, prolific philosopher Nicholas Rescher is featured in our newest Q&A. His latest book is A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes. UPP: You earned your doctorate at Princeton in 1951 at the age of 22, a record for that university’s philosophy department, and have been hard at work in the field ever since. So, why philosophy as a career? NR: At the outset my career choice ran neck and neck between philosophy and mathematics. But I found that I had to work at mathematics while philosophy seemed to come naturally. UPP: In the Introduction to your new book, A Journey…

A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes Nicholas Rescher PHILOSOPHY “Rescher’s Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes is just that—and much more. The book is immensely wide-ranging, highly instructive, and a delight for anyone interested in ideas, intellectual puzzles, and the breadth of philosophical imagination. The engaging narrative style invites reading for pleasure; the range gives the book relevance to scores of philosophical topics; and the sketches themselves contribute ideas on major issues.” —Robert Audi, John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Nicholas Rescher presents the first comprehensive chronology of philosophical anecdotes, spanning from antiquity to the…

Re-Collecting Black Hawk Landscape, Memory, and Power in the American Midwest Nicholas A. Brown and Sarah E. Kanouse Culture, Politics, and the Built Environment NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES “The decade’s smartest and most destabilizing book on Indians, Americans, amnesia, and memory. This book unsettles conventional wisdom of all kinds. Straightforward images document the massive and mysterious project by citizens of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois to inscribe the name of a nineteenth-century Indian leader on a staggering variety of stores, parks, bars, nursing homes, teams, and schools. An instant classic, in the tradition of Michael Lesy’s Wisconsin Death Trip.” —Paul Chaat Smith,…

Florida poet Barbara Hamby, who has published three books with the Pitt Poetry series, is known for cooking up delicious verse. Poet Laureate Billy Collins described one of her collections as offering “a generous helping of poems so crackling with references and busy with verbal energy you might feel them buzzing in your hands.” It turns out that one of Hamby’s other passions is soup! “I love soup. It is the ultimate comfort food,” she said. Hamby usually has a freezer full of several different kinds, and enjoys trying new recipes.” Most of my soups are easy, and many are…

(geographically arranged from Cumberland to Pittsburgh) 1 Mile 5 – Helmstetter’s Curve For the first 13 miles the GAP is a rail-with-trail. You share the route with a classic steam train. Time your ride to catch the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad’s Mt. Thunder pounding through the sweeping 1/2 mile Helmstetter’s Curve on its way up the east side of Big Savage Mountain to Frostburg, MD.   2 Mile 22 – Big Savage Tunnel & Overlook Stop and relax at the Big Savage Overlook. From the edge of the trail you look southeast to waves of folded mountains and 3 states,…