Môi Trường Văn Hóa Đô Thị Hiện Đại tải xuống LIT miễn phí

Ana Valentim annavalentim — it was a good book

Sohaib Tahir _ech_innie — this book was a pleasure to read.

Agnieszka Wawro agnieszkawawro — I must confess that I didn't find much that was especially insightful in Camus' account of rebellion, revolution, and nihilism here while reading it, but now that I look back on it, I see that he actually has much to say--and that much of it is worthwhile. Camus begins by defining the rebel as one who affirms by negating, who says yes in saying no--one who decries absolute freedom in establishing limits to acceptable behavior. He thus immediately counterposes the rebel with the nihilist, who, in denying that anything has meaning, valorizes a conception of life which is dominated by mere facts--power. He takes issue with revolutionary movements as they have existed in the twentieth century, claiming most of them to have betrayed the origins of rebellion by replacing it with an absolutist--even, totalitarian--ethic. He sees much to be respected in the efforts of the Russian 'revolutionaries' of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (a group from which he of course excludes Lenin), who rebelled against tsarism and tyranny often violently. Camus finds their nobility partly in the fact (which he posits) that these revolutionaries, unlike many of their counterparts of the twentieth century, were often quite consumed by doubt and engaged in murder and assassination only with much reluctance and much moderation. He laments, then, the disappearance of such doubt and moderation in the nihilism that gripped much of the twentieth century, nihilism that gave rise to the uncompromising ideology of Marxism-Leninism and, not unrelatedly, Nazism, and denounces its consequences. Camus also roundly criticizes many of his intellectual contemporaries for their undying faith in Marxism, claiming, for one, that Marxism reproduces some of the central problems of religious faith (ie, in relegating justice, etc., to the "Later On," as he puts it--that is, post-capitalist society) and entails the negation of much that is defensible and good in humanity by reducing human obligation to the promotion of revolution. I think he's certainly on to something here, but I think his reading of Marx is also somewhat flawed, in that Camus seems to disregard Marx's concern with emancipation and free conscious activity in his efforts to discredit the approach of the "prophet of justice." Camus posits a different approach to social change, claiming that rebels/revolutionaries, in their efforts to combat injustice, should never lose sight of the importance of beauty within the conception of human dignity. It seems that many so-called revolutionaries, though (probably more of the socialist-Marxist bent), would reject Camus' analysis as sentimental and, in fact, supportive of the status quo. Does Camus then break with the predominance of Marxist thought in his day and accept something close to anarchism? He certainly seems to reject revolutionary society (at least, the revolutions demonstrated thus far by history), but he remains highly critical of bourgeois society as well. Contemplating these tensions is crucially important, and Camus's The Rebel certainly represents an important contribution to this debate.

Vinicius Moret viniciusmoret — 2011- A quick, pretty funny read by the SNL writer/Sarah Palin impersonator.(She'll probably hate me for saying that.)

Hanyu Zhu bill_zhu — A Scanner Darkly is a very good story, alternately funny and tragic. Written in the early seventies it is based in the then future of 1994, and depicts the drug subculture, especially surrounding the use of ‘Substance D’. It is based on Dick’s personal experiences and Dick dedicates the book to those of his acquaintances who suffered death or debilitation from drug use. Although the protagonist is an undercover cop, Dick doesn’t delve as much into the multitude of problems relating to the illegality of drugs (the loss of civil liberties, the militarization and corruption of the police, and the violence fuelled by the large sums of money to be made smuggling and distributing an illegal substance with high demand) as I had expected. But it was written in the early seventies and many of these problems didn’t begin to manifest themselves until the eighties after Reagan ramped up the ‘War on Drugs’. Instead Dick focuses on the mental and psychological issues with addiction and the use of psychoactive substances (ie Substance D), and the tragic waste of human potential that ultimately results.

Artlines Media _rtlines_ — Boy, did I like this book! This morning I was at page 190 and I spent the entire day reading. I didn't want it to end! It's full of exitement, (my hands were literally sweating when Elder woke up and found those Xs on the doors) love, (would you just kiss her already!?) the feeling of being locked in a cage (one time I actually opened my window just to check if the fresh air was still there)and all the while there was this big mystery going on. Who is the killer? Who is this "other one" everybody's talking about? Who is Elders father? Why are all the creative people on mental meds? All these damn questions and I felt like I, as the reader, would do anything to get a clue to any of them. There was a small lack of romance in this book though. I mean the love was always there, within their grasp, but then some frexing alarm would go off or Amy would start to think of her old boyfriend, Jason, or Eldest would send out an all-call to everyone on the ship. I know some people thought that Elder's obsessive-ness over Amy was too much, but I thought it was really sweet (I mean c'mon, he's never seen enyone with different eye-, hair- or skincolor than him. Also he's never met anyone his age before). Sometimes I even got a little bit mad at Amy for not noticing. Harley. Harley. What to say about Harley? He was definetly one of my favorite characters in the entire book, but I wish we'd get to know more of his past. I loved how he called Amy 'little fish', and he would always support Amy when everybody else (exept Elder) turned their backs on her. PLEASE GIVE ME "A million suns" NOW!!! Grr, argh! (Buffy reference? anyone? no?)