Ataraxia

  The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker A sensational, overwhelming classic Steven Pinker is one of those authors who have become classics while they are still alive and I think he is still rather young. To my surprise, I found his name in a masterpiece on history- War, What Is It Good For- and then in interviews with The Economist, where he was also mentioned last week by a reader who wrote to the newspaper. The Blank Slate is outstanding for various reasons, one of which is that it has an extraordinary range of quotes, themes and issues taken from Dostoyevsky, George Orwell- 1984, Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn and much more. The author has a brave stance in many problems and is right when he argues that we have become so mild and like in a trance on so many issues, we tolerate outrageous behavior in the name of acceptance of cultural diversity. People shy away even from condemning Nazism or mutilation- in a poignant and repelling example the authors refers to the practice of holding a...

  "She Stoops To Conquer"" is a play written by Oliver Goldsmith and first performed in 1773; it is ranked 3838 th on The Greatest Books of All Time…you find thousands of reviews of magnum opera from The GOAT and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html   7 out of 10   This made me think of https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/10/le-nozze-di-figaro-by-pierre-de.html Le Nozze di Figaro by Pierre de Beaumarchais, though I am not sure why, perhaps the same idea of a comedy that is not so satisfying, except in the case of Figaro, it is all made exuberant, dazzling by the music of Mozart   Mozart is the well-known prodigy – although given the awful results in PISA and other tests, we can see that the new generations are not bothered, and mostly have not heard of the name, never mind know about him – that is part of the classic by Malcolm Gladwell, who had studied his case and that of ...

  Poems by George Cosbuc, some lines are part of my daily ritual, since they are both romantic, and amusing – you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html   10 out of 10   Poems https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/if-by-rudyard-kipling-one-of-most.html like If, or some by George Cosbuc are delightful, although they can also be taken down, mocked, changed, or become the subject of comedy, like the famous – I thought it is one of the best known, only it is no longer thus – If   I saw a stand-up act in which ‘If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs’ from Rudyard Kipling (he was also so popular, you could think he was like a pop star for our age) is given a different interpretation, one in which you have to have your head examined, if everyone else is ‘losing theirs’ Evidentl...

  Mary, Queen of Scots by John Hale is an interesting, if not overwhelming narrative – you have thousands of reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time, The Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html   7 out of 10   Elizabeth https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/elizabeth-by-michael-hirst-10-out-of-10.html is a much better version of the same story – I now think about…what I think: it is a funny, and accurate description of what happens when we write, it is in the article from the latest issue of The Economist, looking at how AI is affecting writing, seeing as more and more humans use…non-humans to communicate   Mary, Queen of Scots centers on the unfortunate monarch, who lost her life -no need for a spoiler alert, for this all happened centuries ago – in a gruesome manner, if I have this piece right, they could not behead her...

  The Road To Lichfield by Penelope Lively was shortlisted for The Booker Prize, but it does not exist on The Greatest Books of All Time site…you find thousands of reviews on magnum opera from The GOAT and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html     8 out of 10   I was dazzled by According To Mark https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/according-to-mark-by-penelope-lively.html by Penelope Lively, I quote from it frequently, especially this passage: ‘the novelist has an infinity of choices, He chooses what is to happen, to happens, and in what way he will relate what happens, the picture he constructs is complete on its own terms…when he says this is the story and the whole story we must accept it…perhaps novelists are the only people telling the truth’ concluding hence that the writer is god’   Furthermore, this was extended to conclude that the reader must have a touch o...

  The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington was the 1919 Winner of The Pulitzer Prize, it is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, also on The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels list, if it is only 1191 st on the Greatest Books of All Time, then it is one of my Top 400 Favorites; you find thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html and YouTube channel   9 out of 10   I was exhilarated https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/alice-adams-by-booth-tarkington.html by Alice Adams, and found The Magnificent Ambersons, if perhaps not Magnificent, well, then still excellent, and furthermore, this was on the second reading, I don’t know what I did with my first note on it though   George Amberson Minafer is the hero, or anti hero of the narrative, I may decide before the end of this review if he is the good guy, or the villain, ...