Taken from a take-a-book, leave-a-book cabinet in Virginia Beach, in exchange for a short novel that I never read.

I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It is the first Voltaire I have read straight through, and even in translation he is as witty and insightful as my friends and his Wikipedia page says he is. 
This book is a collection of 25 "letters" - essays really - 24 of which discuss different aspects of English life and society. Voltaire touches on religion, economy, literature, theater, and science.

What looks at first like a relatively disjointed set of well-written observations turns out to be a pretty pointed satire of the French society Voltaire is returning these dispatches to. While I would have enjoyed a more clear running commentary, there is no mistaking the most notable of the jabs, nor is there any confusion about where Voltaire's religious, political, and scientific sympathies lie.

The book is somewhat brought down by that lack of commentary (though I guess it's my own fault for lacking background knowledge) and by the final letter, 25. The longest letter in the book, this is a collection of extracts from Pascal's Pensées with Voltaire's often-critical commentary. Fascinating for sure but very technical, and nothing to do at all with the rest of the book. I'm looking forward to returning to this letter but it really should not be published in the same collection as the cohesive whole of the other Letters.

Reccomend.