As an introduction to Francis Bacon, his life, philosophy and motivation, John Henry‘s Knowledge is Power: How Magic, the Government and an Apocalyptic Vision Inspired Francis Bacon to Create Modern Science is the best that I have read to date. As the sub-title of this slim but pithy volume intimates, [Read more…]
Seth Godin wants you to use the Internet to communicate your passion to others. As the pace of change increases, the “rush from stability” combines with new technology to present everybody with opportunities for leadership, but the fear of failure inhibits people from acting differently. The book is a loose [Read more…]
“Machiavelli‘s return to the beginning means return to the primeval or original terror which precedes every man-made terror, which explains why the founder must use terror and which enables him to use terror. Machiavelli‘s return to the beginning means return to the terror inherent in man’s situation, to man’s essential [Read more…]
I have been reading Leo Strauss’ Thoughts On Machiavelli. Strauss reminds us that Marlowe had Machiavelli say on stage that, “I hold there is no sin but ignorance”. Here is Strauss‘ own deep insight into the surface of things that must have left him free of all stain of ignorance: [Read more…]
“Madness, good, bad, or merely medical, underlies a great deal of Renaissance thought, worship, morals, literature and humour… Aristotle believed that many madmen, and all geniuses, were melancholic, an assertion he explained with the help of Plato: he took the inspiration of the true genius to be one of the [Read more…]
Robert Greene has written a book in the tradition of Machiavelli. He illustrates his “laws” with historical examples of what happens when they are followed or transgressed. Each chapter concludes with a section discussing the reversal of the law. The book is charmingly laid out with the main narrative flanked by fables, anecdotes and maxims. But a question arises: Is Greene’s rhetorical display of [Read more…]
Is there a secret cypher buried in the First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays, or hidden on his epitaph? If such a cypher exist, does it show that Bacon wrote the plays? The rules governing cyphers must be unambiguous, the solution grammatically and semantically coherent. Two cryptanalysts working independently should [Read more…]
Romeo is lovesick for Rosaline until Mercutio persuades him to gatecrash their enemy, Capulet’s, party. Romeo promptly falls for Capulet’s daughter, Juliet, scales a wall, approaches Juliet’s balcony and is well met by moonlight. A conniving Friar secretly marries them the morning after. Romeo intervenes in a sword fight, inadvertently [Read more…]
Bunyan wrote his vivid Protestant allegory while imprisoned for unlicenced preaching. Christian, encumbered by sin, flees the City of Destruction for the straight and narrow road to the Celestial City. Passing through much tribulation, Christian encounters sloughs, valleys, hills and meadows. His sins fall from his back at Calvary, his [Read more…]
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