fraeon
Films
BrowseTop 250
Series
TV ShowsAnimeTop 250 TVTop 100 Anime
Games
BrowseTop 100
Books
BooksMangaTop 125 BooksTop 100 Manga
For youTrendingTier ListsThe ArchiveLeaderboard
Log inSign up free
fraeon

Everything you watch, play and read — tracked, rated and remembered in one library.

Explore

  • Films
  • TV
  • Anime
  • Games
  • Books
  • Manga

Discover

  • Trending
  • Leaderboard
  • Find people
  • Lists
  • Tier lists

Company

  • Tour
  • About
  • Community guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Contact

© 2026 fraeon. All rights reserved. ·

Metadata from TMDB, RAWG, Jikan & Open Library. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

Questions or ideas? mehmet@avortas.com

HomeFeedProfile
Descartes' Bones

Descartes' Bones

by Russell Shorto

2008FaithReasonHistoryNonfictionNaturwissenschaften
4.0
Open Library
Open Library

About this book

On a brutal winter's day in 1650 in Stockholm, the Frenchman Rene Descartes, the most influential and controversial thinker of his time, was buried after a cold and lonely death far from home. Sixteen years later, the French Ambassador Hugues de Terlon secretly unearthed Descartes' bones and transported them to France. Why would this devoutly Catholic official care so much about the remains of a philosopher who was hounded from country to country on charges of atheism? Why would Descartes' bones take such a strange, serpentine path over the next 350 years--a path intersecting some of the grandest events imaginable: the birth of science, the rise of democracy, the mind-body problem, the conflict between faith and reason? Their story involves people from all walks of life--Louis XIV, a Swedish casino operator, poets and playwrights, philosophers and physicists, as these people used the bones in scientific studies, stole them, sold them, revered them as relics, fought over them, passed them surreptitiously from hand to hand.The answer lies in Descartes' famous phrase: Cogito ergo sum--"I think, therefore I am." In his deceptively simple seventy-eight-page essay, Discourse on the Method, this small, vain, vindictive, peripatetic, ambitious Frenchman destroyed 2,000 years of received wisdom and laid the foundations of the modern world. At the root of Descartes' "method" was skepticism: "What can I know for certain?" Like-minded thinkers around Europe passionately embraced the book--the method was applied to medicine, nature, politics, and society. The notion that one could find …

Themes & subjects

FaithReasonHistoryNonfictionNaturwissenschaftenSkelett
First published 2008

Characters & people

About the author

Russell Shorto
Russell Shorto

Author

Russell Shorto

First published

2008

Editions

2

Language

English

Publisher

Doubleday Broadway Pub. Group

ISBN

9780385528375

Where to buy

TR
Amazon Bookshop

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to write one from the Log screen.

Quotes

No quotes yet.

Discussions

Similar books

La Divina Commedia

Poetry (poetic works by one author) · Literatura

La Divina Commedia

Dante Alighieri

1472

Goldsmith's The vicar of Wakefield

Abduction · Children of clergy

Goldsmith's The vicar of Wakefield

Oliver Goldsmith

1111

Confessions

Religious aspects of Truth · Christian saints

Confessions

Augustine of Hippo

1482

Annonce Faite a Marie, L'

Drama · Mysteries and miracle-plays

Annonce Faite a Marie, L'

Paul Claudel

1912

Hatchet

Divorce · plane crash

Hatchet

Gary Paulsen

1986

Queechy

Country life · Juvenile fiction

Queechy

Susan Warner

1800

The Life of Our Lord

Christian · Faith

The Life of Our Lord

Charles Dickens

1934

Enten-eller

Ethics · Philosophy

Enten-eller

Søren Kierkegaard

1843

An essay in aid of a grammar of assent

Faith · Theism

An essay in aid of a grammar of assent

John Henry Newman

1870

Ispovedʹ

Christian life · Faith

Ispovedʹ

Лев Толстой

1882

In His steps

Fiction · Influence

In His steps

Charles Monroe Sheldon

1897

Gulliver's Travels

YA · Young adult

Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift

1726

Kritik der reinen Vernunft

Reason · Causation

Kritik der reinen Vernunft

Immanuel Kant

1781

A treatise of human nature

Philosophy · English Philosophy

A treatise of human nature

David Hume

1739

Kritik der praktischen Vernunft

Ethics · Reason

Kritik der praktischen Vernunft

Immanuel Kant

1788

The Age of Reason

Rationalism · Early works to 1800

The Age of Reason

Thomas Paine

1794

Quaestiones disputatae de veritate

Early works to 1800 · Truth

Quaestiones disputatae de veritate

Thomas Aquinas

1475

Thinking, fast and slow

Intuition · Thought and thinking

Thinking, fast and slow

Daniel Kahneman

2011

Similar across media

Same mood, other forms — books, series, anime, games and beyond.

Film
Harakiri

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

4.2

Harakiri

1962

Game
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Shooter · Adventure

4.7

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

2016

Anime
Kingdom Season 4

Following the conclusion of the large-scale coalition campaign, the entirety of China is in a state of economic recovery. The victor of the battle, the state of Qin, is no different. There, the political parties led by Ying Zheng and Buwei Lü continue their inner conflict. Having played the role of king in the coalition battle, Zheng has the trust of the people—but Lü is far from out of the fight. In 18 months, he plans to interrupt Zheng's coming-of-age ceremony. Meanwhile, a Zhao army numbering 20,000 troops has set out toward Qin. In the royal court, due to the lack of generals capable of responding to the incoming threat, Lü slyly suggests that Zheng take command. However, Cheng Jiao, Zheng's half-brother, volunteers instead. As they grew to trust each other during the coalition battle, Zheng now accepts Jiao as his replacement. However, the Zhao forces retreat a mere half-day after clashing with Jiao's army. With trouble quickly brewing in the shadows, the internal struggle of Qin is only complicated further. There are only two men Zheng feels he can rely on: Bi, a general who commands 30,000 men; and Xin, the leader of the Fei Xin force. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Action

4.4

Kingdom Season 4

2022 · 26 eps

Manga
Gin Tama

During the Edo period, Japan is suddenly invaded by alien creatures known as the Amanto. Despite the samurai's attempts to combat the extraterrestrial menace, the Shogun soon realizes that their efforts are futile and decides to surrender. This marks the beginning of an uneasy agreement between the Shogunate and Amanto, one that results in a countrywide sword ban and the disappearance of the samurai spirit. However, there exists one eccentric individual who wields a wooden sword and refuses to let his samurai status die. Now that his kind is no longer needed, Gintoki Sakata performs various odd jobs around town in order to make ends meet. Joined by his self-proclaimed disciple Shinpachi Shimura, the fearsome alien Kagura, and a giant dog named Sadaharu, they run the business known as Yorozuya, often getting caught up in all sorts of crazy and hilarious shenanigans. [Written by MAL Rewrite] Included one-shots: Volume 1: Dandelion Volume 2: Shirokuro (Black and White) Volume 24: 13 Volume 38: Bankara-san ga Tooru

Action · Comedy

4.3

Gin Tama

Sorachi Hideaki

2003 · 709 ch

Film
Ennio

A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.

4.2

Ennio

2022

Game
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Shooter · Platform

4.8

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2009

Anime
Kingdom Season 5

Fifth season of Kingdom.

Action

4.4

Kingdom Season 5

2024 · 13 eps

Manga
Phoenix

From time immemorial to the age of space colonization, there is one legend that has stayed unchanged in every history book—the tale of the immortal bird Phoenix. A being whose blood is said to grant eternal life or wisdom, the radiant figure ensures the continuation of sentient life in the universe as it oversees human civilizations and their development. Yet, mankind remains a slave to its habits; from happiness and sorrow, to wrath and love, a myriad of emotions continue to play an integral part of human life. Simultaneously, time and time again, certain beliefs and agendas persist over the centuries to disturb the fragile equilibrium of the world's preordained nature and principles. It appears that fate, with its dynamic variables, can manifest itself in many ways—and oftentimes exhibits a bizarre sense of humor. [Written by MAL Rewrite] Note: This is an incomplete series due to Tezuka's death.

Drama · Fantasy

4.3

Phoenix

Tezuka Osamu

1966 · 19 ch

Film
Night and Fog

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

4.1

Night and Fog

1956

Game
BioShock Infinite

Shooter · Adventure

4.7

BioShock Infinite

2013

Anime
Mushi-shi: Next Passage Part 2

Ghostly, primordial beings known as Mushi continue to cause mysterious changes in the lives of humans. The travelling Mushishi, Ginko, persists in trying to set right the strange and unsettling situations he encounters. Time loops, living shadows, and telepathy are among the overt effects of interference from Mushi, but more subtle symptoms that take years to be noticed also rouse Ginko's concern as he passes from village to village. Through circumstance, Ginko has become an arbiter, determining which Mushi are blessings and which are curses. But the lines that he seeks to draw are subjective. Some of his patients would rather exercise their new powers until they are utterly consumed by them; others desperately strive to rid themselves of afflictions which are in fact protecting their lives from devastation. Those who cross paths with Mushi must learn to accept seemingly impossible consequences for their actions, and heal wounds they did not know they had. Otherwise, they risk meeting with fates beyond their comprehension. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Adventure · Mystery

4.4

Mushi-shi: Next Passage Part 2

2014 · 10 eps

Manga
Billy Bat

Japanese-American Kevin Yamagata now authors the renowned detective comic book "Billy Bat" after serving in the Allied Forces in World War II. But as his series becomes a massive hit, Kevin discovers that his famed character, Billy Bat, already existed before within a Japanese comic. Worried that he may have unconsciously copied something he saw during his time there, Kevin returns to Japan to find Billy Bat's original creator and seek permission for him to use their character. However, as he traces back Billy Bat's roots, he finds himself unraveling a dark and twisted history of murders that somehow involve the character he thought he created. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Drama · Mystery

4.3

Billy Bat

Urasawa Naoki

2008 · 165 ch