BOOK NOTES

1. René Descartes – Meditations on First Philosophy 2. Blaise Pascal – Pensées 3. Nicolaus Copernicus – On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres 4. Galileo Galilei – Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems 5. Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations 6. David Hume – Various Works 7. Jeremy Bentham – Deontology; or, The Science of Morality 8. Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan 9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau – The Social Contract 10. Immanuel Kant – Critique of Pure Reason Honourable Mentions: 11. Voltaire – Candide 12. Niccolò Machiavelli – The Prince 13. John Milton – Paradise Lost 14. Edward Gibbon – The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 15. Victor Hugo – Les Misérables 16. Victor Hugo – The Hunchback of Notre Dame 17. Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex 18. Jean-Paul Sartre – Works (e.g. Being and Nothingness) Do you want me to also group them by philosophy / literature / economics / science so it’s easier to see what fields they represent?

Pensées by Blaise Pascal IS more like a collection of his unfinished notes and reflections, yet it has become one of the most powerful works in philosophy and faith. IT's about the search for meaning, the limits of reason, the pull of faith, and the strange contradictions of being human. Pensées is basically Pascal’s notebook of unfinished thoughts about life, faith, and what it means to be human. The most famous part is Pascal’s Wager : the idea that believing in God is the most rational choice because the possible gain (eternity) outweighs the risk. But what really makes Pensées timeless is how he calls out our habit of running away from the big questions. He says we fill our lives with “diversions” — entertainment, work, busyness — to avoid facing our mortality and the question of God. BOOKCLUB PROMPT: Hey fam, This month we’re diving into Pensées by Blaise Pascal. It’s not a polished book but more like a collection of his unfinished notes and reflections, yet it has become o...