Name: What is Man?
ISBN: 9780195101546

Linda Wagner-Martin

Shelley Fisher Fishkin

Mark Twain

Charles Johnson

Offers a debate on the topics of free will, determinism, faith, and human nature

What is Man?

This was Twains most serious and private book. He kept it locked up, considered it to be his Bible, and spoke of it as such to friends. He had rewritten it many times before being satisfied, but still chose not to release it until after his death. It appears in the form of a dialogue between an old man and a young man who discuss who and what mankind really is. We consider ourselves as free and autonomous people, yet this book puts forth the ideas that 1) We are nothing more than machines and originate nothing not even a single thought; 2) All conduct arises from one motive self-satisfaction; 3) Our temperament is completely permanent and unchangeable; and 4) Man is of course a product of heredity, and our future, being fixed, is irrevocable -- which makes life completely predetermined. If these points are true, then buying and reading this book is not in your control, but simply must be done because it was meant to be. If these points are not true you can still make an independent decision to enjoy a great book by a legendary writer.

What Is Man?

Nooshin

چیزی بینِ دو و سه امتیاز، که چون از جایی به بعد فقط مرور کردم و همه‌ی متن رو نخوندم و ممکنه بی‌عدالتی کنم به بالا گرد می‌کنم. اگه بهم مصرّانه قرض داده نشده بود نمی‌خوندمش.

cenk karagören

Lucía RG

This has been my first Mark Twain reading and I am glad because I loved it but now the bar is really high (althought it is not as if it weren't before).
This talks about the human condition; how humans aren't really free and everything we do is primarily for our personal satisfaction, even if it is in a subconscious way. 
This kind of fucked me up but in a good way!