To Your Scattered Bodies Go, by Philip Jose Farmer - a review |
Five Stars for Concept, Three for Execution
This is the introductory book of Philip Jose Farmer's five volume Riverworld series, books that do not stand alone, and must be read in sequence from begi...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:38:00 PST |
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, by Edward Rice - a review |
A Great Life in the Great Game
Soldier, spy, swordsman, linguist, proto-anthropologist, adventurer, explorer, eroticist, prolific writer and poet, and seeker after hidden gnosis - Richard Francis Bu...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:24:00 PST |
Burton: A Biography, by Byron Farwell - a review |
Portrait of a Giant, warts and all
Richard Francis Burton lived a fantastic life packed full of enough exploits, adventures, and accomplishments to make any ten men famous. As such, no single biogra...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:16:00 PST |
The Kasidah Of Haji Abdu El-yezdi - a review |
An Agnostic Gospell
The word Kasidah can be translated Testament, and here it conveys several of the meanings of that word. It is a statement about what the author believes and what he does not, it i...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:07:00 PST |
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, book nine excerpt |
How then shall man so order life
That when his tale of years is told,
Like sated guest he wend his way;
How shall his even tenour hold?
How when the light and glow of life
Wax dim in thickly g...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:03:00 PST |
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, book eight excerpt |
There is no Heaven, there is no Hell;
These be the dreams of baby minds;
Tools of the wily Fetisheer,
To 'fright the fools his cunning blinds.
Learn from the mighty Spirits of old
To set thy fo...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:06:00 PST |
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, book seven excerpt |
Man hath no soul, a state of things,
A no-thing still, a sound, a word
Which so begets substantial thing
That eye shall see what ear hath heard.
This Soul to ree a riddle made;
Who wants the v...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Tue, 12 Dec 2006 11:33:00 PST |
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, book six excerpt |
All faith is false, all Faith is true:
Truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes
His little bit the whole to own.
What is the Truth? Was asked of yore.
Reply all ...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 04:55:00 PST |
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, book four excerpt |
There is no God, no man-made God;
A bigger, stronger, crueler man,
Black phantom of our baby-fears,
Ere Thought, the life of Life, began.
'Your gods may be, what shows they are?'
Hear China's P...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:13:00 PST |
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, Book Three excerpt |
Still wond'ring how the Marvel came
Because two coupling mammals chose
To slake the thirst of fleshly love,
And thus the 'Immortal Being' rose;
Who knows not Whence he came nor Why,
Who kens n...
Posted by Sir Richard Francis Burton on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 07:31:00 PST |
