“Haven’t you offered up some part of your Self to someone (or something), and taken on a “narrative” in return? Haven’t we entrusted some part of our personality to some greater System or Order? And if so, has not that System at some stage demanded of us some kind of “insanity”? Is the narrative you now possess really and truly your own? Are your dreams really your own dreams? Might not they be someone else’s visions that could sooner or later turn into nightmares?”
― Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche
― Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche
“Looking back upon millennia of history, it appears clear that no race or culture has monopoly on wartime cruelty. The veneer of civilization seems to be exceedingly thin – one that can be easily stripped away, especially by the stresses of war.”
― The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
― The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
“How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“There is a moment, a cusp, when the sum of gathered experience is worn down by the details of living. We are never so wise as when we live in this moment.”
― When Breath Becomes Air
― When Breath Becomes Air
“They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it.”
― On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
― On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Emelia’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Emelia’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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