“This is the best reason to learn history: not in order to predict the future, but to free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies. Of course this is not total freedom – we cannot avoid being shaped by the past. But some freedom is better than none.”
― Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
― Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
“people need to talk, and often a willingness to sit and listen is the greatest kindness one person can offer to another.”
― What Now?
― What Now?
“If the multiverse turns out to be the best explanation of the fundamental physical constants, it would not be the first time we have been flabbergasted by worlds beyond our noses. Our ancestors had to swallow the discovery of the Western Hemisphere, eight other planets, a hundred billion stars in our galaxy (many with planets), and a hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe. If reason contradicts intuition once again, so much the worse for intuition. Another advocate of the multiverse, Brian Greene, reminds us:
“From a quaint, small, earth-centered universe to one filled with billions of galaxies, the journey has been both thrilling and humbling. We’ve been compelled to relinquish sacred belief in our own centrality, but with such cosmic demotion we’ve demonstrated the capacity of the human intellect to reach far beyond the confines of ordinary experience to reveal extraordinary truth.”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
“From a quaint, small, earth-centered universe to one filled with billions of galaxies, the journey has been both thrilling and humbling. We’ve been compelled to relinquish sacred belief in our own centrality, but with such cosmic demotion we’ve demonstrated the capacity of the human intellect to reach far beyond the confines of ordinary experience to reveal extraordinary truth.”
― Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
“If you cannot afford to waste time, you will never find the truth.”
― 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
― 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
“Homo sapiens is just not built for satisfaction. Human happiness depends less on objective condition and more on our own expectations. Expectations, however, tend to adapt to conditions, including to the condition of other people. When things improve, expectations balloon, and consequently even dramatic improvement in conditions might leave us as dissatisfied as before.”
― 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
― 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Madelyn’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Madelyn’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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