Events
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are going to dip our toe into Martin Heidegger's seminal work, Being and Time. First published in 1927, Being and Time is considered one of the most important philosophy books of the 20th century. This…
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Ignatius Donnelly: Ultimate Independent Scholar
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419Ignatius Donnelly; poet, promoter, politician, orator, and author; was arguably the most interesting figure in Minnesota history. Although today he is largely dismissed as a crank, Donnelly was an indefatigable…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisThere were two books which were tied for second among those nominated and voted upon by our members. Of these two we chose Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe have decided to try a different tack into the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and examine his idea of phenomenology. He disagreed with Edmund Husserl, the person who is most…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are continuing through our list of member-voted books by reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, John Adams (2001) by David McCullough, starting with Part I. This book can be had for…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are going to be returning to Being and Time by Martin Heidegger. We will read the first three chapters of Division I of Part I, (through “The Worldhood of the…
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The Writing Life
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419As someone who has been an active writer for more than half a century, I have benefited from the prestige and authority conferred on the general culture by the invention…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisFor the next couple of meetings we will be reading a book you may already have in your library, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. If you don't have it, you can find it…
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Board Meeting
Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116MISF Members Welcome!
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are are going to move on to Part II of John Adams by David McCullough. This is a typical McCullough book: engrossing, thoughtful, and penetrating. Just like the MISF History Study…
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What is Poetry?
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419For those who are wondering what poetry truly is, Evelyn Klein will examine its nature, perspectives, and renditions as they developed over the centuries. She will answer the question of whether…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will finish our reading of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. By the time we're done you should be in tune with nature, in the present moment, and ready to become the next…
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Board Meeting
Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116MISF Members welcome!
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Scholars without Walls: How our book came to be and why
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419We will introduce our new book, Scholars without Walls: The History of the Minnesota Independent Scholars' Forum. The book, which will be available for purchase at this event, tells how a group of…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will discuss Part III – the last part – of John Adams by David McCullough. We will celebrate finishing the book by evaluating Mr Adam's life, comparing it to our…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will continue our discussion of modern Stoicism by reading the rest of chapter five and chapter six in A New Stoicism by Lawrence Becker. Chapter five completes his discussion of norms…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are in the process of reading A New Stoicism by Lawrence Becker. He is continuing his arguments that virtue is the only good, at least for psychologically healthy people. Alas, there's…
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MIA Book Tour (**date changed**)
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404One of the most popular gallery walks at the Minneapolis Institute of Art is called a Book Tour. That is, a book of fiction or social commentary is selected for…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are going to read the book The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and the American Political Tradition (2017) by Linda Gordon. This book is…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will conclude our reading of A New Stoicism by Lawrence Becker. This includes chapter 7, “Happiness,” and a couple of appendices. We are especially interested in having people come who consider…
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MISF Annual Picnic!
Cherokee Park Picnic Shelter Chippewa and Winona Streets, St. Paul, MNCome join us at the small picnic shelter in Cherokee Park in St. Paul's West Side neighborhood for our annual picnic. We will start gathering at 11:30 with serving beginning…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are turning to a classic book this time: The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. This is a book that should have lots of used copies floating around, or you can…
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Board Meeting
Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116MISF Members Welcome!
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will finish reading The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings by Lars Brownworth. If the author has done his research properly, this book should end somewhere near Alexandria, Minnesota.
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are finishing the book The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. While Pollyanna and Dr Pangloss might have some problem understanding Camus' point of view, they – and anyone who feels…
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The Woodcut Art of Wolfgang Klein
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419The program will introduce the topic with a brief description of the history of creating woodcuts. It will then focus on Wolfgang Klein’s art of creating woodcuts from their inception…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will be tackling a book by the contemporary Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek,The Parallax View (2006), which he calls his magnus opus. It can be found new in paperback for about $17…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisThe new book we are beginning is King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1999) by Adam Hochschild. This was a prize-winning and popular book from…
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Minneapolis and Tangletown Neighborhood Landmarks
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419What is a neighborhood and how does change make it better, lessen it, or make it a different world? Step into the past with a presentation illustrated by maps and…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will discuss the rest of Part I of The Parallax View by Slavoj Žižek. Admittedly, this book can be a challenge. However, for the MISF Philosophy Study Group, challenge is our name.…
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Oaxaca: Mexican Discoveries
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419Oaxaca is a city and state in southern Mexico that today is a popular destination for foreign and domestic tourists and those wishing to spend the winter months in a…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will conclude our discussion of the book we are currently reading, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild. I hope that you…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will continue discussing The Parallax View by Slavoj Žižek, this time covering Part II. In this part Žižek applies his parallax metaphor to science. Reviewers, in general, think that Žižek does his…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisThe book we will begin discussing at that time is Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent, and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe (2018) by John Julius…
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Philosophy Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will conclude our discussion of The Parallax View by Slavoj Žižek. This involves reading Part III in which Žižek covers how his philosophy works with politics. Žižek is one of the leading…
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Board Meeting
Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116MISF Members Welcome!
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe are reading the book Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent, and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe by John Julius Norwich. Join us as we…
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Minnesota Swedes Raising Cane
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419In the early years of the 20th century, a Swedish-American doctor invested in a large tract of land in eastern Cuba. Using his doctor's office on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis as…
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Philosophy Study Group (Rescheduled!)
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisFor this meeting we have chosen to read a philosophical novel rather than our usual diet of books and articles by philosophers. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857) was the last novel written…
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History Study Group
Curran's Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in MinneapolisWe will start talking about the book, The Swerve (2012), by Stephen Greenblatt. You can find this book new in paperback for $12 - $17 and as an ebook for $10 -…