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you know what blew my mind this morning?


bokonon

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the ignorant philosopher by voltaire. i started reading voltaire because in this biography of mark twain i was reading the author kept comparing the two men. i've loved mark twain ever since i was a very little kid so i though i should read some voltaire as well. voltaire's work is significantly older than mark twain's and voltaire lived in france, not the us, so of course there were differences, but you could definitely see the same ideals shining through both of their works. as far as style goes i definitely prefer mark twain, but i am biased since i have grown up with his work and therefore am much more familiar with it. also, i am much more familiar with the setting and history in mark twain's books which makes it more vivid for me. but i now have an appreciation for voltaire's work as well. if you read nothing else by voltaire, i would recomment checking out the ignorant philosopher. most people would also suggest candide, but that is not what blew my mind this morning and it deserves its very own post.

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hahahah! nice, i also get a touch narcoleptic when reading old style translations, books always sound better in their original language. (not that i have read many books not in english, only two and they were in french class so i don't think they count that much). one thing that really bugged me in the republic was plato's views on censorship of the poets. i think he really underestimated the ability of people to decide between good and bad ideas expressed in literature. it's the foundation of a truly free society to be able to choose what to read and write. mind you, i am incredibly biased being a library tech.

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mark twain expresses many of the same senitments and ideals of voltaire but in a simplistic and entertaining format. my personal favourite works of mark twain's so far are his short stories, the whole collection. i read them about two years ago so i would have to read them all again to pick a favourite individual story, but i remember they blew my mind.

on another note, two things blew my mind this morning.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org amazing website and it's all free!

2. the first chapter of "a brief history of time" by stephen hawking. i have never taken physics so i pretty much have to read every paragraph twice and really study the pictures but this would give great inspiration for your next acid trip boogieknight, holy sh!t! :: i think i'll take physics for my general education component!

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2. the first chapter of "a brief history of time" by stephen hawking. i have never taken physics so i pretty much have to read every paragraph twice and really study the pictures but this would give great inspiration for your next acid trip boogieknight, holy sh!t! :: i think i'll take physics for my general education component!

I have just started reading this again (for the second time)... got through about 3 quarters of it the first time... it is a tough ready, but fascinating... I read a book before this call "Eistein Demystified"... a good book for an introduction to relativity, which I think has better prepared me for this second read.

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