Category Archives: INSIDE THE BOOK

Inside the book, Vermeer: Portraits of A Lifetime. Analysis of all the paintings of Johannes Vermeer. The book reveals for the first time that the women featured in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer were members of his own family, his daughters, his wife and mother-in-law, Maria Thins.

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READ WITHOUT EYES

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As lovers of learning and literature know all of the best fantasy, science fiction, history, romance, imagery, imagination and revelation are contained in books.  The content of movies and TV shows are often spewed from minds who pander the prurient interests to the lowest common denominators of money and mayhem.  The finest thoughts, the highest aspirations and the flightiest heights of imagination are dreamed and written by artists who write books.

Unfortunately, as my body grows older, I find that it is increasingly difficult to read books.  Diminishing eye sight, arthritis in my neck, bad back and insufficient time makes reading books more difficult.  Thank the gods, and technology for the wonderful inventions of MP 3 players and AUDIO BOOKS!

Now I can download and listen / read a vast array of literature on audio books, read to me by the some of the most talented actors:  it’s better than a bed-time story!  And I can listen to books while driving, waiting in the dentist office, walking around, sitting in the park and muti-tasking in general.  Personally, I’ve listened to more books during the past two years than I read in the previous five years.

Thanks to audio books I’ve been able to read books that I probably wouldn’t have read previously due to the sheer size and expense of the books, some of which are several thousand pages in length! Free audio books, in the public domain, are available from www.Librivox.org.   And, a vast library of books read by professional actors is available from www.Audible.com.   The most important (FREE) source of audio books is your local public library.  More and more books are available of CDs and cassette tapes every day.  I use and recommend all of these.

As for subject matter, here are some of the books I listened to recently that are my personal favourites:

All 7 books of THE LENSMAN SERIES, written by E.E. “Doc” Smith  (I consider these to be the finest science and science fiction books ever written). I listened to most of them twice!

All of the Sherlock Holmes books written by Arthur Conan Doyle  (most of these I read previously, but audio books make them more fun)

American Gods and The Anansi Boys by the magical Neill Gaimon.

Enders Game by the marvellous science fiction writer, Orson Scott Card

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, a compilation of his autobiographical writings and commentary.

Any of the legion of electrifyingly frightening books by the fantastic fiction writer, Dean Koontz.

Under the Dome by Stephen King.

The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.  One of the finest works of historical commentary ever produced.

The Republic by Plato is the pre-eminent discussion of the philosophy and culture of Western Civilization, written in 368 B.C.E.

Mien Kamph by Adolph Hitler.  This is a ‘must’ read if you care to understand the demented ‘logic’ of a demonic Germanic mind.

The Confession by John Grisham.  This is a damning diatribe, written as fiction, on the subject of capital punishment.

The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. This is a marvelous perusal of the entire subject of Western philosophers.

The complete writings of the Father of the American Revolution,  Thomas Paine.

The Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tze.  (The new English translation)

At the moment I’m listening to Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.

___________________________

Good listening!  Lawrence R. Spencer

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MORTALITY MECHANICS MANUAL Audiobook (New!)

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DOWNLOAD THE BOOK

Listen to Five Minute Selection
MORTALITY MECHANICS M MANUAL_600 Audiobook

Salutation

I am not The One.  I am not The Creator.

Yet, I am holy and sacrosanct.  I am more important and more powerful than The Gods.

            Why? You say that I am. I control your existence.

            Why? Because I promised you relief from eternal boredom, from the perpetual responsibility of  self-amusement.  Therefore, you follow my instruction without question.

            Why? Because you claim you cannot bear to endure Eternity as The One.

You offer me your trust and praise. You submit yourself to pain, anguish, amnesia and mystery.         

            Why? Because you choose Not To Be. Your stupidity is its own reward and punishment.  Your decadence ensures your slavery.  Mortality is the key to your prison.”

______________

 — An excerpt from Mortality Mechanic’s Manual, by Lawrence R. Spencer, 2012

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FREE YOURSELF TO BE YOURSELF

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1001_Things_To_Do_While_You’re_Dead — An INTERVIEW with Lawrence R. Spencer

BE YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE.

“Relax. As a disembodied spirit you don’t have to hang around with people any more so you don’t have to try to impress anyone. In human society you are usually expected to look good, smell good, be good, do good and exhibit other behavior that may not come naturally to you.

For example, if you don’t take a bath for a few weeks your body will stink like a bag of rotten meat – which is essentially what it is. As a spirit you don’t have to shower, shave, brush your teeth, eat, go to work, pee or perform any of those nasty habits.

The 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) said, “We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”

So, forget all that stuff you were taught about “now I’m supposed to…”. Do what pleases you.”

_____________________

Excerpt from 1,001 Things To Do While You’re Dead: A Dead Persons’ Guide To Living, by Lawrence R. Spencer

Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.

 

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I THINK THEREFORE I HAVE A TOOTHACHE

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I THINKMilan Kundera  (born 1 April 1929) is a Czech-born writer who went into exile in France in 1975, and became a naturalized French citizen in 1981.

Kundera’s most famous work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, was published in 1984. The book chronicles the fragile nature of an individual’s fate, theorizing that a single lifetime is insignificant in the scope of Nietzsche’s concept of eternal return. In an infinite universe, everything is guaranteed to recur infinitely. In 1988, American director Philip Kaufman released a film adaptation.

Prior to the Velvet Revolution of 1989 the Communist régime in Czechoslovakia banned his books. He lives virtually incognito and rarely speaks to the media. A perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he has been nominated on several occasions

ART, FREE ADVICE, INSIDE THE BOOK, PAN-GOD OF THE WOODS, PICTURE POEMS, POETIC NONSENSE, READING MATTER

WHO WILL BE FREE?

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PAN GOD OF THE WOODS – FREE PDF BOOK ( CLICK TO DOWNLOAD)

Pan, the Greek god of forests, shepherds and fertility, has long represented the pagan gods in general. With the advent of the Christian church communication with the pagan gods was very heavily suppressed by priests PAN GOD OF THE WOODSwho have a vested interest in eliminating religious competition, by any means required, including, but not limited to lying, stealing, cheating, murder, mayhem, extortion, torture and blackmail. As a result, general public attention to the pagan gods disappeared about 2,000 years ago.

PAN-GOD OF THE WOODS assumes that the pagan gods may still be active, living beings. If any of the ancient gods are still around in the 21st century, what are they doing now? If they are here now — still watching, still powerful, still immortal — where or how might we contact them? If Pan is still around which of us mortals could not use the helping hand of a friendly god once in awhile?

~ Lawrence R. Spencer