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In a thin volume, Voltaire puts forth what I would call a tour de force on the philosophy of optimism. Much of this is critique, no doubt; it is trivial to see how this clearly isn't the best of all possible worlds, and all things clearly don't happen for the best. There are innumerable places throughout the story where bad things happen that outright make things worse, despite any silver lining Candide can find in it, and it is entirely conceivable that the bad things did not need to happen.

That said, Voltaire does not treat things pessimistically. No one really "bottoms out" in the end, and Candide is able to make a living for himself and his friends and family that is good enough. Certainly, it isn't the extravagance of the Baron's manor or the hospitality of El Dorado, but he is able to engage in his favourite activity of philosophizing, make a living with his own labour, and exist without undue hardship.

Candide may not be entirely happy with this, but how many of his companions did he leave for dead along the way and find again? How many times was he on the brink of utter disaster? Happiness is relative, in many ways, and while Candide could never reach the best of all possible worlds he could at least carve out a good enough one for himself.

Most of the book is dedicated to the "classic style" of prose, which emphasizes writing in order to be understood. These sections break down the components of writing so that Pinker can highlight common problems and how to think about writing in a general sense. They are very helpful.

The last chapter focuses on a variety of grammatical concerns that are either brought up by sticklers or are concerns of Pinker's (or both). This chapter has some gems, but it requires wading through a lot of cruft to find them. Sometimes the examples provided are helpful; sometimes they warrant skipping. Some gripes are worth discussion; some aren't, even in Pinker's opinion. It's a weaker chapter than the others, at least.

If you have an interest in English composition this is a good read, but it is written with a bit of an assumption that you are already familiar with some fairly obscure rules and you have already read more specific style guides. Not exactly an introductory read.

A wonderful view of how beautiful relationships can form remotely, across large distances and times, through common interests and reciprocal kindness. It's a wholesome story with letters from a wide variety of characters, as Helene's simple words and gifts touched so many people, but as the years go on everyone's lives have ups and downs documented within the letters. Helene finds and loses work on the regular, the politics of post-war Britain finds people in various states, health declines and recovers in various points as people deal with life.

Despite being told through an incomplete, scattered collection of letters, with gaps clearly visible in how dates and conversations advance, we get a remarkably clear view of everyone's lives. There are obviously more to these people than can be visible in text on paper, and we are never quite allowed to forget that, but we can also clearly see how close Frank and Helene and the others grow over the years.

Just a really beautiful view of human relationships, especially in a time where we don't see such beauty depicted often. I gotta find a pen pal.

This is a bit of an odd read in that Bifo's thoughts are all over the place and following his arguments gets a bit tricky now and then. Despite the fact that I had to skip back occasionally to make sure I was following along, he makes very good points about what the world looks like in the post-post-modern era, how it differs from the past, how we got here, and where it would go from when he wrote this.

The unfortunate thing is that he mostly predicted bad things, and he was mostly right.

In a way this book is a synthesis of several other books I've read, combining concepts from Degrowth Economics, Technofeudalism, Capitalist Realism, and more into a coherent worldview capable of making predictions on the future. Considering this predates most of those books, that's quite impressive. It speaks to Bifo's analytical abilities that he is able to syncretize ideas from vast swaths of theory into a practical tool for looking at the world.