The Best Of All Possible Worlds

Download or read book The Best of All Possible Worlds written by Karen Lord and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED • A stunning epic that is at once a new vision of science fiction and a deeply moving love story, from the award-winning author of Redemption in Indigo “An engrossing picaresque quest, a love story, and a moving character study . . . [Karen] Lord is on a par with Ursula K. Le Guin.”—The Guardian A proud and reserved alien society finds its homeland destroyed in an unprovoked act of aggression, leaving the survivors no choice but to reach out to the indigenous humanoids of their adopted world, to whom they are distantly related. They wish to preserve their cherished way of life but discover that to protect their culture, they may have to change it forever. Now a man and a woman from opposite sides of these clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race—and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, these unlikely partners—one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive—may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all. Includes two bonus short stories “[A] fascinating and thoughtful science fiction novel that examines] adaptation, social change, and human relationships. I’ve not read anything quite like it, which makes it that rare beast: a true original.”—Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series and The Spiritwalker Trilogy “Reads like smooth jazz comfort food, deceptively familiar and easy going down, but subtly subversive.”—Nalo Hopkinson, Los Angeles Review of Books “If you want to see science fiction doing something new and fascinating . . . then you shouldn’t sleep on The Best of All Possible Worlds.”—io9 “Rewarding science fiction for emotional grown-ups.”—Mysterious Galaxy “[A] marvelously formed universe.”—The A.V. Club “A rewarding, touching and often funny exploration of the forms and functions of human culture.”—SFX “The Best of All Possible Worlds . . . poses an interesting question: What parts of you do you fight to preserve when everything you know suddenly changes?”—Associated Press

Download or read book The Best of All Possible Worlds written by Steven Nadler and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-04 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published: New York: Farrar. Straus, and Giroux, 2008.

Download or read book The Best of All Possible Worlds? Leibniz's Philosophical Optimism and Its Critics 1710-1755 written by Hernán D. Caro and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-09-25 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive survey of the criticisms of Leibniz's philosophical optimism in the first half of the eighteenth century, when what has been called the ‘debacle of the perfect world’ first began.

Download or read book The Best of All Possible Worlds written by Ivar Ekeland and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-10-31 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Optimists believe this is the best of all possible worlds, and pessimists fear that might really be the case. There was a time, during the 17th and 18th centuries, when scientists and mathematicians felt they could provide the answer. This book is their story.

Download or read book Candide written by By Voltaire and published by BookRix. This book was released on 2019-06-10 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Candide is a French satire by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply Optimism) by his mentor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". Candide is characterized by its sarcastic tone, as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is arguably taught more than any other work of French literature. It was listed as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written.

Download or read book Leibniz, Or the Best of All Possible Worlds written by Jean Paul Mongin and published by Diaphanes. This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vienna, 1714: Late in life, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the universal genius of his time, puts down his pen and declares his description of the universe to be complete. In the evening, he sits in his study room among letters, books, and manuscripts as his young friend Theodor comes for a visit. Theodor is bothered by one question: Why is there evil? And why do people commit crimes? With an example from ancient Greek mythology, Leibniz develops his theory about the best of all possible worlds. With this vivid "story within a story" Jean Paul Mongin successfully imparts the complex philosophical ideas of Leibniz to young readers. At its most basic, philosophy is about learning how to think about the world around us. It should come as no surprise, then, that children make excellent philosophers Naturally inquisitive, pint-size scholars need little prompting before being willing to consider life's "big questions," however strange or impractical. Plato & Co. introduces children--and curious grown-ups--to the lives and work of famous philosophers, from Socrates to Descartes, Einstein, Marx, and Wittgenstein. Each book in the series features an engaging--and often funny--story that presents basic tenets of philosophical thought alongside vibrant color illustrations.

Download or read book Of All Possible Worlds written by William Tenn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-03-03 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was a good job and Max Alben knew whom he had to thank for it-his great-grandfather. "Good old Giovanni Albeni," he muttered as he hurried into the laboratory slightly ahead of the escorting technicians, all of them, despite the excitement of the moment, remembering to bob their heads deferentially at the half-dozen full-fleshed and hard-faced men lolling on the couches that had been set up around the time machine.