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Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, published in 1748, is one of the most important works of philosophy ever written. It systematically established that effect follows cause, an idea that seems so natural to us now that it seems strange it needed to be proved. As it turns out, in the 18th century it was highly controversial. This book is essential reading not only for an example of how a rigorous proof can change the world, but also for the superb introduction by Peter Millican, which is worth the price of the book on its own. Perhaps its greatest success is that it explains why Hume had to go to such efforts to prove cause follows effect, and the arguments (and particularly contemporary religious doctrine) that he had to overcome (even though they seem nonsensical now – an excellent lesson for all of us). Make sure to buy this edition of Hume’s work.
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Around the middle of the story, you’ll have a crisis point where your protagonist realises that they are at least partially responsible for making things work and attempts to change to overcome the antagonist. This does not, however, stop the character flaws from driving their course of action – the only difference is now they are driven by the attempt to overcome their flaws, rather than in ignorance of them.
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Stan and Charmaine are living in their car, struggling through desperate poverty during a economic collapse. An advert for the positron project offers them a stable job and homes of their own: provided that every second month they swap their home for a prison cell. At first is well, but as they steadily become obsessed with their counterparts who are in their home while they take their turn in prison, their lives begin to unravel faster than the positron experiment itself.
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In the last lesson we introduced the cycle of conflict, action, and resolution. This cycle begins when the character’s disappointed, ordinary life is first disrupted and continues until the moment when the book ends in success or failure.
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Serena has been brought up by her brother Samuel after the disappearance of their father sent their mother into the embrace of alcoholism. While exploring an abandoned church, Serena meets the angel Calius, banished from paradise for a crime he cannot remember, and the demon Killian who has been assigned to watch over him by heaven. Has Serena inadvertently stumbled into this world beyond her imagining, or has she deeper connections to heaven and hell than she ever imagined possible?
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