Books by Brights
Landmines of the Mind: 1500 Original and Impolite Assertions, Surmises, and Questions about Almost Everything
Author: Manfred Weidhorn
ISBN-10: 0595467342
ISBN-13: 978-0595467341
To Purchase: Amazon USA / Amazon UK
Description
A collection of original aphorisms about all manner of things, written from an agnostic perspective. Some examples are: "The trouble with Christianity is that it made the Bible even longer." "So many religions out there! Religious affiliation is a lottery ticket. The winning ticket, if there is one, will be announced in the hereafter, if there is one." "It is strange that no Protestant, Jew, Mohammedan, atheist or agnostic has ever had a vision of the Virgin Mary, especially as these unbelievers need her graceful intercession much more than do the faithful children of the Church." "The First Amendment trumps the First Commandment." "Torah, Gospel, Koran--rumors about Eternity." "Religion is for most people like reaching the Home Path in Parcheesi." "Poor God--trapped in eternity! And of his own making, to boot. Presumably." "People blithely speak of 'The Bible,' as in 'The Bible says' or 'The Bible prohibits.' But there is no 'Bible'! There are only interpretations of the 'Bible'--the Judaic interpretation, the Catholic, the Protestant, the Islamic."
About the Author
Manfred Weidhorn was born in Vienna, Austria, arrived in the U.S. at the age of 10. Educated at Stuyvesant H.S. (NYC), Columbia College (B.A., 1954), the University of Wisconsin (M.A., 1957), and the Columbia University Graduate School (Ph.D., 1963), as well as serving i n t he U.S. Army (Artillery, 1954-56), he has taught at the University of Alabama, Brooklyn College, and Yeshiva University, where he has been the Abraham and Irene Guterman Professor of English since 1988. Listed in Outstanding Educators of America, he has published a dozen books and nearly a hundred essays on such topics as Shakespeare, Milton , Galileo, literary themes, and cultural history, in addition to Young Adult biographies of Napoleon, Robert E. Lee, and Jackie Robinson. He has received the Farrow Award for Excellence in Churchill Studies and the Victor J. Emmett Jr Award for Best Essay. His SWORD AND PEN has been called by a Churchill expert one of the best books on Churchill, and his three Young Adult biographies have each been twice cited in lists of outstanding books. He has made appearances on Radio and Television, including on William F. Buckley's "Firing Line."
