In today’s post, I am going to share a book that I have been enjoying reading in December and January.
The book is called, “The Lost Arts of Modern Civilization: How to Taste and See the Abundance of Life” by Mitchell Kalpakgian.
As the author states in the preface, “These arts of living – The custom of hospitality, the habit of letter writing, the delight in conversation, the enjoyment of people, the desire of pleasing, and the practice of courtship- fill common life with the abundance of simple pleasures that adorn everyday existence.”
The book is a series of essays on several different lost art topics, such as the Lost Art of Letter Writing, Conversations, Hospitality, etc. The author gives many examples from literature of the above topics, such as Homer’s Odyssey,
I loved reading this book. It really showed how modern society shifted from a person to individual. We no longer do anything that gives pleasures to others. We are all only into ourselves. After reading this book, it made me realize how much more I need to value my family and friends. I tend to be slightly individualistic as I am an introvert and rather quiet.
I am the type of person that can have trouble keeping a conversation going because I am so quiet. But, reading this book made me more willing to have more conversations with my family and friends. Family and friends should be our most prized possessions. However, in society today it seems that money and technology has taken first place, amusing and entertaining only our own gratification.
I like how this book is not so much about how we lost these arts, but how we have shifted our thinking and in order to regain these lost arts we need to shift our thinking back to good old-fashioned values. This can be done by getting back into letter writing, have a great family conversation instead of turning on the TV, hosting more parties for fellowship and hospitality for friends, etc. These arts are not in the sense lost, insomuch that they are no longer taught. We must teach the younger generation these arts, as, in do time, they will be lost, along with all the values that were behind them.
Since I want to keep much of these arts alive, I can say I am very pleased to have read this book, and can implement some of tips in my life. And of course, it has wonderful examples of literature. As a literature lover, I couldn’t pass up this book.
I hope you enjoyed this book review, and I will see you all again soon,
Alyssa
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