Charles Stross

On stage, Roebuck Ramsden, an old man of money and affairs, emerges. The maid, dressed in a beautiful mourning suit, announces Octavius Robinson, a young poet. Ramsden cautions the young poet about his companion, John Tanner.

In Plato’s Republic, Echecrates meets Phaedo of Elis, one of the men present during Socrates’ final hours. The philosopher argues that there is a perpetual cycle of life and death, so that when we die we come back to life after a period of time.

The stories aren’t ordered, so feel free to skip around. Keep in mind that many of the best stories are at the beginning. In most stories, the heroes prevail and the villains are punished. It sounds stale until you consider who’s excellent and why.

This timeless devotional classic is comprised of the letters and recorded conversations of a modest lay brother who lived in the seventeenth century. He was able to reach a great relationship with God via the most basic of activities, such as praying and reading the Bible.

The Enquiry is concerned with the roles that moral sensibility and reason play in our moral judgements. Though both moral sense and reason play a part in our formulation of moral judgements, Hume maintains that moral sense forms the final difference between vice and virtue.