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What Is Man? and Other Essays. Includes The Death of Jean, The Turning-point of My Life, How To Make History Dates Stick, The Memorable Assassination, On Girls and More.
Table of Contents: What Is Man?The Death of Jean The Turning-point of My Life: -I- | -II-How To Make History Dates Stick The Memorable Assassination A Scrap of Curious History Switzerland, The Cradle Of Liberty At The Shrine of St. Wagner English As She Is Taught On Girls A Simplified Alphabet Concerning Tobacco The Bee Taming The Bicycle More e-Books from MobileReference - Best Books. Best Price. Best Search and Navigation (TM) All fiction books are only $0.99. All collections are only $5.99.Designed for optimal navigation on the Kindle and other electronic readers. Search for any title: enter mobi (shortened MobileReference) and a keyword; for example: mobi ShakespeareTo view all books, click on the MobileReference link next to a book title Literary Classics: Over 10,000 complete works by Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Dickens, Tolstoy, other authors. All books feature hyperlinked table of contents, footnotes, and author biography Religion: The Illustrated King James Bible, American Standard Bible, World English Bible (Modern Translation), Mormon Church's Sacred Texts Philosophy: Rousseau, Spinoza, Plato, Aristotle, Marx, Engels Travel Guides and Phrasebooks: FREE 25 Language Phrasebook, New York, Paris, London, Rome, Venice, Prague, Beijing, Greece - Travel Guides for all major cities Medicine: Anatomy and Physiology, Pharmacology, Abbreviations and Terminology, Human Nervous System, Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry - Quick-Study Guides for most medical/nursing school classes Science: FREE Periodic Table of Elements, FREE Weight and Measures, Physics Formulas, Math Formulas, Chemistry, Statistics - Quick-Study Guides for every College class Humanities: English Grammar and Punctuation, Philosophy, Psychology, Greek and Roman Mythology History: Art History, Encyclopedia of Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt, American Presidents, U.S. History Health: Acupressure Guide, First Aid Guide, Art of Love, Cookbook, Cocktails, Feng Shui, Astrology Reference: The World's Biggest Mobile Encyclopedia-1.5 Million Articles; CIA World Factbook, Illustrated Encyclopedias of Birds, Mammals, Plants
116 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 10, 2008
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About the author
Mark Twain
8,900 books18.7k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 28, 2024
Ecco perché non dovreste leggere questo bellissimo libro.
«… da una parte l’ottimismo, l’entusiasmo e l’innocenza, qualità proprie della società americana in espansione, dall’altra una visione negativa dell’uomo, visto come una sorta di ‘macchina’ incapace di agire liberamente, vincolata e costretta dalle situazioni e dalle influenze esterne. Tuttavia l’ironia e il senso del grottesco riappaiono in ogni pagina. La lucida consapevolezza di Twain rappresenta un significativo antidoto alle presunzioni ottimistiche ingenue di tanta cultura contemporanea».
Questo è quanto l’editore vuole che si dica di questo dialogo filosofico del 1906 scritto da un insolito Mark Twain. Quel che vi dico io è, invece: non leggete assolutamente questo libro! A meno che non vogliate vedere stravolto completamente il vostro senso morale e tutto ciò che finora avete considerato bene e male.
Il creatore di quel simpatico monellaccio di Tom Sawyer si lascia influenzare da un tale MacFarlane, dimenticato teorico scozzese di un evoluzionismo darwiniano applicato all’antropologia.
Ne viene fuori l’idea di un uomo come semplice macchina, e neanche tanto buona: dal punto di vista sociale, infatti, come da quello morale, non è certo migliore degli animali, anzi, è ben al di sotto di tutte le altre ‘Creature Non Rivelate’.
«Il fatto che l’uomo sappia distinguere tra il bene e il male dimostra solo la sua superiorità intellettuale rispetto alle altre creature; ma il fatto che egli sia in grado di compiere il male dimostra la sua inferiorità morale rispetto a qualsiasi altra creatura che non sia in grado di fare quella distinzione. Sono assolutamente convinto che questa posizione sia inattaccabile».
Il dialogo è tra un giovane ottimista nella natura umana e un vecchio saggio che, socraticamente e con molta cazzimma, smonta ogni certezza del primo.
Ogni nostra scelta, ogni nostra azione, ogni nostro pensiero non è autonomo, non nasce mai da solo: è sempre frutto di una serie di fattori esterni che condizionano quella scelta, quell’azione, quel pensiero.
Cosa ne consegue? Chi compie il male agisce sempre secondo una propria idea di bene.
Sembra banale, ma così si innesca una scintilla di legittimazione all’operato anche dell’uomo peggiore di tutti i tempi, che avrebbe agito sotto la diretta influenza di eventi che, insieme al suo temperamento, hanno generato quella che è un’idea di male per alcuni, per molti magari, ma non per tutti (certamente non per lui).
Se non vi ho convinto, fidatevi di me: non leggete questo libro. Me lo sono ripetuto per tutto il tempo della lettura. Poi, però, è lo stesso giovane, nel dialogo, a implorare il vecchio di non pubblicare le sue idee. Alla fine il libro è uscito, col risultato che io non so più cosa è bene e cosa è male.
«… da una parte l’ottimismo, l’entusiasmo e l’innocenza, qualità proprie della società americana in espansione, dall’altra una visione negativa dell’uomo, visto come una sorta di ‘macchina’ incapace di agire liberamente, vincolata e costretta dalle situazioni e dalle influenze esterne. Tuttavia l’ironia e il senso del grottesco riappaiono in ogni pagina. La lucida consapevolezza di Twain rappresenta un significativo antidoto alle presunzioni ottimistiche ingenue di tanta cultura contemporanea».
Questo è quanto l’editore vuole che si dica di questo dialogo filosofico del 1906 scritto da un insolito Mark Twain. Quel che vi dico io è, invece: non leggete assolutamente questo libro! A meno che non vogliate vedere stravolto completamente il vostro senso morale e tutto ciò che finora avete considerato bene e male.
Il creatore di quel simpatico monellaccio di Tom Sawyer si lascia influenzare da un tale MacFarlane, dimenticato teorico scozzese di un evoluzionismo darwiniano applicato all’antropologia.
Ne viene fuori l’idea di un uomo come semplice macchina, e neanche tanto buona: dal punto di vista sociale, infatti, come da quello morale, non è certo migliore degli animali, anzi, è ben al di sotto di tutte le altre ‘Creature Non Rivelate’.
«Il fatto che l’uomo sappia distinguere tra il bene e il male dimostra solo la sua superiorità intellettuale rispetto alle altre creature; ma il fatto che egli sia in grado di compiere il male dimostra la sua inferiorità morale rispetto a qualsiasi altra creatura che non sia in grado di fare quella distinzione. Sono assolutamente convinto che questa posizione sia inattaccabile».
Il dialogo è tra un giovane ottimista nella natura umana e un vecchio saggio che, socraticamente e con molta cazzimma, smonta ogni certezza del primo.
Ogni nostra scelta, ogni nostra azione, ogni nostro pensiero non è autonomo, non nasce mai da solo: è sempre frutto di una serie di fattori esterni che condizionano quella scelta, quell’azione, quel pensiero.
Cosa ne consegue? Chi compie il male agisce sempre secondo una propria idea di bene.
Sembra banale, ma così si innesca una scintilla di legittimazione all’operato anche dell’uomo peggiore di tutti i tempi, che avrebbe agito sotto la diretta influenza di eventi che, insieme al suo temperamento, hanno generato quella che è un’idea di male per alcuni, per molti magari, ma non per tutti (certamente non per lui).
Se non vi ho convinto, fidatevi di me: non leggete questo libro. Me lo sono ripetuto per tutto il tempo della lettura. Poi, però, è lo stesso giovane, nel dialogo, a implorare il vecchio di non pubblicare le sue idee. Alla fine il libro è uscito, col risultato che io non so più cosa è bene e cosa è male.
June 10, 2023
The title essay is a witty dialogue on determinism. Is Shakespeare Dead is a flawed satire on belief. The other essays are intermittently amusing.
June 8, 2020
Giving a mere 5-star review to this book is not enough. I wish someone suggested this to me when I turned 18. It has such great ideas that it could have molded me into a completely different person. This takes the idea of our existence to a whole new level and yet, it doesn’t even boast about it. In fact, this isn’t even Mark Twain’s most famous book! Perhaps his ideas are too radical and even to the point of outrageous at some points but he is aware of it all. Yet, he doesn’t care. His ideas are well thought-out and it seems like he can prove anything you can throw at him. He does this all in a single conversation between 2 gentlemen, a young and old fellow. This was a remarkable read. I will make sure that I will read this over and over again until I can fully submerge myself in it. I extremely recommend this to anyone.
July 28, 2023
Although he is most famous for entertaining stories, filled with homespun American humor, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain was much more than a gifted novelist, satirist, storyteller, and humorist. He was one of America’s best-known spokespersons and thought leaders. I read, What is Man? and other stories, to learn more about Twain’s view of life and personal philosophy.
‘What is man?’ (chapter 1) consists of a conversation between a curious young man and a wise old man. It culminates in Twain’s thesis regarding the Nature of Man. “To me, man is a machine, made up of many mechanisms, the moral and mental ones acting automatically in accordance with the impulses of an interior Master who is built of both temperament and an accumulation of multitudinous outside influences and trainings; a machine whose one function is to secure the spiritual contentment of the Master, be his desires good or be they evil; a machine whose Will is absolute and must be obeyed and is obeyed.”
The young man asks the old man (mentor) whether he plans to publish these thoughts. “now and then, in the past twenty years, the Master inside of me has half-intended to order me to set them to paper and publish…tell me what your Master thinks about it.” The young man responds critically, “Well, to begin; it is a desolating doctrine; it is not inspiring, enthusing, uplifting. It takes the glory out of man, it takes the pride out of him, it takes the heroism out of him, it denies him all personal credit, all applause; it not only degrades him to a machine; makes a mere coffee mill of him, and neither permits him to supply the coffee or turn the crank, his sole and piteously humble function being to grind coarse or fine, according to his make, outside impulses do the rest.” The old man counters that God has created the cunning and beautiful mechanism of man… which makes virtue, fortitude, holiness, truthfulness, loyalty, high ideals, and the blend of courage and magnanimity that we call heroism, part of man’s possibility as his birthright. He goes on to say that although temperament is given, beliefs are acquired, through training. I read this conversation as a spirited discussion of determinism versus free will. It felt like a synthesis of Buddhist cosmology meets biological science, with a dose of American pragmatism thrown in for good measure.
The second chapter in this almost free-associative collection of some of Mark Twain’s serious philosophic meandering was ‘The Death of Jean’. It is a catalogue of the author’s grief at the losses of wife and daughters. Twain clearly describes the importance of family in his worldview. The feelings described resonate with contemporary thought-leader, Brené Brown’s notions of connection and belonging. “I lost Suzy thirteen years ago; I lost her mother – her incomparable mother! – five and one-half years ago; Clara has gone away to live in Europe, and now I have lost Jean. How poor I am, who was once so rich!”
In, ‘The Turning-point of My Life’ (chapter 3), the author tells us of his primary identity, author. “To me, the most important feature of my life is the literary feature. I have been professionally literary something more than forty years…I know how I came to be literary, and I will tell the steps that lead up to it… The last link, the consummating, the victorious link: I was asked to write a BOOK, and I did it…” Emphasizing his temperament as a doer, and the unplanned and unforeseen nature of the series of turning points, he describes his career as a mixture of deterministic elements and free choices, as laid out by the old man in the first chapter.
Each of the following chapters includes either some provocative observation about human life, and/ or an artistic or mnemonic device used by the author throughout his literary career. The most important subsequent chapter, for me, was his treatise on his literary hero, William Dean Howells. It is both a terse essay on writing style and an ode to mentoring with Twain’s personal vision of heroism. In this chapter, Twain again demonstrates his intellectual complexity and philosophic flexibility. After advancing the notion commonly accepted at the time, that humans ‘peak’ at forty, and then relentlessly deteriorate towards our inevitable demise, he anticipates the twenty-first-century biologic idea of neuroplasticity, such that humans can continue to change for the better, throughout our lives. “Is it true that the sun of a man’s mentality touches noon at forty and then begins to move toward setting? Doctor Osler is charged with saying so. Maybe he said it, and maybe he didn’t; I don’t know which it is. But if he said it, I can point him to a case that proves his rule. Proves it by being an exception. To this place, I nominate Mr. Howells.”
What is Man? and other stories, is a collection of literary pieces that lay out some of the philosophy of a brilliant American thinker. Twain’s undeniable humor frequently veils his genius, setting his readers for insights that are so fresh and surprising, as to amaze.
‘What is man?’ (chapter 1) consists of a conversation between a curious young man and a wise old man. It culminates in Twain’s thesis regarding the Nature of Man. “To me, man is a machine, made up of many mechanisms, the moral and mental ones acting automatically in accordance with the impulses of an interior Master who is built of both temperament and an accumulation of multitudinous outside influences and trainings; a machine whose one function is to secure the spiritual contentment of the Master, be his desires good or be they evil; a machine whose Will is absolute and must be obeyed and is obeyed.”
The young man asks the old man (mentor) whether he plans to publish these thoughts. “now and then, in the past twenty years, the Master inside of me has half-intended to order me to set them to paper and publish…tell me what your Master thinks about it.” The young man responds critically, “Well, to begin; it is a desolating doctrine; it is not inspiring, enthusing, uplifting. It takes the glory out of man, it takes the pride out of him, it takes the heroism out of him, it denies him all personal credit, all applause; it not only degrades him to a machine; makes a mere coffee mill of him, and neither permits him to supply the coffee or turn the crank, his sole and piteously humble function being to grind coarse or fine, according to his make, outside impulses do the rest.” The old man counters that God has created the cunning and beautiful mechanism of man… which makes virtue, fortitude, holiness, truthfulness, loyalty, high ideals, and the blend of courage and magnanimity that we call heroism, part of man’s possibility as his birthright. He goes on to say that although temperament is given, beliefs are acquired, through training. I read this conversation as a spirited discussion of determinism versus free will. It felt like a synthesis of Buddhist cosmology meets biological science, with a dose of American pragmatism thrown in for good measure.
The second chapter in this almost free-associative collection of some of Mark Twain’s serious philosophic meandering was ‘The Death of Jean’. It is a catalogue of the author’s grief at the losses of wife and daughters. Twain clearly describes the importance of family in his worldview. The feelings described resonate with contemporary thought-leader, Brené Brown’s notions of connection and belonging. “I lost Suzy thirteen years ago; I lost her mother – her incomparable mother! – five and one-half years ago; Clara has gone away to live in Europe, and now I have lost Jean. How poor I am, who was once so rich!”
In, ‘The Turning-point of My Life’ (chapter 3), the author tells us of his primary identity, author. “To me, the most important feature of my life is the literary feature. I have been professionally literary something more than forty years…I know how I came to be literary, and I will tell the steps that lead up to it… The last link, the consummating, the victorious link: I was asked to write a BOOK, and I did it…” Emphasizing his temperament as a doer, and the unplanned and unforeseen nature of the series of turning points, he describes his career as a mixture of deterministic elements and free choices, as laid out by the old man in the first chapter.
Each of the following chapters includes either some provocative observation about human life, and/ or an artistic or mnemonic device used by the author throughout his literary career. The most important subsequent chapter, for me, was his treatise on his literary hero, William Dean Howells. It is both a terse essay on writing style and an ode to mentoring with Twain’s personal vision of heroism. In this chapter, Twain again demonstrates his intellectual complexity and philosophic flexibility. After advancing the notion commonly accepted at the time, that humans ‘peak’ at forty, and then relentlessly deteriorate towards our inevitable demise, he anticipates the twenty-first-century biologic idea of neuroplasticity, such that humans can continue to change for the better, throughout our lives. “Is it true that the sun of a man’s mentality touches noon at forty and then begins to move toward setting? Doctor Osler is charged with saying so. Maybe he said it, and maybe he didn’t; I don’t know which it is. But if he said it, I can point him to a case that proves his rule. Proves it by being an exception. To this place, I nominate Mr. Howells.”
What is Man? and other stories, is a collection of literary pieces that lay out some of the philosophy of a brilliant American thinker. Twain’s undeniable humor frequently veils his genius, setting his readers for insights that are so fresh and surprising, as to amaze.
April 1, 2016
All those who think of Mark Twain as „only“ a humorist might be surprised at this collection of essays. Not only did he have a huge store of general knowledge, he also concerned himself with the larger questions of life.
In the title essay „What is Man“ the author knocks man off his self-constructed pedestal and puts him where he belongs : among the other animals (and not on the top rung of the ladder, either !).
Unfortunately, a hundred years after Mark Twain’s death the majority of people – against all evidence to the contrary – still consider human beings „the crown of creation“ because their Bible and/or their vanity and/or their ignorance tells them so.
It might do them some good to study this essay in which the young man’s untenable arguments in favor of man’s superiority are dismantled one by one by the old man’s reasoning.
„The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his INTELLECTUAL superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can DO wrong proves his MORAL inferiority to any creature that CANNOT."
In the title essay „What is Man“ the author knocks man off his self-constructed pedestal and puts him where he belongs : among the other animals (and not on the top rung of the ladder, either !).
Unfortunately, a hundred years after Mark Twain’s death the majority of people – against all evidence to the contrary – still consider human beings „the crown of creation“ because their Bible and/or their vanity and/or their ignorance tells them so.
It might do them some good to study this essay in which the young man’s untenable arguments in favor of man’s superiority are dismantled one by one by the old man’s reasoning.
„The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his INTELLECTUAL superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can DO wrong proves his MORAL inferiority to any creature that CANNOT."
April 18, 2014
This is the third work of Twain that I've read so far, it was recommended to me for about 3 years ago, and I can say it's far different from the regular sarcastic style of Mark Twain.
This is serious. The matter discussed on these pages has been around my head for quite sometime. The truth about will and determination. The truth about weather our lives are bound to decisions and fate, or it's just a parade made by design. I would not be lying by saying that I had in my mind every thought put there, and still it keeps me up all night .. and still I'm not satisfied with an answer yet.
This is a must-read book, I can't say more.
This is serious. The matter discussed on these pages has been around my head for quite sometime. The truth about will and determination. The truth about weather our lives are bound to decisions and fate, or it's just a parade made by design. I would not be lying by saying that I had in my mind every thought put there, and still it keeps me up all night .. and still I'm not satisfied with an answer yet.
This is a must-read book, I can't say more.
March 28, 2020
What is Man was one of the most convincing essays I've ever read. Sadly, that was followed by very forgettable, tedious, and dated essays afterwards, of which the only exception was his moving piece about his dead daughter. The final essay about Shakespeare and Twain's doubts on his authorship was as unconvincing as Spinoza's similar objections about Moses writing the Pentateuch. Both made the childish assumption the entire work had to be written by the one author, instead of informed by better experienced friends (as in the case of Shakespeare) or updated (as in the case of Moses). Regardless, What Is Man was a powerhouse and is worth reading or listening to in audiobook form
January 9, 2017
I picked this book for the 'what is man' essay. Though there are many profound philosophical ideas in it, they get sidelined by the authors racial slur on indigenous natives, Australian aborigines and Afro Americans. One might argue it was the trend those days, but I can't come to terms especially after reading other books on philosophy from that era.
October 26, 2020
Old man: everyone is selfish and bad
Young man: I know some good and selfless people
Old man: think again
Young man: I still think they are good
Old man: you are an idiot, they are not
A book that bores you to the extent of feeling like throwing in the fire
Also, the conversation is pure stories with no support to it whatsoever other than mistrusting people's intentions.
Young man: I know some good and selfless people
Old man: think again
Young man: I still think they are good
Old man: you are an idiot, they are not
A book that bores you to the extent of feeling like throwing in the fire
Also, the conversation is pure stories with no support to it whatsoever other than mistrusting people's intentions.
April 14, 2012
A couple odds and ends essays from Twain that are a delight to fans of his writing. His wit shows through most of them and his expose on Shakespeare is enough to put probable doubt into the question of his literary prowess.
September 23, 2013
several great writings in this .. there are also several .. not so great ones.. but over all I did like the book
February 23, 2018
Most of the essays aren't particularly interesting (on tobacco and bees)
January 4, 2019
Not really very informative. A highly cynical take on humanity. Admittedly I am opposed to reductionist approaches to explaining human behavior
March 22, 2021
too confusing with the Y.A stuff
December 17, 2021
The first essay was actually great. I fully enjoyed it. After that, it was a total downhill and a waste of time.
December 14, 2024
Twain’s book explores profound themes: whether man is a machine, the nature of free will, the beauty of the Bernese Alps, critiques of martyrdom and mad ambition, and the legacy of Shakespeare.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews