THE SWERVE: HOW THE WORLD BECAME MODERN by Stephen Greenblatt ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Original review written November 19, 2018)

An exceptional nonfiction read to break up my fiction/sci-fi binges. Really makes me want to dive back into all my classical Greek stuff from college. I had no idea so many of the ideas talked about in the book came from -- or at least were thought of -- in this period.

The theories on death and the universe are ones I've heard in many different places before, but they are mapped out best here. I remember one quote from college about the Ancient Greeks regarding worrying about death and the unimportance of the afterlife, something along the lines of "why worry what comes after death, when better men than you have done it before." This book brought me back to the head space of that quote and the way it provokes deep thinking.