Jackson Cyril > Recent Status Updates

The contrast of the Vronsky/Anna couple and Levin/Kitty is quite intriguing. The latter are engaged in helping Nicholas (who is dying), while the latter are superficially enjoying life even though they're killing both Karenin and his son.

Spinoza in the first 3 pages proves the existence of God, and by page 10 has described his characteristics and by the end of the first part has proved that God has no free will and that he is subject to desire. Doing all this using rigorous proof in the example of Euclid just makes that much more awesome!

Decided to re read Dante. Why? Because he's that damn good.

Tolstoy in "The Kingdom of God is within you" accuses Kaiser Wilhelm II of being a "comical"character, but when reading about his torturous childhood (WHAT IN HELL WAS WRONG WITH HIS MOTHER?)it's hard not to sympathize with the chap. And the fact that his mother thought she could take on Bismarck ("I enjoy a pitched battle") is hilarious. He's the guy who eats liberals for breakfast, and you're not.

The Epicurean idea of not fearing death is brilliantly espoused in the beginning of this chapter, " For to one that is born, death is certain; and to one that dies, death is certain. Therefore about(this) unavoidable thing, you ought not to grieve". He goes on to explain what is meant by having a "steady mind", and surprisingly all the tenets he describes are reminiscent of ideas Gautama Siddhartha write of later

A quick short intro to Chinese history with a strong focus on culture and society.

The glorification of the GeneralFeldMarschall continues. A cult grows around his personality and the Kaiser is (of course) jealous.

Hindenburg is a fascinating figure. I've always thought he looked like a stereotypical Prussian, clad in military attire, broad shouldered, huge with a spectacular mustache. It's really interesting to see how he, a retired General in 1914, becomes in the eyes of the German people, turns into the hero they rally around. And he keeps his reputation intact even after defeat!

Reading this for a presentation Monday on medieval Arabic philosophy. Great read chronicling the story of how the Arabic thinkers took classical science and philosophy to the next level.

To paraphrase the French mathematician Francois Arago, Tolstory writes like men breathe or like eagles fly. I just wish I had more free time to read.

If I could write like anyone it'd be Tolstoy. Effortlessly brilliant, Tolstoy actively engages the reader with lively prose and a sharp attention to detail.

Scumbag Iago

just 100 pages to go!!!!!!

Just when Dmitry's love agrees to marry him, he's arrested. Wut?

Dostoevsky skillfully constructs Ivan's arguments for the immorality of Christianity and then proceeds to reconstruct Christianity based around the edifice of love. The brilliance of the novel so far is the reader isn't told whether atheism or belief is the correct doctrine, but rather allowed to glimpse the arguments for and against both creeds.

I've learned more about human psychology in less than 200 pages of the Brothers K than in a whole year of AP Psych. Dostoevsky wrestles with the psychological extremes of the human mind and how it affects our behavior (or not) in breathtaking scope. Not limiting himself to the protagonists, his other characters (and his women) are brilliant studies by themselves.

Dimitry the serious one, Ivan the scholarly atheist, and Aloysha the mild mannered man of God. These are Karamazov's three sons.

Reading these stories is comparable to taking a stroll down my childhood memories. Joyce is maddeningly brilliant.

A great collection of short stories that harken to the reader childhood memories in all their color and splendor, and written with breathtakingly simple prose. Brilliant so far.