Customer Reviews

Blaise Pascal: Thoughts, Letters, and Minor Works

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Please be advised that this review is only on Pascal's Thoughts.

I got this book as part of the Great Books of the Western World set, and of the 330 odd works and 54 volumes in that august set, this book was my favorite. Not because I was religious per se, but because I enjoyed reading the thoughts of a brilliant mathematician, philosopher, and thinker who could write so clearly and concisely and discuss so many topics in brilliant fashion. Although ostensibly about Pascal's religious convictions, he also discusses many other subjects as well. In fact, the first page of the book has a comment on women's intuition--which Pascal believed in. Pascal is also the founder of the science of probability, which he computed based on the then current popular game of 31, not 21. And let's not forget the famous "Pascal's Wager." Les Pensees was probably the most profound and intimate statement of his philosophy, and three centuries later it's still worth reading today.