“Economic inequality has long been a signature issue of the left, and it rose in prominence after the Great Recession began in 2007. It ignited the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 and the presidential candidacy of the self-described socialist Bernie Sanders in 2016, who proclaimed that “a nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much, while so many have so little.” 2 But in that year the revolution devoured its children and propelled the candidacy of Donald Trump, who claimed that the United States had become “a third-world country” and blamed the declining fortunes of the working class not on Wall Street and the one percent but on immigration and foreign trade. The left and right ends of the political spectrum, incensed by economic inequality for their different reasons, curled around to meet each other, and their shared cynicism about the modern economy helped elect the most radical American president in recent times.”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
“If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.”
― The Light in the Heart
― The Light in the Heart
“The thing about a spiral is, if you follow it inward, it never actually ends. It just keeps tightening, infinitely.”
― Turtles All the Way Down
― Turtles All the Way Down
“When you come out of the grips of a depression there is an incredible relief, but not one you feel allowed to celebrate. Instead, the feeling of victory is replaced with anxiety that it will happen again, and with shame and vulnerability when you see how your illness affected your family, your work, everything left untouched while you struggled to survive. We come back to life thinner, paler, weaker … but as survivors. Survivors who don’t get pats on the back from coworkers who congratulate them on making it. Survivors who wake to more work than before because their friends and family are exhausted from helping them fight a battle they may not even understand. I hope to one day see a sea of people all wearing silver ribbons as a sign that they understand the secret battle, and as a celebration of the victories made each day as we individually pull ourselves up out of our foxholes to see our scars heal, and to remember what the sun looks like.”
― Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things
― Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things
“Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.”
― Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
― Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
The Emerald
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— last activity Mar 07, 2026 01:51PM
Books referenced in The Emerald podcast by Josh Schrei
Niels’s 2025 Year in Books
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