VOLTAIRE – Jericho Brisance

Reading List from the Year 2015

December 29, 2015 by Matt 33 Comments

It has been a great year for reading. I found it gratifying and a little surprising when I assembled the entire list of books that I consumed over the past 12 months. Formats ranged from paperback to hardback to Kindle to Audible. I’ve divided the 39 books into the four categories listed below.

Novels
Books about Writing Books
History and Religion
Still Reading

Each book cover links to Amazon for the publisher’s synopsis. I’ve added my own micro-commentary below each book, not to substitute for a longer synopsis, but simply to highlight what I found notable about each. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, George R. R. Martin, Grant L. Voth, Harper Lee, Herodotus, Holms, Homer, Hugh Howey, Ian McEwan, James Joyce, John Steinbeck, John Zande, Joseph Conrad, Josephus, Ken Kesey, Lightfoot, Lindsey Davis, Margaret Atwood, Markus Zusak, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Paul Maier, Paula Hawkins, Peter Carey, Richard Carrier, Thomas Paine, Veronica Roth, VOLTAIRE, Yann Martel

Quotation: Voltaire on Miracles

October 2, 2013 by Matt 6 Comments

The daughters of the high priest Anius changed whatever they chose into wheat, wine or oil.

Athalida, daughter of Mercury, was resuscitated several times.

Aesculapius resuscitated Hippolytus.

Hercules dragged Alcestis back from death.

Heres returned to the world after passing a fortnight in hell.

The parents of Romulus and Remus were a god and a vestal virgin.

The Palladium fell from heaven in the city of Troy.

The hair of Berenice became a constellation.. . .

Give me the name of one people among whom incredible prodigies were not performed, especially when few knew how to read and write.

~ Voltaire, Miracles and Idolatry, cited from Hitchens (2007)