The Tunnel, Ernesto Sábato. — javi2541997
In memory of Vernor Vinge, d. 2024 I'm rereading
• A Fire Upon The Deep — 180 Proof
Yes. I usually reread only the first book (or, alternately, just one other book) in a series. I'll probably reread Peace War too. Overall Vinge's novels are quite good, especially his more speculative ideas.Have you also read A Deepness in the Sky? — Pierre-Normand
Sonetos by Camões, in both French and original Portuguese. Both are hard. — Lionino
We will say nothing here about the fact that the being of every thing necessarily includes a "whatness' [that is, is qualified in some way] and is not simply being; that is the first kind of limitations and a strong indication that there is a beginning to the being of things and of their coming to be. But who would deny that every conceivable being-except for the unique Divine Being, which lies beyond being itself-presupposes the concept of "where" in order even to be thought of and that necessarily the concept of "when" is always and in every manner identified with it... . They belong to those concepts that are always included with others, because the others cannot be thought without them.
All created things have their motion in a passive way, since it is not a motion or a dynamic that comes from the creature's own being. If, then, intellects are also created, they, too, will necessarily be set in motion,
because they are naturally led away from their source, simply by existing, and towards a goal, by the activity of their wills, for the sake of an existence fulfilled by value, of well-being. For the goal of movement in what is moved is, generally speaking, eternal well-being , just as its origin is being in general, which is God. He is the giver of being and the bestower of the grace of well-being, because he is origin and goal. Only motion in general comes from him, insofar as he is its origin; motion of a particular kind is directed toward him, insofar as he is its goal. And if an intellectual being will only move in an intellectual way, as befits its nature, it will necessarily become a knowing intellect; but if it knows, it will necessarily also love what it knows; and ifit loves, it must expand itself in longing and live in longing expansion and so intensify and greatly accelerate its motion.... Nor will it rest until it comes, in its fullness, to enter int o the fullness of what it loves, and is fully embraced by it, and accepts, in the utter freedom of its own choice, a state of saving possession, so that it belongs completely to what possess es it completely.
Re-reading The Doomed City by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky — Paine
I just started that too. First time for me. — Jamal
I didn’t know how to take it—were these in fact irruptions, or were they mere intensifications of an already unreal reality? — Jamal
This excludes the error of the ancients who completely removed the final cause from things and held that everything comes about from the necessity of matter.
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth (RIP) — Jamal
How did you get on with it? It's an extraordinary book, I thought, but hard going in all its self-reflexive cleverness. It's like someone on the spectrum, with a gift for wordplay, has just let rip. — Tom Storm
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