I was reading Tale of two cities by Charles Dickens this morning. I don’t think I have read the book before even though I heard about it numerous times. the opening paragraph is excellent. it feels like he is talking about the age of social media. but his intention was to portray the time of French Revolution. Things were good or bad based on the perspectives on which people stood during the time. it is a nice setup for the introduction to his plot. I don’t know what the gist of the plot is. I am reading this as a first time reader. the background he lays out in the opening paragraph is too captivating.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
This line of thinking can be extended to other ages of history as well. A profound writing to think through.
I sent out a newsletter on science and philosophy today. Every week I share couple of things I read on a substack newsletter. I am glad I have like more than 500 people subscribed to it. it’s a good size for me to share my thoughts and ideas as well. However it’s mostly the articles I read or quotes and notes I found in philosophy books and such. it has been going on consistently for more than 2 years. I think of it as an archive of the links and tidbits I found important. if you want to subscribe the link is here : https://scienceandphilosophy.substack.com
Daily Thoughts 