Lawrence R. Spencer's Blog, page 345
September 15, 2018
YOUR OWN
Every book you have ever read was written by a human being.
What makes their thoughts more important than yours?
Think your own thoughts. Write your own books.
Lawrence R. Spencer. 2014
Originally posted 2014-03-03 22:53:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
September 14, 2018
100 (OR SO) BOOKS I HEARD IN 2016
100 (OR SO) BOOKS I HEARD IN 2016I have written 8 books personally. (See my author profile (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/pan) I also edited and published the international best selling book Alien Interview. (Get this audiobook FREE)
As a writer I am a reader. I usually read (or re-read) at least 100 books a year. I am 70 years old now and have developed severe arthritis is my neck which prevents me from reading printed books. So, I download and listen to audiobooks from AUDIBLE.COM. I have discovered the experience of audiobooks to be much more satisfying than reading printed books. What can be better than a well written story read to you by a professional voice talent?! Anyway, I want to share with you a list of audobooks I listened to during 2016. As you can see from the list my preferences lean heavily toward Fantasy, Science Fiction, Metaphysics and History. Each book is a universe created by the “author gods” of Earth: universes of infinite imagination and fascination.
THE HARRY POTTER SERIES (7 books) by J.K Rowling
DUNE (6 book series by Frank Herbert)
ASHELY BELL by Dean Koontz
NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman (second reading)
THE REPUBLIC OF PIRATES: BEING THE TRUE AND SURPRISING STORY OF THE CARIBBEAN PIRATES by Colin Woodard 
BAG OF BONES by Stephen King
THE IMPROBABLE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by John Joseph Adams (editor) , Robert J. Sawyer , Christopher Roden , Michael Moorcock , Anne Perry , Neil Gaiman , Anthony Burgess , Laurie R. King
THE DIAMOND AGE by Neal Stephenson
GHENHIS KHAN AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD By Jack Weatherford
THE RED RISING TRILOGY by Pierce Brown
THE DRUID CHRONICLES (8 books) by Kevin Hearne
HOW TO SAFELY LIVE IN A SCIENCE FICTIONAL UNIVERSE by Charles Yu
THE DRESDEN FILES (15 books) by Jim Butcher
ALEX VERUS SERIES by Benedict Jacka (7 books)
THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF HOPE by Claire North
THE EVERYTHING BOX by Richard Kadrey
MAGIC 2.0 (3 book series) by Scott Meyer
THE AERONAUT’S WINDLASS: THE CINDER SPIRES, BOOK 1 by Jim Butcher
THE MANY SELVES OF KATHERINE NORTH by Emma Geen
THE CHRONICLES OF ST. MARY’S (book 1 and 2) by Jody Taylor
READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline
TESSER, A DRAGON AMONG US by Chris Philbrook
JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL by Susanna Clarke
THE DIRTY STREETS OF HEAVEN: BOBBY DOLLAR by Tad Williams 
SLEEPING LATE ON JUDGEMENT DAY: Bobby Dollar BY Tad Williams
THE HIKE by Drew Magary
WHERE THE HELL IS TELSA: A NOVEL by Rob Dircks
AGENT TO THE STARS by John Scalzi
THE ANDROIDS DREAM by John Scalzi
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert M. Pirsig
ALL OF THE BOOKS OF DOUGLAS ADAMS (re-read for the 4th or 5th time) 
THE GODMAKERS by Frank Herbert
AWAKEN ONLINE by Travis Bagwell
SURVIVAL QUEST: WAY OF THE SHAMAN SERIES (1 and 2) by Vasily Mahanenko
HEARTSTRIKERS (3 book series) by Rachel Aaron
WIZARD DEFIANT: INTERGALACTIC WIZARD SCOUT CHRONICLES by Rodney Hartman
THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS (5 book series) by Rachel Aaron 
WAKE OF VULTURES: THE SHADOW BOOK 1, by Lila Bowen
THE SHEPARD’S CROWN by Terry Pratchett
WATCHERS by Dean Koontz
SOLARIS by Stanislaw Lem
THE MOTE IN GOD’S EYE by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
WE ARE LEGION (WE ARE BOB) BOBIVERSE BOOKS 1 AND 2 by Dennis E. Taylor
BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON by Dean Koontz
COLUMBUS DAY: EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (book 1) by Craig Alanson
Originally posted 2017-02-11 00:24:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
September 12, 2018
GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS (AND SUFFERING)
https://tuinderlusten-jheronimusbosch.ntr.nl/en#
CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO TAKE A GUIDED VISUAL AND VERBAL TOUR OF ONE OF THE MOST ENIGMATIC PAINTINGS IN HISTORY
Hieronymus Bosch (/ˌhaɪ.əˈrɒnᵻməs ˈbɒʃ/;[ born Jheronimus van Aken [jeːˈroːnimɵs fɑn ˈaːkə(n)]; c. 1450 – 9 August 1516) was an Early Netherlandish painter. His work is known for its fantastic imagery, detailed landscapes, and illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Within his lifetime his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell.
Little is known of Bosch’s life, though there are some records. He spent most of it in the town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where he was born in his grandfather’s house. The roots of his forefathers are in Nijmegen and Aachen (which is visible in his surname: Van Aken). His pessimistic and fantastical style cast a wide influence on northern art of the 16th century, with Pieter Bruegel the Elder being his best known follower. His paintings have been difficult to translate from a modern point of view; attempts to associate instances of modern sexual imagery with fringe sects or the occult have largely failed. Today he is seen as a hugely individualistic painter with deep insight into humanity’s desires and deepest fears. Attribution has been especially difficult; today only about 25 paintings are confidently given to his hand along with 8 drawings. Approximately another half dozen paintings are confidently attributed to his workshop. His most acclaimed works consist of a few triptych altarpieces, the most outstanding of which is The Garden of Earthly Delights.
— Wikipedia.org
Originally posted 2016-11-03 22:26:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
September 11, 2018
Hyperrealistic Paintings
Tom Martin is a young English artist who makes use of acrylic paint to create the most amazing paintings. Looking at them you could swear they are simple photographs, but in reality they are painstakingly painted by hand. Hyperrealism evolved from the “photorealism” movement of the 1970s, and it’s dedicated to making artworks that are “more real than real”. Hyperrealists try not just copy a photograph with paint, but emphasize elements that were not evoked by the original. 23-year-old Tom Martin is already one of the most respected hyperrealist artist in the world, with works featured in art exhibitions all around the world. Just have a look at his amazing super-sized paintings and tell me if you’d have known they aren’t simple photos or computer generated images.
Originally posted 2010-12-14 17:22:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
ILLUSION
Definition of “ILLUSION” from the Oxford English Dictionary
Sensuous perception of an external object, involving a false belief or conception: strictly distinguished from hallucination, but in general use often made to include it, and hence = the apparent perception of an external object when no such object is present, or of attributes of an object which do not exist.
the argument that the objects of sense-experience, usually called ideas, appearances, or sense-data, cannot be objects in a physical world independent of the Perceiver, since they vary according to his condition and environment.
Originally posted 2014-06-02 15:06:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
September 10, 2018
William Shakespeare, The Gangster
“Exploring this unlighted lane in Shakespeare’s life means, first, looking at the crucial document. “Be it known,” the Latin text begins,
The 1596 writ charging Shakespeare with making death threats, discovered in Britain’s National Archives by the Canadian scholar Leslie Hotson in 1931. The second of the four entries is the one relating to the playwright.
that William Wayte craves sureties [guarantees] of the peace against William Shakspere, Francis Langley, Dorothy Soer wife of John Soer, and Anne Lee, for fear of death, and so forth. Writ of attachment issued by the sheriff of Surrey, returnable on the eighteenth of St Martin [November 29, 1596].
A few pages away in the same collection of documents, there is a second writ, issued by Francis Langley and making similar charges against William Wayte.
Who are these people, each alleging the other was issuing death threats? The scholar who unearthed the document—an indefatigable Canadian by the name of Leslie Hotson, best remembered today as the man who first stumbled across the records of the inquest into the highly mysterious murder of Shakespeare’s fellow playwright, Christopher Marlowe—uncovered a squalid tale of gangland rivalries in the theatrical underworld of Queen Elizabeth’s day.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ON SMITHSONIAN.COM:
Originally posted 2011-12-05 14:10:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
September 9, 2018
ART: WHERE MATHEMATICS AND MYSTICISM MERGE
This video is a presentation of the subjects that inform and inspire my personal work. It is an eclectic collection that includes poetry, mysticism, mathematics, music, theology, quantum physics, sacred geometry, philosophy and visual arts. A video by Sergio Toporek.
Originally posted 2012-06-02 23:27:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
September 8, 2018
The Royal Murder of Diana Spencer
As a distant relative of the “royal” Spencer family, which includes the soon to be groom, whose mother is the late Princess Diana ( whose maiden name was Diana Spencer), I feel honour-bound to remind the mindlessly adoring public that British Royalty is a nest of vipers and assassins. Woe and beware to Kate Middleton and her family….
Watch the videos on the site below for details of the murder of Prince Di:
http://www.disclose.tv/forum/the-murder-of-princess-diana-the-truth-about-royal-family-t50222.html
The Murder of Princess Diana The Truth About Royal Family
Originally posted 2011-04-27 10:15:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
