I've been spending all my free time watching episodes of Terry Jones' Medieval Lives which is a BBC production from 2004 which debunks prevailing myths about Damsels in distress, Minstrels, Knights, Kings, Alchemists, etc. There are eight episodes which are humorous and then a piece on Gladiators at the end which is much more serious and which I keep watching because I feel we are beginning to slide in that direction as a society...what does it take to be innoculated to violence to a point where you only view it as entertainment? What's the tipping point where we can't see all of us as fellow human beings on a societal level? It may be that on an individual level some people never got to that point, and some have been hardened so that they no longer see it.
I started reading the Feynman book on the bus. So far it's been an easy read, but only glossed on the surface of things. I hope he went more in depth (in 1963), 'cos he's looking at a BIG picture, and admitting that he could fall on his face by speaking on a subject outside his specialty. And he could, or possibly did, but how refreshing that he spoke to it anyway. I am always thirsting for someone to talk about the bigger picture. (And to defend science for the sake of knowledge as opposed to thinking it should only exist for a specified outcome based on a short-sighted financial gain and lacking any forethought about knowledge or the future implications which may not occur in our lifetimes.)
I don't know why I chose the thickest (Dickens) book to start. Aaaagh.
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