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Utopia
Utopia | Thomas More
'Even if you can't eradicate harmful ideas or remedy established evils, that's no reason to turn your back on the body politic' In Utopia, Thomas More gives us a traveller's account of a newly-discovered island where the inhabitants enjoy a social order based on natural reason and justice, and human fulfilment is open to all. As the traveller, Raphael, describes the island to More, a bitter contrast is drawn between this rational society and the custom-driven practices of Europe. So how can the philosopher try to reform his society? In his fictional discussion, More takes up a question first raised by Plato and which is still a challenge in the contemporary world. In the history of political thought few works have been more influential than Utopia, and few more misunderstood. Dominic Baker-Smith's introduction examines the conflicting voices and perspectives of More's masterpiece and relates them to the European context of his time. This new edition also includes a chronology, notes, appendices, glossary and suggested further reading. Translated and introduced by Dominic Baker-Smith
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trifleneurotic
Utopia | Thomas More

...elsewhere men talk of public good, but look after their private good...in Utopia, where all possessions are in common, everyone is certain that, provided that care is taken to keep the public barns full, everyone will have whatever he wants for his private use. For there is no unfair distribution of property, there are no paupers or beggars there, and though no one has anything, yet all are rich.

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trifleneurotic
Utopia | Thomas More
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Pickpick

A important work, from 1516 no less. Not to be tasted, but "chewed and digested" as Bacon would say. The author not only wishes us to compare actual societies against an ideal one, but if a more "communal" could even come to exist from purposeful human agency. In this American election year, it's all the more important to ask what kind of society we want & why. Not an easy read. But like most difficult tasks, it pays dividends. Recommended.

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trifleneurotic
Utopia | Thomas More
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"Men could no more live without iron than without fire and water, though nature has given no use to gold and silver, which we might not easily go without, if man's folly had not put a price upon scarceness."

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trifleneurotic
Utopia | Thomas More
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Not a blurb, per se. Just a picture of me & my reading buddy this morning.

hannah-leeloo Adorable 6d
trifleneurotic @hannah-leeloo Thank you :) Her name is Snowelle. 6d
hannah-leeloo A beautiful name, I love unusual names 😍 6d
3 likes3 comments
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laurieluna
Utopia | Thomas More
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Picked this up primarily due to its link to Ever After:A Cinderella Story, but reading up on it and getting stuck into the introduction has me very intrigued!

30 likes1 stack add
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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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Pickpick

I finished this a little while ago but completely forgot to post. This isn't quite a comfort read, but it is a book I enjoy re-reading. Picture is my #handspun yarn, I've been doing a lot of #spinning lately.
#serialreader #craftingwhilereading

AmyG Wow! Do you then knit something with your yarn? (edited) 1y
EllanaRose @AmyG I crochet mostly! But yes, I use the yarn I make, even if it takes an age 1y
AmyG I think that‘s amazing. 1y
24 likes3 comments
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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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I think this is the biggest part I disagree with. I don't think a wonderful place would have such inequality as slavery, and fixed gender roles aren't great. It can be passed off as being of its time, but there's also the discussion about property which feels very modern.
Honestly this is why I love this book. There's always something new to discover.
#serialreader

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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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I am thoroughly enjoying this. I'm pretty sure this is my fourth time reading it, but each time I find something new
#serialreader

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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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Communism in 1516, I love it
#serialreader

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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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Another day, another issue! Such an interesting look at early 16th century thought
#serialreader

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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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Another issue done! This is the most I've read in ages. It's good to note that this was written in 1516 and is firmly against the death penalty
#serialreader

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EllanaRose
Utopia | Thomas More
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After almost two years of not even wanting to read, I've started a book.
#serialreader

22 likes1 stack add
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rwmg
Utopia | Thomas More
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Pickpick

Interesting first half. More gives some opinions on social problems of his day (is executing thieves a good idea, what makes people steal, does govt and social policy make them thieves?) and the difficulty of reform from within a corrupt and corrupting system. 👎

rwmg In Book Two, we get more about the social set up of the Utopians. I suppose their lifestyle with communal meals was based on More's experience with monasticism. I read he was thinking of joining a monastery at one point in his life -- and did some time as a lay brother without taking any vows.

Can humans be taught not to desire status and riches? More seems to think they can.

👎
2y
rwmg He thinks complete religious toleration is impossible, and draws the line at those who attempt to force their views on others. A pity he didn't put it into practice himself.

An interesting read, though unclear how seriously he meant it.
2y
AnnR Nice review @rwmg 2y
rwmg @Ann_Reads thank you 2y
31 likes4 comments
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rwmg
Utopia | Thomas More
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Kimberlone
Utopia | Thomas More
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I‘ve watched 5 episodes of Utopia on Amazon Prime with my bf over the last week. He‘s off to work out of town now, so the season is paused for now til he gets back. Hard to categorize the genre, but it‘s definitely some hybrid of horror/sci-fi/dystopian/conspiracy thriller. The plot also revolves around a mysterious graphic novel that seems to predict worldwide pandemics.

+25 points
+1 point
89 points total

#Scarathlon2020 #TeamHarkness

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RealBooks4ever
Utopia | Thomas More
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A satire for the early 1500s.

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RealBooks4ever
Utopia | Thomas More
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Finally reading Thomas More's Utopia.

julesG You just reminded me that I read this ages ago. 5y
RealBooks4ever @julesG Did you like it? 5y
julesG Yes and no. It was good, but I wish I had had a more recent translation. The one we were using for our university course was more Elizabethan English than Modern. So those 190(?) pages dragged on and on. 5y
julesG Might have to reread an edition like yours. 5y
15 likes4 comments
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tournevis
Utopia | Thomas More
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DS9 2x15 #Paradise I enjoyed this episode. Well acted. Explores the tyranny of strict ideologies and the illusory nature of the “good old days“. Fast fact: they weren't. Producer Michael Piller wanted to explore cults here, but no cookie; that group is not a cult and Alixus is not a religious leader. Also it's football, DS9 writers, not soccer! It‘s not hard! Also, O‘Brien‘s underwear. Tagging the original Utopia, as you do. #startreksummerjune

Megabooks Wait, I don‘t remember the underwear. Love the backstory on the episode. Thanks! 5y
tournevis @Megabooks He takes his uniform off to lose his pursuers. 5y
Megabooks Nice boxers, dude. 😉😉 5y
42 likes4 comments
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SailorMoon
Utopia | Thomas More
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I just found this new weekly game!
(New to me at least, and I'm joining it with pleasure!)
#PreMondayVibes
@pepsicola

1. Thursday: I know that I'll have to hang on just another day before having two entire ones to myself!!!

2. I'm literally obsessed with 30STM, Muse, Imagine Dragons and Bon Jovi 🤟🏻

3. Work 😭 I love my job, but I'll glady trade my work week with a vacation!!!

4. Utopia by Thomas More

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SailorMoon
Utopia | Thomas More
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Short book by Thomas More about the fictional island of Utopia, a place where people live in peace, working for the common good and private property does not exist. A "utopic" place, in fact.
A lot of what it says it's kind of predictable, no news for us here. Consider reading it in the XVI century though and you might find why it is believed to be so innovative.
I'm just halfway through it, but so far it is really interesting!

51 likes1 stack add
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squirrelbrain
Utopia | Thomas More
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So this is an unusual little book! It came in a ‘goody bag‘ I got from Somerset House when on the London Bookshop Crawl. It says on the blurb that More proposed an alphabet in the original book and that this is a ‘translation‘ of the text into this alphabet.

I imagined it would be in English as well, but it‘s not, as you can see! 🤔

A_woman_on_a_bike Wow! Good luck with that 🧐🤓😃 6y
Jee_HookedOnBookz Gosh... What are those? Symbols of some kind? Any way to find out? 6y
tournevis It's in English. It's just the alphabet that's different. 6y
See All 6 Comments
squirrelbrain @Jee_HookedOnBookz apparently the alphabet is in the original ‘Utopia‘ book. @tournevis I don‘t fancy ‘translating‘ the whole thing letter by letter; I had assumed that it would be some kind of parallel text matching the ‘English‘ to the ‘Utopian‘ alphabet! 6y
Jee_HookedOnBookz @squirrelbrain oh I see it now! Oh gosh... Good luck! Either that or don't waste your precious reading time! 😅 6y
tournevis @squirrelbrain It's a cool artifact! 6y
85 likes1 stack add6 comments
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HLouiseM
Utopia | Thomas More
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I was looking for something else when Utopia caught my eye. I asked myself, “Why buy it when it‘s on the public domain, though? Then I saw who wrote the intro and essays and I was done for.
-What makes you buy a book you could read for free?

readordierachel That would do it! 6y
8 likes1 comment
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sprainedbrain
Utopia | Thomas More
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Mehso-so

Some thoughts:

-This book was published in 1516, and I can tell.

-This book was written by a member of the ruling class, and it shows.

-Interesting ideas, but hard for me in 2018 to consider a super patriarchal society with slavery to be ideal.😬

-More was a Catholic statesman and later sainted, so there‘s an extended section on Utopian religions...or maybe it just seemed long 😴

-My U for #LitsyClassics: easier than Ulysses. 😂

⭐️⭐️1/2

Jennick2004 Yuck lol 6y
Mindyrecycles Eww on that idea of Utopia, but well done getting through it! 6y
rubyslippersreads I can't forgive Sir Thomas More for being an early detractor of Richard III. 6y
CarolynM @rubyslippersreads Me either. I found Wolf Hall quite satisfying. 6y
109 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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emmavictoria3
Utopia (Revised) | Thomas More
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*am I Danielle de Barbarac yet?*

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MayJasper
Utopia (Revised) | Thomas More
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A ha a coincidence❣️ today's #augustisatrip photo challenge is #utopia and till today I had no idea that the word was coined by Sir Thomas More who featured prominently in the marvellous book I have recently finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's one of those books that stays with you.

@vkois88 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

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Lcsmcat
Utopia | Thomas More
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My copy of #Utopia comes with this map from the 1518 edition. #augustisatrip @vkois88 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I love maps!!! 6y
66 likes1 comment
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nalinisriv
Utopia | Thomas More

June. It was a great month. In this month, I finished reading 10 books. Now, I have to keep up with the bar I have set for myself. I started taking ARCs in exchange for honest review and I guess I am doing good. Feels great to learn so much in just 1 month. There are few genres that I will be trying from July, just to explore. I hope to set the bar higher this month. Cheers!

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Rachbb3
Utopia | Thomas More
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Mehso-so

Thank goodness for Serial Reader because this was a difficult one to get through for me. Some ideas and ways of the Utopians were interesting, but I found that much of this was TOO much.

#Litsyclassics
#Serialreader

SerialReader Congrats on finishing!! 🎉🎉 6y
70 likes1 stack add1 comment
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littlefoxlibrarian
Utopia (Revised) | Thomas More

...might need to re-read this one. Had to read it in high school, and it was like advanced Swahili to me.

Chelleo Advanced Swahili? 😂 7y
asiriusreader Welcome to Litsy! 7y
6 likes2 comments
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BookwormBoo
Utopia (Revised) | Thomas More
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Pickpick

Finally got to this bad boy after years of wanting to read it. Definitely wish I'd read it sooner. This book made me look up a bunch of stuff and I swear I spent a whole day reading about the equator and looking at old maps because of one line from this book. 😅

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Samplergal
Utopia | Thomas More
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Mehso-so

I have to say these serial readers are the only reason I‘d ever get through some of these classics. Some of these are just no longer relevant, imho. This was for a challenge. Or I wouldn‘t have bothered.

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Utopiyll
Utopia | Thomas More
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Heyo littens 🐱
I finally made a goodreads account! 🎉 I hardly have any idea how to use this but I would love to be connected to you all on there! So, just leave your account name below or the litsy group, or just add me (I'll leave a link!) So I can have all you wonderful littens on there!
Ps: I also need help trying to figure out how to use the website. 😂

Here's the link to my account: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/72348113-utopiyll

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AHaj
Utopia | Thomas More
Pickpick

This one is on my top 10 list of favourites!! It relaxes my every muscle!!! He was a pure genius.

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Sarah83
Utopia | Thomas More
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26 likes1 stack add
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batsy
Utopia | Thomas More
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Pickpick

This is a pick because as China Miéville explains in his introductory essay, "We are all...Thomas More's children". I found it interesting for its content and for its limitations, because More's Utopia maintains slavery and patriarchy. Considering More's social position, the lesson for modern readers may be: don't let the people in power imagine a new world for you. This particular edition is excellent just for Le Guin's set of essays alone. ⬇️

batsy Le Guin: "The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary." Hear, hear! The main thing I learned from this is that new forms of society can't be imagined merely by tweaking the current status quo, and Le Guin's essays wrestle with the hows and whys. Letter U for #LitsyAtoZ 7y
TheKidUpstairs Oooh, this edition looks interesting. I've got Utopia on my 2018 TBR for #LitsyClassics. I think I'll seek out this edition. Thanks for posting! 7y
saresmoore Why, yes, I think I need this edition. Great review! 7y
See All 12 Comments
Simona Great review, as always 😘 7y
batsy @TheKidUpstairs You're welcome! Love Le Guin's essays. 7y
batsy @saresmoore @Simona Thank you! ❤️ 7y
LeahBergen Nicely reviewed! 👏🏻 7y
Heideschrampf Seems like a great edition! 7y
batsy @LeahBergen Thank you 😘 7y
batsy @Heideschrampf Yes, I'd recommend it if you're looking to read Utopia 🙂 7y
RohitSawant Fantastic review! 7y
batsy Thank you @rohit-sawant 7y
63 likes2 stack adds12 comments
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Leniverse
Utopia (Revised) | Thomas More
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#30DaysofReadathon Countdown 29: Short book

I can't deny I love big books, but here is a selection of short ones, pulled somewhat randomly from the shelves.

batsy Super interesting collection 😍 7y
41 likes1 comment
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bloodytears1986
Utopia | Thomas More

Really want to read Utopia but kind of intimadated.

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Lcsmcat
Utopia | Thomas More
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britt_brooke Excellent! 👏🏻 7y
30 likes1 comment
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ellidaniels
Utopia | Thomas More
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"For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them."
—Thomas More, Utopia

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Lcsmcat
Utopia | Thomas More
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Pickpick

This book surprised me. It's one of those classics that everyone thinks they know, but there was more pleasure
in reading it than I expected. Book 1 was a bit slow, but Book 2 made the persistence worth it. My particular edition (Classics Club) had footnotes that referred one not just to (for example) "Plato's Republic" but gave page numbers for the Classics Club edition thereof, making it easy to look up. #letterU #LitsyAtoZ @BookishMarginalia

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Lcsmcat
Utopia | Thomas More
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"where money wields all the influence, it is hard and almost impossible that there the commonwealth may justly be governed, and prosperously flourish."

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Lcsmcat
Utopia | Thomas More
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I spent most of today adding books to #Libib, and now I'm going to put my feet up and read about Utopia. #LitsyAtoZ #LetterU @BookishMarginalia

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Lcsmcat
Utopia | Thomas More
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I started reading Utopia tonight. It's a 1947 edition, but so far the translation seems very readable. #currentread #currentlyreading #classics #more

batsy Very nice. I'll be reading it soon as part of my #LitsyAtoZ. 7y
Lcsmcat It's been on my shelf fo years and #LitsyAtoZ is what motivated me to finally read it. 7y
36 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Ecuestre93
Utopia | Thomas More
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Pickpick

Not an easy read but well worth it! I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone! My copy had a few poems about Utopia.

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katedensen
Utopia | Sir Thomas More
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Thought you Littens would appreciate this Daily Shouts piece from The New Yorker: "Upcoming Utopian Novels (Now That We Live in a Dystopia)"

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/upcoming-utopian-novels-now-that-we-...

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GoneFishing
Utopia | Sir Thomas More

They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters and to wrest the laws, and, therefore, they think it is much better that every man should plead his own cause, and trust it to the judge...

31 likes1 stack add
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Ecuestre93
Utopia | Sir Thomas More
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Opening my mind to a whole new way of thinking!

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Andrea313
Utopia | Thomas More
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Going through some old books and uncovered a "bookmark" in one. Taken together, these items are all you need to know about me in high school. #utopia #lesmiz #understudyslip

3 likes1 stack add
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RachelS89
Utopia | Saint Sir Thomas More
Pickpick

When you read this book you really have to think about the time period in which it was written. Some of More's ideas which were revolutionary in the 1500's would now be considered outdated. Readers also need to keep in mind that this book was somewhat satirical - it's likely that not all of his suggestions are serious. Even if you don't agree with More's ideas, it's an interesting and thought-provoking read.

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GoneFishing
Utopia | Thomas More

For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.

Suet624 Oh boy. 8y
37 likes7 stack adds1 comment