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<book id="81779">
  <title><![CDATA[The Symposium]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0140449272]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780140449273]]></isbn13>
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  <books_count type="integer">65</books_count>
  <default_description>Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Christopher Gill.</default_description>
  <id type="integer">1488719</id>
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  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">1956</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>The Symposium</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:2019|5:695|4:710|3:479|2:107|1:28|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">2019</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">7994</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">2712</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">117</text_reviews_count>
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  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.96]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[1614]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[79]]></text_reviews_count>
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81779.The_Symposium]]></url>
  <authors>
        <author id="596049">
      <name><![CDATA[Christopher Gill]]></name>
      <role><![CDATA[]]></role>
      <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/596049.Christopher_Gill]]></url>
      <average_rating><![CDATA[3.94]]></average_rating>
      <ratings_count><![CDATA[1742]]></ratings_count>
      <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[91]]></text_reviews_count>
    </author>
        <author id="879">
      <name><![CDATA[Plato]]></name>
      <role><![CDATA[]]></role>
      <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/879.Plato]]></url>
      <average_rating><![CDATA[3.87]]></average_rating>
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      <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[1116]]></text_reviews_count>
    </author>
      </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="2709">
    <review id="27586669">
    <user id="1340474">
    <name><![CDATA[Scott]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Cincinnati, OH]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1340474-scott-crall]]></url>
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      <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 17 19:49:35 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jul 18 10:25:36 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Plato recounts a dinner party where all the guests drink wine until more-or-less drunk, and then proceed to participate in a &quot;dinner-game&quot; contest where each man present is required to give a speech in praise of love.  The different speeches in praise of Eros belie Plato's philosophical ag...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27586669">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27586669]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="64432834">
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    <name><![CDATA[erik]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/974210-erik-graff]]></url>
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      <rating>4</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[everyone]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 21 16:36:27 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 21 16:48:07 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>3</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Although I read the Symposium for the first time long ago, I reread the thing a couple of years ago in the Jowett translation with a friend who was finishing up a Ph.D. in Classics at Loyola University Chicago.  He had come over for dinner and we read the thing aloud to one another afterwards with b...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64432834">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64432834]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="41059027">
    <user id="1836716">
    <name><![CDATA[Eric]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Corvallis, OR]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1836716-eric]]></url>
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      <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 27 21:07:21 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jan 02 12:19:30 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Like all of Plato, it is an allegorical story with a clear objective in the defining of his thought.  <br/><br/>Socrates is held up to be a man of immense physical character, able to drink without becoming drunk, course through the winter barefoot and without feeling cold, supreme warrior and able...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41059027">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41059027]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="63779656">
    <user id="1944947">
    <name><![CDATA[Barnaby]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1944947-barnaby-thieme]]></url>
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      <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 16 16:06:03 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jul 20 09:17:39 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Plato's account of Socrates on love was more engaging than I expected. In the eponymous symposium several figures present a speech in praise of love and its qualities. Perhaps best-known is the famous speech of Aristophanes in which he humorously claims that humans once had two heads and four arms a...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63779656">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63779656]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="1154298">
    <user id="80516">
    <name><![CDATA[Marielle]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Ann Arbor, MI]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/80516-marielle]]></url>
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      <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu May 10 19:58:33 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri May 25 21:10:35 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This work is a real jewel.  Entertaining, and full of all sorts of little tidbits about love and sex; the effects of intoxicants on philosophical discourse; the nature of man's relationship with law.  There's a reason everyone in the modern world knows the names of Plato and Socrates- a must read.  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1154298">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1154298]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="69567889">
    <user id="2299020">
    <name><![CDATA[Dana]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brockton, MA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2299020-dana-miranda]]></url>
  </user>
      <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 31 10:16:08 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Sep 24 04:28:03 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[a remedial lesson of socrates slowly starts to come off as absolutist. this however, only in relation to the canceling of the socratic method and logical arguments with the encroachment of 'noble' virtues chosen from untenable dichotomist systems. disagreement mostly arise from the seemingly relativ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69567889">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69567889]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="37589631">
    <user id="22752">
    <name><![CDATA[Nat]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/22752-nat]]></url>
  </user>
      <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at>Mon Nov 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Nov 12 21:45:46 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Nov 24 22:41:28 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Plato's depiction of Alcibiades arriving at Agathon's house is the most vivid and accurate representation of an obnoxious drunk crashing a party in the history of Western literature. <br/><br/>For example, consider Alcibiades's exchange with the boorish Eryximachus at 214B. Alcibiades, who is alre...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37589631">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37589631]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="70121674">
    <user id="2249200">
    <name><![CDATA[Jess]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Provo, UT]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2249200-jess-thackeray]]></url>
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      <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Sep 04 22:39:57 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Sep 04 22:44:33 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[An interesting insight into the nature of love. Plato asserts that love is actually the desire to retain good things forever. You can do this in two ways, leaving behind children or leaving a legacy of great truth and philosophy. Love that gives birth to children is the lesser love, and the love tha...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70121674">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70121674]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="21140090">
    <user id="296982">
    <name><![CDATA[kate ]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/296982-kate]]></url>
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      <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Apr 27 20:07:43 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Apr 27 20:08:14 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[i love the idea of forms, must re-read to remember why i was so moved by this]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21140090]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="47001080">
    <user id="54697">
    <name><![CDATA[matt]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Newtonville, MA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/54697-matt]]></url>
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      <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 20 17:42:43 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 20 17:42:43 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[ This is so very good.  Really, if you haven't read it before you gotta.  It's obviously very important in the history of philosophy but it's also poetic and funny and well written.  Aristophanes has maybe the best section.  <br/><br/>Alcibiades is almost as good, though, he being the perfect guest ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47001080">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47001080]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="5430885">
    <user id="308747">
    <name><![CDATA[Nash]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Thailand]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/308747-nash]]></url>
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      <rating>3</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Philosophy buff.]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Aug 31 11:25:11 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Aug 31 11:31:31 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The book is not thick, only 121 pages.  Wiki's article sum it up like this: Plato regards love as the essential ingredient of the philosophic path and the search for wisdom. <br/><br/>As for me, I found the way the ancient Greeks were reasoning since that time interesting.  The book presents diffe...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5430885">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5430885]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="44976117">
    <user id="1255977">
    <name><![CDATA[Chris]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Baltimore, MD]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1255977-chris]]></url>
  </user>
      <rating>3</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jan 31 13:55:26 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Aug 01 16:57:01 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So I was kind of disappointed with the Symposium, not because it wasn't a good book, but because it didn't go where I wanted it to go, namely that Love is the source of 'the good'.  Instead Love was demoted to being a desire that put people on the path towards having good things forever, and basical...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44976117">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44976117]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="75377256">
    <user id="2866446">
    <name><![CDATA[Michelle]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Lubbock, TX]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2866446-michelle]]></url>
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      <rating>0</rating>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 22 09:55:21 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Oct 22 09:57:00 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The is probably the most influential book I've ever read.  In the semester after I graduated with my English degree I audited a course that had this book on its reading list.  The course was taught in the St. John's style of conversation.  Working through the meaning of this book gave me a new under...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75377256">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75377256]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="77161554">
    <user id="1631522">
    <name><![CDATA[Peter]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Toronto, Canada]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1631522-peter-poulos]]></url>
  </user>
      <rating>5</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Sun Nov 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Nov 08 19:37:11 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Nov 08 19:41:29 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Love is an interesting topic and the Symposium has not let me down.  If one is looking to step into the realm of Plato, this may be a good first step.  You not only get a good understanding of Plato's most cherished character (Socrates), but you are also brought into deep thought about the one thing...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77161554">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77161554]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="40451838">
    <user id="1734279">
    <name><![CDATA[Grant]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Palm Springs, CA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1734279-grant]]></url>
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      <rating>4</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Dec 19 07:27:52 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 28 11:31:31 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The discussions about different forms of love fall flat [how can one rationalize emotion?] but there are nuggets regarding Greek mythology that make the book a worthy read a couple of millennia plus centuries after the death of Plato. I dogeared the pages about Aphrodite's Uranian origin [male immac...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40451838">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40451838]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="12181766">
    <user id="763116">
    <name><![CDATA[Selena]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[San Jose, CA]]></location>        
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      <rating>5</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <date_added>Thu Jan 10 14:14:01 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Jan 10 15:47:19 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[My first experience with any of Plato's dialogues and it is definitely my favorite (if its proper for one to do something as trivial as name a &quot;favorite&quot; of Plato's dialogues, he didn't exactly write them to be &quot;summer fun reading,&quot; I'm sure he's making sure I'll never be a liter...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12181766">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12181766]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="5152435">
    <user id="310852">
    <name><![CDATA[John]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Sacramento, CA]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/310852-john-warner]]></url>
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      <rating>5</rating>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[everyone]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Aug 26 20:47:45 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Nov 21 12:48:23 -0800 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[There is a reason why all philosophy has been called a &quot;footnote to Plato,&quot; though I confess that my fondness for this dialog is not philosophical.  It is surpassingly beautiful, genuinely moving, and gracefully bawdy.  Its topic is love, and no one knew more about this than Plato.  All hi...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5152435">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5152435]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="71035626">
    <user id="128467">
    <name><![CDATA[Taylor]]></name>
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      <rating>2</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 13 00:29:44 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Oct 06 17:56:46 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I feel guilty; I don't particularly like Plato. There are some interesting aspects to <em>Symposium</em>, such as the nature of oral storytelling, and Aristophanes' origin of love story (which I have a soft spot for from repeat viewings of Hedwig and the Angry Inch), however, the prose is basic, and the conc...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71035626">more...</a>]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71035626]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="74213227">
    <user id="885630">
    <name><![CDATA[Tara]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/885630-tara]]></url>
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      <rating>4</rating>
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  <date_added>Sun Oct 11 18:02:57 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Oct 11 18:02:57 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Ah, I absolutely love the idea that we're pursuing our other half which we were at first split from, and that love is the child of resourcefulness and poverty. Plato's Symposium is an honest &amp; inspiring book on the theories of love.]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74213227]]></url>
</review>
    <review id="53980779">
    <user id="2256009">
    <name><![CDATA[Pseudovoid]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Linden, MI]]></location>        
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2256009-pseudovoid]]></url>
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      <rating>5</rating>
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  <date_added>Sat Apr 25 21:16:39 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Apr 25 21:21:39 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I absolutely loved reading this work. The social atmosphere in which  these ideas were delivered was charming, good-humored, and somewhat enchanting. Friendly words and serious discussion, respects and acknowledgement are paid to Love. ]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53980779]]></url>
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