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  <title><![CDATA[Micromegas and Other Short Fictions (Penguin Classics)]]></title>
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    <![CDATA[Micromegas and Other Short Fictions]]>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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  <date_added>Tue Mar 20 16:18:59 -0700 2007</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[There's a reason Micromegas is not as well known as Candide. Although a funny story, it lacks the oomph of the latter. Candide was an attack an a very popular philosophy whereas Micromegas is a broader satire.<br/><br/>However the stories found in this collection are still very funny and Micromega...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/351131">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Micromegas and Other Short Fictions]]>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[I read this book in one sitting, while sitting in the stairwell at the graduation party of a girl that I had a crush on. I was sixteen and moody. Her family and friends and friends of family and family friends were there. I finished the book and went and talked to the girl for a minute. The girl is ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11856831">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Micromegas: And Other Stories]]>
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  <average_rating>3.75</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>4</ratings_count>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[I actually just have the version with Micromegas alone.]]></body>
    
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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    <![CDATA[Micromegas and Other Short Fictions]]>
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>50</ratings_count>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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      <review>
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  <average_rating>3.92</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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  <published>1999</published>
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    <![CDATA[Micromegas and Other Short Fictions]]>
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    <![CDATA[Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in &quot;The World as It Is&quot; learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These &quot;fables of reason&quot; challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.]]>
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  <published>1999</published>
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  <date_added>Wed Sep 09 12:42:50 -0700 2009</date_added>
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