Okay, so pick up a copy of 'Le moyen de parvenir, tome 3/3' by Béroalde de Verville. It was written way back in the 1500s, but it doesn' feel like homework. It feels like you snuck into a Renaissance coffee house at 3 a.m. and someone is refusing to stop talking.

The Story

Technically, there is almost no story. Or there are hundreds of tiny ones. The book is built around a chaotic dinner scene where a bunch of characters talk about everything they can think of—marriage, priests, money, farts, philosophy, and why smart people are actually the dumbest. One moment it’s a folk tale about a man who lost his shadow, the next it’s an argument about politics that turns into a dirty joke. Volme 3 (the last part of the whole thing) ties up some wild threads, but mostly it’s just a torrent of jokes, contradictions, and sarcasm dressed up as advice. Why are these people talking? What’s the point? The point is, apparently, to make sound smart—and it might actually be brilliant and ridiculous at the same time.

Why You Should Read It

Honestly? It feels scandalous. The author, De Verville, was a satirist, and this book was basically banned for being too cheeky. Reading this volume in that defiant spirit—laughing at authority, even on a quiet night—feels surprisingly modern. But I loved the randomness the most. It’s writing without a filter. Human ideas fly out like sparks. Is there truth here? That’s for you to figure out, but the ride itself is addictive. It’s perfect to open to any page. Sometimes you read…sometimes it reads you. But it never bores, even if argument trails into playground-level nonsense. It feels alive. I adored one part where someone explains why arguing with a bad idea is like having cat pee in your shoe—you can try ignoring it, but why not pee right back? Sorry—that more classy phrasing—but that blunt energy is the whole volume. Being human: messy, contradictory, yearning but embarrassed about that yearning. King Charles, a drunk poet, and a village fool debate the soul’s existence while burping after soup, and I felt smarter and dirtier just reading it.

Final Verdict

This book is perfect for someone who thinks old boring books are bOrIng. Roll your eyes out the window—this won't check boxes. But experience hounds, rabbit-hole truffle-sniffers far from textbook-lovers before and after philosophy coffee. If you have a built-in sensor for arrogant anti-authoritarianism delivered sincerely through long-lost jokes wrapped in elaborate Renaissance mouth-typing—buy. stick with Volme Three; weird magnolila finish. Someone called it 'The Catcher in the Rye for people who smelled too much cheese and started rapping about Jesus and also nihilism,’ and honestly fine. Warning: makes smart people roR. Perfect for: fellow bored people, book–insults enthusiasts. A heavy thing but forget about that. Two cups of mischievous joy.