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Can you see the Pretty Things? There are many things that Rory would like to forget about his childhood growing up in rural Arkansas. Hed like to forget his alcoholic father or absent mother. Hed like to forget about his ex-girlfriend, now married to his ex-best friend. Sometimes, hed even like to forget about his older brother Joe. Joe saw the world differently than other people--sometimes in beautiful ways, seeing what he always called the Pretty Things. But sometimes the Pretty Things turned ugly and bad things happened. Those are the things Rory wishes he could forget most of all. When his car breaks down on the side of the road just out of town, a young girl named Sylvia appears from the corn fields. Sylvia is a Valkyrie sent by the Norse god Odin to deliver Rory to Valhalla.
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Adam Smith (16 June 1723 NS (5 June 1723 OS) - 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher, pioneer of political economy, and a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) , and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) . The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is cited as the father of modern economics and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today.Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by fellow Scot, John Snell. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day.Smith laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, he expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirised by Tory writers in the moralising tradition of William Hogarth and Jonathan Swift. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time. The minor planet 12838 Adamsmith was named in his memory. Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by unknown artist [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
