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The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. Vol I, Part 1. May 10, 2022

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The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a major literary achievement of the 18th century published in six volumes, was written by the celebrated English historian Edward Gibbon. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings (a remarkable feat for its time). Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788-89. The original volumes were published as quartos, a common publishing practice of the time.

The books cover the period of the Roman Empire after Marcus Aurelius, from just before 180 to 1453 and beyond, concluding in 1590. They take as their material the behaviour and decisions that led to the decay and eventual fall of the Roman Empire in the East and West, offering an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell.Gibbon is sometimes called the first “modern historian of ancient Rome.”

By virtue of its mostly objective approach and highly accurate use of reference material, Gibbon’s work was adopted as a model for the methodologies of 19th and 20th century historians. (From Wikipedia.)

This is a collaborative reading.

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Creative Evolution, by Henri Bergson. Part IV. May 09, 2022

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Creative Evolution (French: L'Évolution créatrice) is a 1907 book by French philosopher Henri Bergson. Its English translation appeared in 1911. The book provides an alternate explanation for Darwin's mechanism of evolution, suggesting that evolution is motivated by an élan vital, a "vital impetus" that can also be understood as humanity's natural creative impulse. The book was very popular in the early decades of the twentieth century, before the Neodarwinian synthesis was developed.

The book also develops concepts of time (offered in Bergson's earlier work) which significantly influenced modernist writers and thinkers such as Marcel Proust. For example, Bergson's term "duration" refers to a more individual, subjective experience of time, as opposed to mathematical, objectively measurable "clock time." In Creative Evolution, Bergson suggests that the experience of time as "duration" can best be understood through creative intuition, not through intellect. (From Wikipedia).

Translated by Arthur Mitchell (1872 - 1953).

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Creative Evolution, by Henri Bergson. Part III. May 09, 2022

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Translated by Arthur Mitchell (1872 - 1953).

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Creative Evolution, by Henri Bergson. Part II. May 09, 2022

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Translated by Arthur Mitchell (1872 - 1953).

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Creative Evolution, by Henri Bergson. Part I. May 09, 2022

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Translated by Arthur Mitchell (1872 - 1953).

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Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse. Part II. May 09, 2022

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Siddhartha is one of the great philosophical novels. Profoundly insightful, it is also a beautifully written story that begins as Siddhartha, son of an Indian Brahman, leaves his family and begins a lifelong journey towards Enlightenment. On the way he faces the entire range of human experience and emotion: he lives with ascetics, meets Gotama the Buddha, learns the art of love from Kamala the courtesan, and is transformed by the simple philosophy of the ferryman Vasudeva whose wisdom comes not from learned teachings but from observing the River.

Herman Hesse (1877-1962) was a German-Swiss novelist, poet, and painter. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.

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Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse. Part I. May 09, 2022

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Herman Hesse (1877-1962) was a German-Swiss novelist, poet, and painter. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.

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The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Part V. May 05, 2022

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This 1922 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald chronicles the life of Anthony Patch, the only heir of millionaire Adam Patch, his grandfather. Anthony is young, handsome and well-educated. He marries the ravishingly beautiful Gloria, and together they plan for the day that Anthony receives his inheritance.

But what will they make of themselves in the meantime as they look forward to a life of wealth and idle leisure? What is the role of purpose in a well-lived life? Fitzgerald explores these questions in a book that is at the same time both tragic and humorous.

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The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Part IV. May 05, 2022

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The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Part III. May 05, 2022

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