Greetings, reader.
For various reasons I do not include my real name here. I hope that does not deter you, particularly given the title of the blog. I consider that what a person says and does is more important than the label by which they are known. All thoughts expressed here are my own and are quite possibly mistaken, misinformed or just downright wrong; please correct me when I err. I do not speak for any company, charity or church.
By day, I work in an office in a large city, plugging away at numbers for a large corporation (can you see why I might value anonymity?). However, outside of work I like to consider things of far more importance and grandeur than spreadsheets, databases and powerpoint presentations. The title of the blog comes from Greek, aletheia (truth) philos (lover). So just as a philosopher is a lover of wisdom (sophos), so I am a lover of truth. However, I try not to be dogmatic in this. While it is my belief that there is such a thing as objective truth, I recognise that I may not understand it correctly, hence I am open to being corrected. You may think this is a circuitous route towards relativism, but for me, it is simple honesty.
My background is science. I have a master’s degree in mathematics, as well as A-levels in physics and chemistry. The main effect this has on my writings, as you may note, is that I am something of a Platonist when it comes to objectifying reality. However, I no longer have the time to pursue science (or anything else for that matter) on a basis that would enable me to be anything more than an educated amateur. Make of that what you will.
As I spend a lot of time travelling on trains, with little else to do then, I have a tendency to read a lot. This is why this blog contains quite a lot of book reviews. I believe that what a person reads influences them and their views, so to scan a person’s library may allow an observer to gain a rough outline of a person’s mode of thinking. This is given particular weight when you read 2 or more of a person’s books, since it may be easy to read one book, decide you don’t like the author and not read anything of theirs again. So here is the list (in alphabetical order) of those writers whom my library would indicate have influenced me the most (I do not include children’s books that I read many years ago):
Douglas Adams
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Francis Collins
Philip K Dick
Richard Feynman
Brian Greene
Pete Greig
John Gribbin
Thomas Hardy
Stephen Hawking
Frank Herbert
Timothy Keller
Stephen King
Naomi Klein
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
C.S. Lewis
Alister McGrath
Leonard Mlodinow
Roger Penrose
Philip Pullman
Marcus du Sautoy
Lee Smolin
Ian Stewart
Tom Wright
