“That's just it." He laughed. "The untrained man reads a paper on natural science and thinks; 'Now why couldn't he explain this in simple language.' He can't seem to realize that what he tried to read was the simplest possible language– for that subject matter. In fact, a great deal of natural philosophy is simply a process of linguistic simplification– an effort to invent languages in which half a page of equations can express an idea which could not be stated in less than a thousand pages of so-called 'simple' language. Do I make myself clear?”
― A Canticle for Leibowitz
― A Canticle for Leibowitz
“La malattia, come la morte, lava la patina grigia dell'astio.”
― Golden Apples
― Golden Apples
“You know how it is—everything that comes in is stamped secret or top secret or cosmic or something and the only people who dare declassify anything are the big wheels right at the top, and the people at the top hold conferences and somebody says, ‘Now, let’s not be hasty. Let’s not alarm the public.’ So everything stays secret or cosmic. Personally, I think everybody ought to be digging or evacuating right this minute. Maybe if the other side knew we were digging, if they knew that we knew, they wouldn’t try to get away with”
― Alas, Babylon
― Alas, Babylon
“The water was like glass, and in it were little insects with oars.”
― My Side of the Mountain
― My Side of the Mountain
Mario’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mario’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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