This is a brilliant book about the best of the best quotations from Tolstoy’s many works. It is written and edited by Bob Blaisdell, someone who is obsessed with Tolstoy and who have read everything about him. And I mean everything.
As Blaisdell remarks, “[t]he quotations come from his earliest surviving diary (begun when he was eighteen); his fiction (published from the time he was twenty-three until his death-and after); religious writings; political tracts; conversations with his acquaintances and visitors; and letters to his family, friends, and, as in the case of his inspirational note to Mohandas Gandhi, worldwide correspondents.”
From all of these treasure trove, Blaisdell then selected the best of the best lines, organized them, and arranged them in a chronological order in connection with Tolstoy’s life experiences. Beginning from childhood in chapter 1, all the way to the age where he was approaching death in chapter 6.
As a result, we can see the growth of the person from the words and from his train of thoughts, as well as the bitterness during his crisis years, which shed a light into Tolstoy the flawed human being and not as a sage that he is often referred as. Which makes his writings more humanly relatable.
It is the best possible introduction to Tolstoy’s writings. Or more precisely for me, it is like the gateway drug back to his writings, since I didn’t finish War and Peace and I wasn’t too moved by A Calendar of Wisdom. You know what they say, third’s time a charm.
Can’t wait to read his other works, this time around will read the ones with the reputable English-language translators.
THE CHAOS THEORY 