Recent reads

1. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. It is of course quite a daunting task to comment on such an influential text. I don't have much familiarity with ancient philosophy, but I found this to be a very agreeable read, even though I'm still a shameless consequentialist.
2. Thomas Hurka, The Best Things in Life: A Guide to What Really Matters. Hurka presents his perfectionist theory of well-being for a popular audience. It strikes me that many of the values he advocates (knowledge, achievement, etc) are probably often good on purely hedonistic terms as well.
3. Robert Sternberg & Jennifer Jordan (eds.), A Handbook of Wisdom: Psychological Perspectives. I didn't read all the chapters, but those I did read were generally very good.  Though at times I felt the discussion didn't get very far. I was surprised to find that there is so much psychology research on wisdom (I should have kept Cowen's first law in mind).
4. Paul B. Baltes, Wisdom as Orchestration of Mind and Virtue. This is an unfinished book draft written shortly before the author's death, and I suppose it will never be properly published. In contrast with most other writings on wisdom I've come across, this book contains a wealth of resources on ancient wisdom, starting not with the Greeks, but rather with Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China.
5. Günter Eich, Angina Days: Selected Poems. Eich was one of the founding members of Gruppe 47. I enjoyed this selection but felt I missed out on many nuances.