Pascal

the long version

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) has long been revered for the scientific genius of his youth, the religious conversions of his midlife, and the great books and greater saintliness of his last years. Traditional biographies have monumentalized Pascal the hero, but in the process reduced Pascal the man to merely an intellect and a spirit. Furthermore, these biographies emphasize Pascal's midlife conversion in a way that divides Pascal's life into seemingly unrelated halves. In Pascal: The Man and His Two Loves, John R. Cole reintegrates these halves to create a clear and complete portrait of this complex man.