Book Reviews from Mr. Aguilar's Library:

I'm reviewing a couple of books I borrowed from Basha's very dusty bookshelves. The first one, Daniel Boorstin's The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination, I've stopped reading at the moment and moved on to others.

Not that I was getting bored or anything. Far from that, since Boorstin's writings is actually engaging and full of verve. As Boorstin writes, "This is a story of how creators in all the arts have enlarged, embellished, fantasized, and filigreed our experience."

However, Boorstin's writing is done with a Euro-centric perspective and is relating mainly to Americans. Because of this, the opening chapters I've read come across to me as slightly condescending. Ironically, I knew that this was a limitation of the book prior to taking it up. However, I thought it wouldn't be a problem as, after all, it talks about "heroes of imagination."

Up next: Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: From Marathon to Waterloo by Edward Shepherd Creasy.

And I'm very curious about this, which I saw in Ink and Stone at the Podium. (Except for the fact that as a thin hardback copy, it costs P1,200 or US$24. Ugh.)