From Dawn to Decadence

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…r anyone to call it "high" culture. If you can't make value judgments about Mozart, Michelangelo, or Shakespeare, that's simply a tragedy. I strongly recommend Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life." To take a direct shot at relativism: I think it's quite possible to justify the West over the last 500 years as the most productive era for art and science in all of human history up until now.

When I saw this book mentioned in From Dawn to Decadence in the context of the 19th century increase in mechanization and loss of free time it struck a cord. I've noticed my own free time activities become increasingly harried as I strive to make my leisure time as "productive" as my work time. One solution I've found is to deliberately spend more time doing traditional time-consuming activities such as reading, cooking, making cheese, physical activity, etc.