David Siegel - The Plenitude of Arboreal Beauty

I enjoyed Montaigne’s essays more than any of the great books we have read so far for three reasons: (1) Montaigne’s writings are the most philosophically viable; (2) his reasoning is straightforward, cogent, and demonstratively corroborated by some of the most influential thinkers of all time; (3) I feel that Montaigne is a realistic expectation for the kind of thinker I’d like to become – he is a role model.

(1) Montaigne covers so many important topics that it strikes me as impossible to be left unimproved after reading his essays for the first time. I took away Montaigne’s inspiring conception of death (p.67), his notion of the mutability of a healthy mind (p.109), his commitment to skepticism (p.111), etc.

(2) Montaigne has compiled and synthesized the thoughts of some of Western civilization’s greatest minds, and he gives credit where credit is due.

(3) Montaigne came across as sincere and extremely thoughtful. I admire him.