content: Possibly the most informed post I have ever read on Voat.  If only there was a board where people like you, Mr. Rabbi of most fluid conductivity, regularly mingled, I would be in heaven.  Instead I spend two hours a day surfing V and that other pathetic, heavily censored site R in hopes of finding something of intellectual substance, but usually come away empty-handed.  Gone are the days of Metafilter and the WELL, to my eternal frustration and despair. I think I will order some of the books you recommend.  I HAVE read War & Peace.  I found it one of the most convincing arguments against the true existence of self-determination that I have ever read.  It is a phenomenal book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the higher-up, more abstract machinations of fate and the will of nature against what man perceives as the "freedom" he has to live, do, and think as he likes. I am currently writing a novel myself; and while I hope to achieve some sort of insight into the human condition and all its foibles and absurdities, I doubt I will come within 5000 miles of holding a candle to what Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky have achieved. Thank you.