Reviews and Comments

The TV series is good, unfortunately the book is a sloppy copy because quite a few passages have not been adapted to a text-only medium. Skip this and read Isaac Asimov's non-fiction instead.

Bertrand Russell's mind is so far ahead that one might accuse him of having cheat codes unlocked.

The Editor's Introduction by Ben Ray Redman is extensive yet so succinctly and delightfully written that it alone is a sufficient reason to add The Portable Voltaire to your library.

Rare are books that excite me to wake up; such is Zadig.

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PS This review pertains to Zadig contained in: The Portable Voltaire.

This book made me realise I'm completely ignorant of the intricacies of human history, unlike Voltaire. However, if it matters much I'm not sure, because humans tend to perpetually repeat the same mistakes, knowing full well their history, albeit lacking philosophy.

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PS This review pertains to Philosophical Dictionary contained in: The Portable Voltaire.

I am baffled by the foresight, insight, conciseness and urgency of this essay. The issue it concerns itself with—the alienation between man, work, and society—has never been more pressing than now.

Largely good advice, of which some I could've used far, far earlier. A blog post might have sufficed, though.

Definition of horror: “painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay” —Merriam-Webster.
Despite some lively atmospheric descriptions, it wasn't enough to keep me in suspense. It certainly lacks an intimate psychological narrative to be considered horror.

Neatly written, but perhaps a tad too dense to convince the public. However, that's probably why this fifteen page paper has transformed into a book.

Link to the full paper: personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/teaching/mm/articles/Singer_1972Famine.pdf.

If you feel lonely and not at home anywhere in this cold, calculated, and cancerous Western society; if you've dug a hole out of which you can't escape; then read Muay Thai: Peace, At Last.

Candide revels in simplicity. It's like a new song, not quite sure whether you like it, but given some time one suddenly realizes it's a masterpiece. I must read Voltaire again.

Expected more of Honnold's philosophical takes on all things life and society. Alas, the book mostly describes his climbing in a not so gripping style as opposed to Andy Kirkpatrick's Psychovertical.

The long-winded nested writing style makes this a thoroughly unenjoyable, unenlightening read. Darwin is not as much a stellar writer as he was a scientist. Either that or I'm not smart enough or not used to the writing style back in the day. In any case, his ideas survived, which is fortunate.